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The great junk transfer is coming

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Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#261

Post by dageshi »

paganel wrote: post #199
dhosek wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel a bit that way about my life’s accumulation of books. I suspect that the vast majority will end up getting donated to the library book sale after I die (plenty of worn and ancient paperbacks). I have made a point of pre-segregating the books that will likely have a notable resale value, but those are not many. Perhaps when I’m older but not too old I may spend some time trying to connect some of the specialize…

Hopefully all of my (by now many) physical books will get donated to the village library from where my mother grew up and where my parents live right now. I remember I borrowed a David Copperfield translation and never returned it, that happened about ~30 years ago. I still feel guilty about it from time to time.

Based on personal experiences trying to give away my collection of 2000's scifi/fantasy books, it's hard even to give them away.

The physical book market is shrinking and a significant portion of new readers likely use ebooks/audiobooks instead so there's just far less demand for physical books.

I think it's going to be very hard to even give books away in the coming decades, I can see the vast majority going to recycling.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#262

Post by benhurmarcel »

petesergeant wrote: post #48

I love getting rid of stuff. I've just packed up my apartment again, and my wife and I have under 5m3 of stuff, and that includes a couple of larger pieces of furniture, 7-8 framed pieces of art, a decently-sized toolbox, and a big TV. Most of the time we're away from our homebase anyway, so living out of two suitcases. It really means that our treasured items are treasured, as most have undergone several iterations…

I used to make sure I owned a fairly small volume of stuff. And then I got a kid.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#263

Post by dgellow »

FooHentai wrote: post #239
basisword wrote: post #217

Is it just me or is that article written by, and this thread full of, assholes? Your parents are dead and you’re complaining about having to sort through their stuff and deal with their horrible taste in furniture? If you don’t want to deal with it have it all collected and sent to landfill and get on with your life. I’m genuinely surprised at how miserable and selfish sounding a lot (not all) of the people in this t…

I found out overnight my dad passed away. Here's the thing - I might come here and post some thoughts about the big clutter horde at his place that'll need to be sorted out. I'm certainly not coming here to talk about how I feel about my dad passing away. Because.. why would I do that? Who are you people to me? Who am I, or my dad, to any of you? It would be pretty weird to do the latter, not the former. One is a sha…

I’m just an internet stranger but let me share that I feel sorry for your loss.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#264

Post by throwaway0a5e »

dcminter wrote: post #202
henrikschroder wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh no, this reminds me that I have a box in my basement with my grandparents' wedding china that they got in the 1940's or something. My dad gave me the box, and I'm not allowed to throw the thing away as long as he lives. But it's completely useless. It's pretty, but you can't ever use it. It's not dishwasher safe, it's extremely fragile, and I cannot imagine ever hosting some kind of event where it would be appropr…

> ...there's not gonna be a market for things like this ten, twenty, years from now. You never know. Vintage fans are a thing, after all (1940s and 1950s are quite popular). When the time comes, ask around - there might be someone keen. Worth checking with family too - there might be someone who'll love and use it just for that connection.

It will move down market until supply and demand equalize.

There's a plethora of china cabinets and hutches right now. They'll be used as storage. And when the supply dries up (because 90% of them will have been thrown away or destroyed in hard use) people who want one will spend $50 on them. Metal cabinets that held various sizes of card stock went through the same thing starting a couple decades ago.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#265

Post by noneeeed »

dgellow wrote: post #260
noneeeed wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My father passed away suddenly last week. I would love to be able to just get someone in to clear the house and "get on with my life", but it doesn't work like that when someone dies. Instead of being able to just grieve I spent all weekend digging through 40 year old bank statements and other crap trying to find all the documents that we need to be able to register the death so we can actually bury him. And no, I'm…

Sorry for your loss :(

Thanks.

In a way it was good, we'd been planning for a long, slow decline into immobile sinility due to alzheimers and vascular dementia, but in the end he died at home in his sleep, two days after seeing all his kids. He was already getting quite distressed by his memory loss, and would have hated being dependent on carers for everything or ending up in a home.

Go see you parents everyone, you might not have as much time as you think.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#266

Post by throwaway0a5e »

calvinmorrison wrote: post #66
kayodelycaon wrote: post #4

I watched a friend have to deal with this. There’s just so much to sort through or get rid of. My grandfather left dozens of model airplanes behind. No one in the family flies them. Most of the people he used to fly them with died before he did. Fortunately, my grandmother is still alive and we’ve found people who would appreciate the planes. We could have just burned everything but we have emotional ties to these th…

If you are in a niche, plan to get rid of it BEFORE you get old. Please, there are collectors, and stuff! I just got four new to me toolboxes, from my neighbor who was a diesel mechanic. Perfectly good after a bit of sanding and oiling. They're awesome, from the 80s, well made, and they'll keep me going for a long time. My father, a prodigious collector of oddities has done several wholsale removals of collections. O…

>I just got four new to me toolboxes, from my neighbor who was a diesel mechanic. Perfectly good after a bit of sanding and oiling. They're awesome, from the 80s, well made, and they'll keep me going for a long time.

They'll keep you going until you get a "real" toolbox (just like he did) at which point they will be relegated to holding your assortment of flare fittings or electrical connectors or something and then 40yr later when that stuff too is in a cabinet and the boxes has sat empty for 20yr you'll give it to your neighbor who'll say "wow this thing must be well made, look how long it's lasted" when in reality it only has like 5-10yr of being used for tools on it.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#267

Post by distances »

jseban wrote: post #198
hiq wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a good argument for living in a small place rather than a house as big as you can possibly afford.

I don't see what the big deal is to be honest, just a harmless hobby to collect random trinkets, it gives people joy, and you can just get rid of it when they die. I don't see what the harm is

The son in the article, nine months into the process of clearing his parents' house, estimated he is one-third done. That's a lot of mental and physical work he inherited, or alternatively signed up for.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#268

Post by ransom1538 »

I went to a storage shed once with my wife. Her father put a bunch of stuff in a shed including hers. The storage shed manager:

"Yep. Parents store a bunch of shit the kids don't want. The parents die off, then the kids empty it, then add a bunch of shit their kids don't want into it. The cycle continues. "

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#270

Post by treis »

noobermin wrote: post #205
robocat wrote: post #70

Cleaning up after your parents is a gift you give to them: look at it like them paying it forward for all the times the cleaned up after you as a child. Psychologically, mentally, and physically, parents can have difficulty tidying up their stuff. My friend’s parents came from very poor backgrounds and had a lot of trash. The father had a shed full of stuff that was useful to him - he knew what was in it and how to u…

Seriously could not finish the opening story. I understand a small tinge of disdain for the effort required, but surely deep down a sense of gratitude and nostalgia should be mixed in no? Do people really not have no love for their parents they inherited the belongings of? The fact of the inheritance occuring is a hint that we're already filtering for kids who did not have an amiable relationship with their parents,…

You can love a parent without loving their gigantic pile of useless junk
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