8 years ago I was the 'one who cleared out my depression-era parents' 4,000 square foot home. It took me 2 years to clear the house, coordinate the repairs needed to sell the house and finally took care of the sales process. When I completed that I decided I needed to downsize my own living situation and did so within a year at age 60. I've since downsized again and now live in a 2 bedroom condo and my life is no longer controlled by my house and my stuff. Life is a lot simpler for me at 66 than my parents' lives at the same age.
Oh the same task fell on me when I had to clear out my parents home. It was overwhelming and at times guilt ridden because there were things I knew had meaning to them that I would never want or use but they had expressed I would enjoy them as much as they did. My husband is already 70 and I'm fast approaching. We have downsized and organized things into labeled Rubber Maid containers that are still on a difficult to let go of just yet but will be easy to sort through if we ever need to move again. Should we go ahead and die, the kids all know exactly what is here and we've made it easy to do what they want with the remainder of items. Our children have already thanked us for the work. Hopefully we have simplified things for them.
My mom being 1 of 13 was a pack rat and so were her siblings and aunts and uncles. my mother-in-law is a packrat. I have had to clean out my parents various homes more times than I care to talk about, plus help clear out other relatives. I will not do that to anybody. all this stuff that you keep just become someone else's problem and it's unfair.
@@janelledowney man - good for you ! I am so proud of you ! I had to clean out my mom and dads and stepmom’s homes and it was a huge hassle and I will never place value on material things - my health and adventuring is my top priority. You can’t see the road if you’re too busy looking in the rear view mirror and the past . Gotta move forward . My MIL is obsessed with all her worthless stuff and it’s exhausting - it totally encourages me to pare down now and make vacation plans .
I imagine one day there will be a bunch of kids saying the same thing about all the Star Wars and comic book stuff, er, I mean collectables 😁 that their parents have
@@justdiane5 Right? They too will become old and sentimental about their comic book/manga, figurine, keyboard, etc. collections. I wish people just stop being ageist.
It’s because they are like my sister was they don’t want to take care of their parents or manage the estate they just want you to take care of everything fast so they can have their share of the estate because everyone no matter the generation just wants the money that other people have earned and invested 🤣🤣🤣🍺🍺🍺🍺.
My parents are the same - it truly is a gift! As a Gen Xer with three kiddos (teens and young adult), I’m taking page from my parents’ book and trying to keep things minimal as well.
My parents lived in the same house for 55 years. That house contained: their stuff, stuff from both grandmas (both had passed away decades earlier), and stuff from my uncle (passed away decades ago). It took me six months to sort through, give away, sell, and donate everything in that house. Family members took some of it, but the vast majority was just given away or sold at bargain prices. I went through every single drawer, every box, every container, every closet, an entire basement and single-car garage, to make sure I wasn't discarding something valuable. It was a full-time job to find homes for everything, and to discard as little as possible.
Not sure why people always make everything about themselves. Are they looking for congratulations? A medal? Money? Sympathy? Perhaps a better question is, why do they think the rest of us care?
@@Mr21scott scroll on if you don’t like a comment or go troll your rudeness somewhere else. Some of us are currently dealing with this very situation and it helps to know we’re not alone.
NOPE. You won't miss valuables unless your loved one was so mentally off that they squirreled away diamonds in the sugar bowl. Sell the silver and toss the rest. Nobody has valuable artwork or anything like it. Your time is worth more than what is in that drawer. Just toss it all.
we had been married for four years when my husband's grandmother offered us the 'old farm" that she could no longer maintain and told us we could have it or she would have to sell it. Two months later we moved in. It was built in 1790, and the stress was beginning to show. I went through every drawer, every inch of attic, graced the Salvation Army with a lot of stuff, cleaned out the junk, restored a lot, and 50+ years later it's eminently livable, comfortable, and well worth the effort. We tried not to change too much, so it was a careful restoration. We put the land and buildings into an easement, so whoever gets it won't be turning it into a gated community or trailer park. They were savers, in those days, and little was thrown out, which gave me plenty of options. =) No regrets.
I’m an “older” baby boomer. We downsized about two years ago to move “across the country” and into a much smaller condo to be closer to our adult children. Downsizing was hard, painful and time consuming, I’m glad it is behind us. Completion is “freeing” for the boomers as well. It is amazing how much stuff you don’t need
I think that this is quite funny. It never has occurred to me to say anything at all to my parents about anything they have accumulated. I understand that it is absolutely none of my business. You see I didn’t earn the money or purchase the items. It’s interesting that young adults now feel entitled to give voice to their own preferences. I have found that if I manage and take care of my own life, I have a full time job. It’s called minding your own business and respecting your parents. I wonder how many young adults want their parents to come over and give advice about their homes. I wonder how that would go over lol😂
Totally agree. The furniture we as Boomers bought or inherited is solid and excellent quality built - meant to last. Styles change yes, and come around again. I’d say it’s much more attractive than the cheap disposable IKEA stuff in gray, black or white that millennials and Gen Z wants. Their houses look so sterile with no personal touches, like a hotel.
@@christinaford1801 I'm Gen X. I so agree on your assessment/my dislike of the current trend (which probably has been around for fifteen years at this point in time): grey walls/white trim/GLASS kitchen tile/drab-colored upholstery. I have furniture from every decade from the 1910s through the 1960s that I inherited that I actually use/not stored away. The older furniture is definitely better quality. Never liked that newer sterile look. That seems to be the go-to look for EVERYONE today particularly when a house is being sold. Years ago there were so many looks: eclectic, formal, Early American, country, contemporary. Today there seems to be one look and it permeates homes and restaurants.
I know what you mean, but I have pretty much that situation here. War-Era grandparents who had almost nothing left (European) and held on to everything. Parents who hat the sudden option to buy all fun gadgets in the 80s and me, trying to declutter the stuff of 3 grandparents and our childhood things *with* my parents. So I'm absolutely talking to them if they really want to keep the things that got put in a cupboard 15 years ago and stayed there since bc I don't want another multi-year clean-out in my future.
@ I understand but think of it like a best friend your own age. You may have coffee with your best friend in her home and would never comment on clutter or the way she organizes her home. With family it’s the same. It’s okay to help declutter if they approach you first or ask for help. Otherwise I believe it’s crossing a boundary. Focus on spending time together and let the other thought go. It doesn’t really matter about possessions. There are many charities who will gladly pick up unwanted items when cleaning out a home if a loved one who has passed away. God bless you and your family!!❤️
I’m tired of people generalizing about “baby boomers.” I think it’s more about how long people have been accumulating, rather than what generation they’re in. I was born in 1950 but I’ve periodically switched careers and/or moved, so I’ve avoided collecting massive amounts of stuff that had to be moved. My dad was a Methodist minister, then a high school teacher, and later he and my mom started a used bookstore. The longest we lived in one house when I was a kid was four years. When they retired they bought a double-wide mobile, and the only things they collected were books and classical music records. So when Dad developed dementia and moved in with me, he brought only his favorite chair, bookcases, books, music, and the family photo albums. Only one of my baby boomer friends has an overstuffed house. Whereas if you ever watched the Clean Sweep show you’d know that too much stuff can be a serious challenge for young couples or families. It’s a legitimate problem. But it’s not just a BB problem.
A lot of Boomers have already died. Some of them in the 80s/90s from HIV/AIDs. Or the usual suspects: cancer and heart disease. Not sure many are considering things like that.
I hear you. Of course it’s not “every baby boomer” and excluding anyone who is not. It’s a generalization which is backed by data. However older generations had more stuff when they were my age than me and family members my generation do. Does that make sense? Like we in our early 40’s don’t have china hutches, nickname, multiple sets of dishes or multiple Christmas decorations or walk in closets full of clothes 2 sizes too small and 20 years old, but our moms/aunts did when they were 40. And also I think baby boomers have more stuff than their parents did at their age - as a generalization
@@wplants9793 Agreed. They also have to take into consideration their audience and stage of life. Gen Z isn't watching this nor are their parents leaving them property in great numbers yet. In addition, negative engagement is still engagement so all of the individualists yelling about "I'm a boomer and I don't do this one thing that a statistically significant amount of my age cohorts do!" is just as beneficial to the show and social media channel's numbers as comments praising them.
As a boomer, I can say our parents and grandparents also left us a houseful of belongings. They also stayed in their homes for many many years. They all asked us if we would like to have certain items and happily gave them to us while they were still living. I think it has more to do with personality traits. Some people like to keep things light & minimal and others enjoy having more items of memories. Whichever, everyone needs to do what makes them happy & comfortable. If they're ready to downsize, then help them. If it's important for them to keep things, let them do so.
This is NOT just a boomer thing - families have been going thru these situations since time began ! It's also not necessarily a collector or " hoarder " situation either - quite simply , there are things that families will go to court over & other things that immediately go in the trash . Sentimental ? Valuable ? Keeping an item out of spite just so a sibling won't get it ? Keeping too much out of guilt ? Giving up or not caring either way & just chucking it all ? Decisions , decisions , decisions ... 🤔
Emptied my parents home 4 yrs ago and came home to my husband of 44 yrs and said…”we will NEVER do this to our kids!” Last four years we have gotten rid of 75% of our stuff. What a relief. Our grown children in their 40’s DID NOT WANT OUR STUFF, just like I did not want my parent’s stuff. My husband donated $5000 worth of tools to the VA and they were thrilled. We donated, gave away and threw away. We are so happy.
I am not getting rid of the things that I love while I still enjoy them- if my kids throw them all away after I die, then that’s up to them, but I’m not eating off of paper plates and throwing my mother and grandmothers diaries away.
I can help with this. When my mother passed away in 2004, I put everything in storage, for 10 years, at $100+ a month. Do the math. No, the maple furniture is not worth thousands of dollars. Sell or give away everything except pictures, insurance documents, and sentimental items or just keep what you want but get rid of everything else… because little by little it will go away anyway. I have kept very few things 20 years later now. Don’t put anything in a storage unit!
This is not new. I had to wade through sets of china, glassware etc., all prized possessions of the generation(s) who came before me. Sometimes it felt difficult to do so, but most of the time, it felt like a trip down memory lane with people who loved me. We should be so lucky that we should have such a problem in a world where so many have so little.
Say it again, louder, for the people in the back. Blaming Boomers for everything is just ageism...which is as bad as racism, and just as against the law.
@pushslice , blaming a generation of old people for a problem is ageist and bullying. There are plenty of people of all ages who buy too much junk and keep it. Tired of the answer to every problem being blame the Boomer. Look to yourself first, then look around. It's not just the people born from 1945 to 1964, thank you very much!
As a boomer, I find this offensive. And it offered absolutely no creative solutions for getting rid of clutter, other than adding to te landfill problem.
Absolutely correct. The woman "Expert" looks to be under 40, yet she proclaims to know it all when assessing older folks motivations for keeping "stuff". Why do these people spend countless hours sorting through every item, instead of renting a dumpster if the "old folks stuff" is unwanted and worthless? I'll tell you why: they think there is a pot of gold hidden in mom's basement. Criticsize the seniors for holding onto stuff, while hoping for a gold mine at the bottom of the pile. TV show "Storage Wars". was cempletely bogus, with the producers planting valuables. Nobody stops making payments on a storage unit that has valuable "stuff". Quit griping and just toss the "worthless" stuff you know it alls.
Seriously offensive. This wasn’t about the baby boomer generation having too much stuff. It was about a younger generation that at every turn lets us know they shouldn’t have to be put out to deal with something that interferes with their joy. They are literally suggesting it’s their right to start telling their parents, who are still very much warm and worked are their whole lives for what they have, to start clearing stuff out because they say so. And really, I’m tiring of “boomer” being used with general disdain for anyone older that they just don’t understand or relate to.
Oh get over it You all have too much meaningless stuff and it’s exhausting to take care of it all . Focus on your health and making new memories and ditch all the material things like those VHS tapes that are obsolete .
@@lyndajamrozik4786 some people enjoy collecting VHS tapes. There is something about what you grew up using that hits different. Like I love physical media and I am only 32. I collect things I grew up with so it isn't JUST baby boomers! It is like saying "stop using a cell phone because if we could live without it than so can you!" The things you value are probably considered junk to them. Try to see it from both sides...
No. You are selfish if you make us -- your children -- spend literally months if not years of our lives, sifting through all your accumulated stuff that we don't want. It's YOUR responsibility to deal with YOUR stuff. Not your children's.
Let’s remember that boomers didn’t have cell phones or computers so there are boxes and boxes of photos, records, cds, important papers etc that younger people now keep in their phones. Also things were very sentimental to us so we kept that stuff. I noticed that young people don’t get as sentimental over things given to them as much.
I was going to say the same thing! I bet if you look at the younger generations phones you’d have to say “How many photos of friggin meals you’ve eaten do you need”?!?!?!? 😂😂😂
My parents were depression era, there was so much stuff. I will not leave that job for anyone. It was so difficult sorting it out..emotionally… not gonna happen like that to those I leave behind. It made me a minimalist.
What a bunch of bull. I sell vintage and young people are snapping it up. They love the vibe and the quality. No cheap Chinese junk for these savvy shoppers, they know Grandma did it right! They’re using vintage along with contemporary to make their own esthetic
This. It's more sustainable to purchase vintage items that last longer than plastic crap. But be careful with some of the dishes, etc., because a lot of those post-war pre-70s items were made with lead. We don't want those items!
I agree baby boomers have a lot of stuff. I am one who is slowly getting rid of a lot of it. But it’s nonsense to imply that younger people don’t have just as much. I’ve been been in many millennial homes that are cluttered and crammed full of stuff. Take stock of your own things before slamming boomers. It’s not boomers that like stuff. It’s American that like stuff. Do you think all those Amazon packages are just going to older Americans? Is it old people who are driving fast fashion and the mountains of garbage it creates?
I'm a boomer and my father died 20 years ago. He wanted to me to take all the ktichen stuff, sterling silver (lots of it), and china etc. Then my siblings did not want the antiques in his bedroom that had been in the family for 150 years. He got teary-eyed that no one wanted them. So I told him, "Don't worry Dad, I'll give them a good home." If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't have taken a thing from his house. Nice stuff yes. But it is just stuff, and now my house feels like a damn museum. I've been slowly donating everything and getting it out of my house. It can be someone else's treasure. I am glad that I made my Dad happy towards the end. That is priceless to me. The stuff....not so much! To everyone out there who will pass away at some point, do your family a favor and don't burden your family with all your stuff. They will thank you to the heavens for not doing that. lol!
To the contrary, I wish I had some of my family antiques. Now I go to antique stores and estate sales etc and buy other’s antiques for my historic home. Those of us who love antiques appreciate people like you who save the good stuff!
@@AAdams-rm5vz I love antiques. I'd go antiquing with my grandmother all the time at a young age. But people have their own taste and want to do their own thing. I say if you don't want the "stuff" because it's all just stuff, put it back out in the market for someone else to enjoy.
@@DavidCarroll-t5g That's nice and yes, sterling silver. It can still be someone's else's stuff. I don't want to live my life polishing silver all the time. It's a pain. I also don't want to live my life thinking about how much stuff is worth. It's still stuff. Times have changed. One thing I think is wrong with this country is that Americans have to put a price on everything. They are fixated on the wrong values IMHO.
This is so condescending. The presenters have shady smiles and they're talking down to their children. Guess what??? I don't care if my children want my stuff, however while I'm still alive, I enjoy my stuff. I'm not a boomer, I'm a millennial. I'm not a hoarder but I do like my things. These presenters are talking about their parents like their little children. Throw it all away after your parents die if you don't want it. Stop talking down to them and trying to force them to live a way they don't want to.
I’m a young boomer. At this point, my siblings and I have emptied two houses of antiques and memories. It was fun to choose from our loved ones things! When you finish making your selections invite friends to help themselves…have a sale OR hire an estate sale co.
I'll be 60 in December, and for the last month, I've just been decluttering/destashing. I really didn't have a whole lot of stuff after I sold my house, but I love crafting so now I'm down to just making simple and quick cards and making jewelry. It feels so good to just have what I need because when that time comes, I dont want to burden my children
I like how Godding explained the influences that impacted boomers instead of just shaming them. My son recently explained to me that something I was having trouble getting rid of from his preschool years was something he had barely any memory of and didn't feel any emotional connection to. It is a Brio train table that a friend of mine made for me/him. It was a good reality check.
This story was so offensive and ageist. The slant seemed to be, “Downsize now as you’re old and will be dead soon, and no one wants to deal with your stuff…” Wow. Really? How about this instead. Older people are allowed to have and enjoy their possessions while living, just as anyone else is. The idea that a younger generation can dictate how someone else chooses to live their lives is absurd. Respect personal boundaries, personal space and a person’s own autonomy and decision-making power. Stop infantilizing older adults by downsizing their lives for your own convenience and control. Older people are living longer with full and vital lives that are valuable and worthwhile. They have possessions because they have lived longer and have naturally accumulated more things simply because they have had more years of life, though that’s not to say that accumulation cannot occur at any age with any generation. The ageism in the piece is so condescending and disappointing, but it is emblematic of our American society that is so ready to discard things and people in favor of youth and convenience. People need to stop trying to make decisions for others. Do better CBS. This was awful.
Look, if you don't want to go through the stuff or keep any of it then don't. Call an auctioneer or an estate sale company. They'll get the house empty and give you a fraction of what it's worth and you can move on. It seems interesting that the conversation is a woe is me because my thoughtless parents died or ended up in a nursing home and didn't throw away stuff I don't want. When my parents died I only wanted a few sentimental things, a needlepoint, a favorite print, a milk pitcher that belonged to my grandmother, etc. The rest went in an estate sale with the proceeds going to charity. I never complained because my parents left me with their stuff.
Do estate sale folks take the everyday "stuff" that's not worth anything? Sounds like it might be a lot of work to clean out the collection of mason jars in the basement or all the spare gardening tools that have rusted or the boxes of books from high school or all the craft supplies that weren't carefully curated and are unruly in the closet - you know, what we might call "junk" if it didn't belong to someone we loved and wouldn't say it to their face. Just wondering.
@@anneheath7181 I am a professional organizer & my company does this. We ensure that everything possible is donated to various charitable organization or individuals. Almost every bit of "everyday stuff" (unless truly damaged) is actually "worth" something (not $$$) to those who need or can use it. To use our company can be quite expensive, however.
@@anneheath7181I go to estate sales all of time. Typically they are held right in the home,so EVERYTHING is for sale. When my husband and I were younger,we had a cleaning business and I would buy the entire contents from under the kitchen sink for a few bucks.
@@jparrottmerrell I went to three middle schools and three different high schools (vagaries of moving a lot - military father) and the high school year books - well, I took photos of the few pages that mattered to me and the rest went to the town dump. Oh, so long ago.
I work for a small estate sale company in western Chicagoland. It’s a booming business (no pun intended). We are always surprised by the amount of stuff folks have. After a 2 or 3 day sale we always have a lot left for donations. Our clients make some money, and the house gets cleaned out. Yes we see some fantastic items, but we also fill dumpsters with mouse destroyed Christmas decorations or other “cherished” items, and junk. STORE STUFF IN PLASTIC BINS, NOT CARDBOARD BOXES. My advice to anyone thinking that they have too much stuff is have a sale, make some money, and enjoy a nice vacation. Some folks get to benefit from selling things, some folks don’t. Don’t burden your kids.
If your kids are burdened it means they are inheriting, like spoiled kids complaining. Don't leave it to them in your will. Leave it to charity. Then no more whining of spoiled entitled adult children.
True, I didn’t want all the stuff… but I am so glad I did keep some cherished items like their china, a few favorite teapots and a few albums with photos so that I could look back and remember and celebrate them.
There was no conversation with the kids.. When we sold the large 100-year-old house they grew up in that we had owned forever, we allowed everyone a chance to take what they wanted. Whatever was left, we sold or gave away. Then my wife and I moved to a much smaller home 500 miles south, where the winters are milder. We have very little left to sort through, except photos and keepsakes/mementos, and are happy to be junk-free. BTW, y’all seem very self-righteous and smarmy toward the Baby Boom generation. I only hope your children, if you have any, will be more respectful of their parents than you seem to be.
Described me perfectly. 😂 I’m a minimalist at heart but not in practice. My creative, depression era parents live on in my brain. Tin foil savers, makers of rubber band balls. My father was an original MacGyver. NOTHING must be wasted. EVERYTHING has potential. And there’s always the problem of adult children’s stuff while they are going through the nomadic phases of young adulthood. We just moved in our 60’s. STILL digging out. 😢 I get decision exhaustion very easily. Papers are the worst! That being said, I’m glad my parents didn’t purge. I took great comfort sorting through things after my father passed. I have all his art materials & as I advance in my own work it’s like getting to know him all over again. I come across some improvised tool and think, “ That’s what he was up to!” And I cherish his flannels, making quilts from them that we can wrap ourselves in. Mom passed things to us before she died, that she knew we wanted. Then everything else was usefully packed off without too much agonizing.
Leave the baby boomers alone! I’m so tired of people picking on their parents for having belongings. It was my honor to take care of my mother’s belongings after she passed. I made sure they found a good home. Kids got their hand out for the inheritance but don’t wanna deal with the estate. It’s mean and lazy.
I recognize that I have hoarder tendencies.. Im 62.. Im working on it, lol.. I realized that it must be a genetic trait because my mom, 82, who is now a widow..had moved into a very small house, maybe 1000 sq ft.. and theres barely enough room to walk.. Every wall has book cases and cabinets stuffed full with things piled on top.. The second bedroom has a bed, but you cant see it, you cant walk around it you can barely open the door.. Ive offered to help clear things out after my step dad passed 6 months ago.. But shes not willing to part with anything.. Says I can throw it out or whatever when she dies.. A lot if boxes full of 40yrs of paperwork.. she will spend hours trying to sort through one box.. finding receipts from when she went somewhere, or bought something 20yrs ago.. and it reminds her, and she spends 15 -20 mins telling me story about something she saw or did the day she bought a car, or went skiing.. lol. Yes, theres a china cabinet full of vintage glasses from the Apollo moon missions, depression glass she collected, Some crystal dish she bought when she actually got to meet Sarah Ferguson who was promoting Princess House brand at the time... Dear Lord . what am I going to do? My complaint is that I cannot thoroughly clean and dust the house, as packed as it is, and I surely cant hire someone else to do it.. Its her stuff, and if she wants to live surrounded by it all, who am I to tell her she cant.. But it does make me look around my own space, and it makes it easier for me to let go of things I havent worn or looked at, or used in the last couple years..
I try to practice Swedish Death Cleaning and be minimal in my home. My 76 year old mother, however, has already said I'm leaving it for you to deal with my stuff. She says it's not that much but because it's in cabinets and drawers "out of sight out of mind".
Wow, they're so selfish, aren't they? You can hire people to clear this stuff away now. They'll look for important docs, etc., so you don't have to worry. Just hire someone.
@@clarisahernandez5280 Ask yourself why she doesn't mind leaving you with the mess. It might not be because she doesn't care enough about you to leave you a burden. It could be because it is painful for her to bump up against her own limitations. In the early stages of cognitive loss, people are aware that they can't think things through and get overwhelmed mentally. It scares them. They close the door to that knowledge and wait.
Yes, I heard this 'it'll be your problem' from my 90 y/o MIL as I tried to help sort out her things to donate. She didn't speak to me for a year because I tossed out 1960s encyclopedia sets. I tried to donate them--but you know that no one wanted them. She unnecessarily hated me and that was a high price to pay for "helping." Now her sons get to do the rest of the work, because I'm done.
Idk.....in the last couple of decades, young people increasingly have to rent as opposed to eventually saving enough to buy, so they purge items every time they move---mainly due to rent increases forcing them to find cheaper living quarters. The end of most months is when the excess gets tossed into alleys, dumpsters and curbsides. Much of is well picked over before the garbage truck appears.
I know many women who are in their 30’s and early 40’s and I was stunned by their hoard of their parents stuff. I have minimal stuff and life is so much easier at 65!
Indeed. There are also younger generations than Boomers that hoard a lot of stuff like gadgets, keyboards for example. I came here after watching several keyboard reviews… The boomers I know don’t really hoard stuff. They do in fact dispose, reuse, recycle and give away some stuff. I wish people aren’t ageist (esp. the hosts) towards any generation.
My wife and I are 72. We have been married for 51 years and lived in the same house for 47 of those years. So I get it. But here's the thing, your stuff sometimes is valuable to you because of the stories connected behind it. Gifts, maybe because of who gave it, or who admired it when it was used. That is why no one wants it, they have no connection to the stories. The good china that was used when I was a child that we still use probably means nothing to my children. But I remember when it was bought and how excited my parents (Depression era children) were unpacking it and then using it each holiday. Everyone in my life that was important to me has eaten at least one Thanksgiving dinner from those plates. So when our time comes we hope our children will have some of their own memories of the things we have and they grew up with and maybe, just maybe, it will mean something to them to own some of it.
@roberthurley6860 You are so right! Hubby & I are near same age and approaching 30 years married, in same house. Son lives with us still (mid-20s), daughter has lived in another state since young childhood and is 17 years older than our son. We acquired some things when our respective parents passed. Neither child is likely to want, nor do they really care about the stuff we have. As you implied, they don't have the same stories or memories of the items or the people connected to them that I do. I doubt they'd even be interested in many of the photos I hold dearly - they have no first-hand connection and unless they develop a personal interest in genealogy, or my quilting, or past stamp collecting, the stuff will be scattered to the winds of donation drop-offs, or the local landfill. Oh, there may be a handful of things they'd want; daughter has expressed an interest in a few paintings I did; son would probably keep a game he played as a child with his grandma on our annual visits, but beyond that, not much else I fear. They create their own memories and associations from which they themselves will retain items or rid themselves of them.
I'm Gen X and keep hearing people, usually on shows like this or in articles saying that nobody wants your china or brown furniture. It's simply not true. There are collectors of all things. If you have nice, well made objects, somebody wants them. If you have cheesy, kitschy things that bring happy memories to someone they will buy them. I personally have started a collection of Mexican Feathercraft because when I was 3 years old my grandpa gave me a couple of unframed pieces and it reminds me of him. Black velvet Elvis paintings can sell for big money now. We all have memories and sometimes like objects that help us remember.
As a younger person, I wasn’t able to take things from my grandparents because I couldn’t move or house them. So it wasn’t that I didn’t want them- I just wasn’t in a position to take them. Now that I am, it’s too late. Also, there weren’t as many kids to take things. My older relatives all have between 5-12 siblings. The younger families have 1-4. That’s a lot of stuff to take on! Also, the things I cared about might not have been what they cared about. I was able to keep a set of not-fancy dishes. I loved them because my grandma had a sweet tooth and they were what she served ice cream from❤. They aren’t worth much but I have moved them with me many times. All the fancy china, big furniture, etc went to others or got sold. Some family members actually thought I didn’t care- the truth is that I believed it would be irresponsible for me to take the bigger/ nicer things at that time in my life. Now I am more settled, but I know I made the right decision at the time.
My parents died in the late 1980’s they were also collectors and sellers of antiques. I lived many thousands of miles away. My sister and I kept some stuff…in a storage unit until my sister’s house was built. We hired an estate agent and sold most of the “ treasures”. I have one piece that my father’s grandfather built and a piece from my dad’s high school shop class in the mid 30’s.
YES. I felt like they were talking about "us" like adults talk about kids. Oh woe are we, oh lack-a-day, whatever are we going to do with parents these days? Give me a break.
If you are left with a house full of stuff, call in some professional help. They are not emotionally connected to your stuff. Room by room select a couple item you want to keep and tell the pros to get rid of the rest; donate or landfill. Tell yourself, I am sending these items off where new people can get them and make new memories with them.
Hah, you have to go through everything. My dad would stick money in his record covers, etc. and I found gold jewelry “tucked away” and so forth. Boomers want to hold onto their stuff. My parents knew what their house and land was worth and they just figured that cleaning it out after their death, it took over a year, was the price I paid for my inheritance. I wanted five small things from my grandmother. I went through every box. Did I mention they had three bedrooms stacked to the ceiling with boxes and a three car garage and a double walled heated and air conditioned barn that was built to hold two RVs but was filled with boxes of both sets of my grandparents’ stuff they had never gone through: it was a nightmare.
@@j.j.9123 Your nightmare was due to greed. Everyone needs to figure out what their time is worth. You could have taken the five things that you wanted and let an estate company handle the rest. And yes, maybe one of those customers would then find a ten dollar bill inside a record album,but it wouldn’t have been your nightmare to deal with right? When my sister’s husband lost his job,I bought a huge bag of suits at a Goodwill bag sale for $5.00 for him and his boys to wear to church. He found $750.00 in one of the pockets,gave me $100.00 and considered the rest to be a gift from God,literally.
I have an avalanche of books, which I know my daughter won't want. I told her to take them to Half Price Books and make a little money. Otherwise, I have craft stuff that she can donate or sell. I've already given furniture away to family members so that all I own is a bed, a chair, three bookshelves and two craft shelves. And, my clothes would all fit in one suitcase, including my 4 pairs of shoes. I've been downsizing since my stroke and it feels great.
I read that article that they referenced by business insider. I sent it to both of my baby boomer parents. Neither of them had anything constructive to say back to me. I am so scared to deal with two houses packed to the hilts. 😩
I’m living the nightmare. I’m from the last year of boomers and I am cleaning up what my parents piled up. I am very close to just carting it off to the dump.
This is exactly what my parents are doing. So they dont leave me with an incredible amount to go through. They also already have what goes to whom. Its such an incredibly kind thing to do for your loved ones.
@@AubreePortune For decades, many have been thinking that all these things give them comfort and safety - once they start to reduce, they find it so relieving, the feel light and free without all the ballast, like you sometimes feel on vacation or in a holiday home.
Parents who are baby boomers did not go up with a lot of Internet so they are used to holding on to paper, when you can transform it to a digital presence. Add in people who are actual hoarders, and this can be a problem. We are cleaning out my father's stuff, now that he passed, and a year later, we are still into it. Do a little at a time so you don't get overwhelmed but keep at it.
Paper! Indeed...I am a paper keeper! And as a boomer, I don't trust that digitized records will survive (I've had computers crash without recovery), and I'm not trusting of "the cloud". I do try to back-up, but it's hit & miss. But back to the papers, it is often overwhelming to know what to keep & what to shred or toss...even with searching for "document retention" advice. I probably still have my tax returns from 1972 when I moved away from home!
I'm only in my 40's and realised this when I had to downsize ten years ago and I'm only just getting around to it. It's going to take months to reach my goal I don't know if my mum is as bad or better, she's got a load of stuff but has 3x the room
@@CEinCville Oh, me, too. There are some folks whose content I enjoy but I can't stand the up inflection at the end of most sentences - and this includes the lovely young clergywoman in our congregation. It's a struggle - but then, many things are - I have taken to being careful that I don't turn into "that old lady" who becomes garrulous when with others because of pent up conversatonal inclinationis. Oh, well, this is all "first world problems"
But there are people who want that stuff... some stuff, high quality antiquities is a real thing. And some of those super cool retro 50-70's styled stuff is cool!
@@calpurniabruchi5742 I just meant donate not dumpster. Selling would be nice and if the retired boomer wants to they might have the time. But to your point, my mom would try and donate the things that were just garbage, I didn't know it till doing volunteer work at the place the donations go and saw what they just trashed. So only donate unbroken/good quality things.
@@darinherrick9224 hahahaha... fair enough. You did just make me think of that line from Fight Club where Marlo talked about someone loving it intently for one single day then throwing it away.
Not everyone wants to get rid of everything. Talk to all the kids- might surprise you who wants to keep what. They aren't making anymore things your mom and dad used the rest of your life. I feel special using my parents kitchen towel or whisk or tool, and have room to store it... its comforting to know i have things of theirs. Extra mementos, pictures, tools and kitchen stuff etc to go through in my kids life later too. Not for everyone, but once it's gone it never can come back. I am currently sitting among 50 boxes of their stuff at my home since their house sold. I'm also glad they didn't have to get rid of it and they kept their house full and happy until the day they left this earth. I feel in honor of doing it for them. It's not a burden. ❤
Fortunately my Mom and step-father took care of this on their own. We helped them execute some of the tasks but they drove the process. Not so when my father passed away while I was in high school. My Mom and my brother and I were left with an arduous amount of cleaning up our property (outside) and storage and garage from what was left behind. Probably when my Mom figured this out. My in laws are the opposite. Acquire is the only word whose definition they understood. And now that he’s passed we’re dealing with her trying to deal with it for her first time. And that’s only after more than a year went by and we were able to get her to stop adding to what she now realizes is herself doing it to herself. Needless to say my wife and I are practically minimalists! :-)
I have already talked with my kinds and laid out plans for disposing of my 2 collections. I have given them family things that they want and they are free to dispose of my stuff. It helps that I got rid of most family stuff when I moved across country.
Interesting. My mother was the silent generation. I'm a boomer. I help her auction of loads of stuff. And she kept a lot too. Moved to a 2 bedroom duplex. I'm organizing pictures and re establishing ties to photos of family before that went through hard times. And I actually gained very well made home furniture that can't be made today to last. It gives me hope and security in my life.
No problem here. I downsized to a condo years ago and am getting rid of stuff slowly. Hopefully, it should be bare bones (not needing my storage area at all downstairs) in the next few years. Except for the pile I’m working on in my office, there is no clutter/junk.
I’m a baby boomer, born 1955…. My sister was born 1946, believe or not we can think for ourselves and figure out downsizing on our own. Then next generation needs to over their know it all-ness. Be honest and respectful and tell your parents you don’t want anything, they will get it because we went through it with our parents. I found the general attitude of the hosts and their guest insulting. I hope your parents weren’t watching.
I am a baby boomer. I live a simple, minimalistic lifestyle. My house is definitely not cluttered. Not filled with any knick knacks. I already told my 88 year old mother I don't want any of her stuff. I plan to call a junk company and have everything hauled away.
@@AAdams-rm5vz Some "junk companies" probably say they will clear out the home for free and all the while are going to sell everything. It's their business and they make money, so good for them not having things going to a landfill and to be used instead.
Bring it up over the Holidays??? You are going over to your mom’s house, which she will clean and prepare for your visit. Sit down at her nice dining table and eat off the good china, and then look her in the eye and tell her she should downsize and get rid of stuff because you don’t want to be bothered? Good luck with that.
I’ve been to some estate sales in really big nice homes & small post WW2 homes. They all seem to have had women who went wild with China, Hummels, holiday decor, glassware & assorted linens. Just amazing the amount of money spent on stuff that no one wants now. 😢
In the future, younger generations will see beanie babies and Funko Pop collectables. Though I'd personally keep the china modern dishes are to big and don't stack right.
When I go to an estate sale with rooms full of holiday decor (Easter, 4th of July, Halloween,Thanksgiving, CHRISTMAS…) I think how much $ and mental energy and time did this woman spend acquiring, packing/unpacking, setup and storing it. At the same time, I’ve had my grandmother’s China for 40 yrs and haven’t used it in all that time. Don’t remember her ever using it either. Probably 70 years old now.
Omg..my Grandmother had SO MUCH GLASSWEAR! It was enough to go around and then some…but it’s fun to use some of it on holidays and have her still there in a way.
I have my mom's LR and DR all of it maple, "brown", furniture from Ethan Allen. Reupholstered the LR in dark brown pleather and left off the skirting, making it look MCM. All of it is the authentic Mid Century Colonial from the 50s and 60s. I bought four pieces to finish out the set; one is a little chest of drawers made in the same plant that made the chest for President Eisenhower. It's like living in a doll house. Likely consign if one of the kids don't want the set.
Our first obstacle is what to do with all the stuff we got from OUR parents and, in my case, grandparents. Our kids have been very clear: they want none of it and don’t have room for it even if they did.
I just spent a few hundred at an estate sale on amazing Fenton, Waterford and Baccarat. I got dozens of pieces to resell. There is a huge seller market for some of these items depending on the item, style and condition.
They didn’t know what they had. I sold all that. It was the hundreds of Hummel figurines and Christmas house, with duplicates still in original boxes that didn’t bring in the money it took to deal with them.
The stuff in my boomer home CAME FROM OUR parents homes or they bought it for us.. I had purged so much from my house during 2020. My house looked great and lean. THEN my folks and in laws needed to be cleaned out. Many items are collectable and do sell. IT has become my retirement job! Something goes out every day, sales, donations or open a box and go thru it.... All the warm fleece coats and boots have already gone to North Carolina post hurricane. Housewares will go when called for in the community we are helping. I have already thrown out the obvious junk. I have found old family documents and records I did not know existed. I wish my folks would shown them to me and shared the history while alive.
Funny thing is "they" say no one wants our stuff. But who's buying all that vintage stuff at thrift stores and online at sites like eBay and at garage sales??? 🤔
A real negative spin on boomers. Thanks. Sorry some parents are so much work. Btw i have down sized. My children are ok with what hassles they will be lrft with.
I am a young boomer. Do I have more stuff than I need? Yes, probably. My house is neat, there is a place for everything, I regularly purge, but someday, what is left will still be a job for my children. I plan on living another 30 years or so, and hoping I will stay physically healthy enough that it will be in my home, so, no, I will not be getting rid of the things that make my house a joyful and welcoming home. To frame this as a boomer problem is erroneous. I know plenty of people in younger generations who have WAY more stuff than I. It’s fine to talk about not leaving a burden of excess stuff for our heirs to deal with, but let’s not make it about ‘boomers’.
We are going through this with my MIL. She is battling cancer, and in the mindset currently of giving things away to her kids and grandkids. I haven't been sure how to navigate this conversation. I personally do not want any of her things. It is very emotional for her, and she has a lot of sentimentality attached to many things.
A few years ago, I started doing frugal minimalism and I have decluttered a great deal of my house plus knocked down two huge storage buildings that were chucked full of junk and treasures. But I had to be very firm as my friends and relatives kept buying me gifts that started piling up. I now insist that they only buy me things I can use up like coffees, lotions or gift certificates. For my birthday a few years ago, they paid for a dental procedure! My son-in-law fretted that it was kind if hard to gift wrap!😊
We are in our 70s and I actually began de-cluttering 25 years ago and I am still at it. The easy stuff went first. With each de-cluttering there always was a "keep": pile. Now I am in the "keep" pile and there are two categories that kept items in the "keep" pile, emotional attachment and the idea I might need it someday. We are financially comfortable so with this current round "the might need it someday" pile is going away. We can afford to buy something if the need comes up. The emotional attachment pile is a little harder but the only criteria I have for it is would anyone in the family want it? Truth be told, the answer is no. No one cares about our stuff but us. So it is time to let it go so someone else does not have to do it.
I went tiny 9 years ago. I got a fraction of my mother's stuff after her death. It was good I have 5 more siblings. I did make a Christmas tree skirt out of Dad's ties. I have some more sentimental items that make my tiny place too full. I have also written books about organizing. It's crazy how things change.
After my dad died, a woman from a professional auction house came to look at all the stuff. She said there were 10,000 items in the house. It took me over a year to get rid of most of it.
For years before my grandparents passed away they had a system. If anyone was interested in an item we would have to let my grandfather know. He would then place a piece of tape with that persons name on it on the item. It had to be in his handwriting to be valid. It worked really, really well when my grandparents passed away. Everyone collected what their name was on, there were no issues, and the fun part is that I still have my grandfathers stickers on my items.
Anyone who believes that this is just a Boomer problem has clearly never watched "Hoarders".
8 years ago I was the 'one who cleared out my depression-era parents' 4,000 square foot home. It took me 2 years to clear the house, coordinate the repairs needed to sell the house and finally took care of the sales process. When I completed that I decided I needed to downsize my own living situation and did so within a year at age 60. I've since downsized again and now live in a 2 bedroom condo and my life is no longer controlled by my house and my stuff. Life is a lot simpler for me at 66 than my parents' lives at the same age.
Oh the same task fell on me when I had to clear out my parents home. It was overwhelming and at times guilt ridden because there were things I knew had meaning to them that I would never want or use but they had expressed I would enjoy them as much as they did. My husband is already 70 and I'm fast approaching. We have downsized and organized things into labeled Rubber Maid containers that are still on a difficult to let go of just yet but will be easy to sort through if we ever need to move again. Should we go ahead and die, the kids all know exactly what is here and we've made it easy to do what they want with the remainder of items. Our children have already thanked us for the work. Hopefully we have simplified things for them.
@@krisdiperna3929 I wish my mother would have been so kind to us.
My mom being 1 of 13 was a pack rat and so were her siblings and aunts and uncles. my mother-in-law is a packrat. I have had to clean out my parents various homes more times than I care to talk about, plus help clear out other relatives. I will not do that to anybody. all this stuff that you keep just become someone else's problem and it's unfair.
@@janelledowney man - good for you !
I am so proud of you !
I had to clean out my mom and dads and stepmom’s homes and it was a huge hassle and I will never place value on material things - my health and adventuring is my top priority.
You can’t see the road if you’re too busy looking in the rear view mirror and the past . Gotta move forward .
My MIL is obsessed with all her worthless stuff and it’s exhausting - it totally encourages me to pare down now and make vacation plans .
Baby boomer stuff is made better then the plastic junk of today !
Agreed!
Everybody collects stuff, not just boomers.
I imagine one day there will be a bunch of kids saying the same thing about all the Star Wars and comic book stuff, er, I mean collectables 😁 that their parents have
@@justdiane5 Right? They too will become old and sentimental about their comic book/manga, figurine, keyboard, etc. collections. I wish people just stop being ageist.
Only in America could people complain about having too much stuff at the same time they complain about not having enough money to buy more stuff.
So completely true!
It’s because they are like my sister was they don’t want to take care of their parents or manage the estate they just want you to take care of everything fast so they can have their share of the estate because everyone no matter the generation just wants the money that other people have earned and invested 🤣🤣🤣🍺🍺🍺🍺.
I am a baby boomer and a minimalist at heart. My kids will have an easy time cleaning out my stuff because I declutter on a regular basis.
My parents are the same - it truly is a gift! As a Gen Xer with three kiddos (teens and young adult), I’m taking page from my parents’ book and trying to keep things minimal as well.
My MIL was a boomer and mostly a minimalist. It was a blessing when her house, that she'd been in for 50 years had to be sold.
I agree with the idea of downsizing but I found the hosts comments at the beginning and throughout very condescending.
My parents lived in the same house for 55 years. That house contained: their stuff, stuff from both grandmas (both had passed away decades earlier), and stuff from my uncle (passed away decades ago). It took me six months to sort through, give away, sell, and donate everything in that house. Family members took some of it, but the vast majority was just given away or sold at bargain prices. I went through every single drawer, every box, every container, every closet, an entire basement and single-car garage, to make sure I wasn't discarding something valuable. It was a full-time job to find homes for everything, and to discard as little as possible.
That must have been very emotional, especially when you find photos you never saw when they were young and you were a baby.
Not sure why people always make everything about themselves. Are they looking for congratulations? A medal? Money? Sympathy? Perhaps a better question is, why do they think the rest of us care?
@@Mr21scott I care ❤
Obviously you do, you took your precious time to comment.
Have a nice day. 🌞
@@Mr21scott scroll on if you don’t like a comment or go troll your rudeness somewhere else. Some of us are currently dealing with this very situation and it helps to know we’re not alone.
NOPE. You won't miss valuables unless your loved one was so mentally off that they squirreled away diamonds in the sugar bowl. Sell the silver and toss the rest. Nobody has valuable artwork or anything like it. Your time is worth more than what is in that drawer. Just toss it all.
we had been married for four years when my husband's grandmother offered us the 'old farm" that she could no longer maintain and told us we could have it or she would have to sell it. Two months later we moved in. It was built in 1790, and the stress was beginning to show. I went through every drawer, every inch of attic, graced the Salvation Army with a lot of stuff, cleaned out the junk, restored a lot, and 50+ years later it's eminently livable, comfortable, and well worth the effort. We tried not to change too much, so it was a careful restoration. We put the land and buildings into an easement, so whoever gets it won't be turning it into a gated community or trailer park. They were savers, in those days, and little was thrown out, which gave me plenty of options. =)
No regrets.
Whatever you do, do NOT sell that farm!!!! Especially to "developers"
I’m an “older” baby boomer. We downsized about two years ago to move “across the country” and into a much smaller condo to be closer to our adult children. Downsizing was hard, painful and time consuming, I’m glad it is behind us. Completion is “freeing” for the boomers as well. It is amazing how much stuff you don’t need
And you did your adult kids a HUGE favor
I think that this is quite funny. It never has occurred to me to say anything at all to my parents about anything they have accumulated.
I understand that it is absolutely none of my business. You see I didn’t earn the money or purchase the items.
It’s interesting that young adults now feel entitled to give voice to their own preferences. I have found that if I manage and take care of my own life, I have a full time job. It’s called minding your own business and respecting your parents.
I wonder how many young adults want their parents to come over and give advice about their homes. I wonder how that would go over lol😂
AMEN.
Totally agree. The furniture we as Boomers bought or inherited is solid and excellent quality built - meant to last. Styles change yes, and come around again. I’d say it’s much more attractive than the cheap disposable IKEA stuff in gray, black or white that millennials and Gen Z wants. Their houses look so sterile with no personal touches, like a hotel.
@@christinaford1801 I'm Gen X. I so agree on your assessment/my dislike of the current trend (which probably has been around for fifteen years at this point in time): grey walls/white trim/GLASS kitchen tile/drab-colored upholstery. I have furniture from every decade from the 1910s through the 1960s that I inherited that I actually use/not stored away. The older furniture is definitely better quality. Never liked that newer sterile look. That seems to be the go-to look for EVERYONE today particularly when a house is being sold. Years ago there were so many looks: eclectic, formal, Early American, country, contemporary. Today there seems to be one look and it permeates homes and restaurants.
I know what you mean, but I have pretty much that situation here. War-Era grandparents who had almost nothing left (European) and held on to everything. Parents who hat the sudden option to buy all fun gadgets in the 80s and me, trying to declutter the stuff of 3 grandparents and our childhood things *with* my parents. So I'm absolutely talking to them if they really want to keep the things that got put in a cupboard 15 years ago and stayed there since bc I don't want another multi-year clean-out in my future.
@ I understand but think of it like a best friend your own age. You may have coffee with your best friend in her home and would never comment on clutter or the way she organizes her home.
With family it’s the same. It’s okay to help declutter if they approach you first or ask for help. Otherwise I believe it’s crossing a boundary. Focus on spending time together and let the other thought go. It doesn’t really matter about possessions. There are many charities who will gladly pick up unwanted items when cleaning out a home if a loved one who has passed away.
God bless you and your family!!❤️
I’m tired of people generalizing about “baby boomers.” I think it’s more about how long people have been accumulating, rather than what generation they’re in. I was born in 1950 but I’ve periodically switched careers and/or moved, so I’ve avoided collecting massive amounts of stuff that had to be moved.
My dad was a Methodist minister, then a high school teacher, and later he and my mom started a used bookstore. The longest we lived in one house when I was a kid was four years. When they retired they bought a double-wide mobile, and the only things they collected were books and classical music records. So when Dad developed dementia and moved in with me, he brought only his favorite chair, bookcases, books, music, and the family photo albums.
Only one of my baby boomer friends has an overstuffed house. Whereas if you ever watched the Clean Sweep show you’d know that too much stuff can be a serious challenge for young couples or families. It’s a legitimate problem. But it’s not just a BB problem.
A lot of Boomers have already died.
Some of them in the 80s/90s from HIV/AIDs. Or the usual suspects: cancer and heart disease.
Not sure many are considering things like that.
I hear you. Of course it’s not “every baby boomer” and excluding anyone who is not. It’s a generalization which is backed by data. However older generations had more stuff when they were my age than me and family members my generation do. Does that make sense? Like we in our early 40’s don’t have china hutches, nickname, multiple sets of dishes or multiple Christmas decorations or walk in closets full of clothes 2 sizes too small and 20 years old, but our moms/aunts did when they were 40. And also I think baby boomers have more stuff than their parents did at their age - as a generalization
Same. I've moved a lot. So I haven't collected anything other than books.
@@wplants9793 Agreed. They also have to take into consideration their audience and stage of life. Gen Z isn't watching this nor are their parents leaving them property in great numbers yet. In addition, negative engagement is still engagement so all of the individualists yelling about "I'm a boomer and I don't do this one thing that a statistically significant amount of my age cohorts do!" is just as beneficial to the show and social media channel's numbers as comments praising them.
As a boomer, I can say our parents and grandparents also left us a houseful of belongings. They also stayed in their homes for many many years. They all asked us if we would like to have certain items and happily gave them to us while they were still living. I think it has more to do with personality traits. Some people like to keep things light & minimal and others enjoy having more items of memories. Whichever, everyone needs to do what makes them happy & comfortable. If they're ready to downsize, then help them. If it's important for them to keep things, let them do so.
This is NOT just a boomer thing - families have been going thru these situations since time began ! It's also not necessarily a collector or " hoarder " situation either - quite simply , there are things that families will go to court over & other things that immediately go in the trash . Sentimental ? Valuable ? Keeping an item out of spite just so a sibling won't get it ? Keeping too much out of guilt ? Giving up or not caring either way & just chucking it all ? Decisions , decisions , decisions ... 🤔
Better said than the reporters…
@@jdcv17 Thanks . Something that as we grow older we must learn to deal with , hopefully w/ patience & at least a modicum of decorum . 🥰
To call it "boomer stuff" is rather dismissive. They are our parents and grandparents. A little respect, please.
Emptied my parents home 4 yrs ago and came home to my husband of 44 yrs and said…”we will NEVER do this to our kids!” Last four years we have gotten rid of 75% of our stuff. What a relief. Our grown children in their 40’s DID NOT WANT OUR STUFF, just like I did not want my parent’s stuff. My husband donated $5000 worth of tools to the VA and they were thrilled. We donated, gave away and threw away. We are so happy.
I’m 70 years old and everything I own can fit into my 2013 Ford Edge.
I am not getting rid of the things that I love while I still enjoy them- if my kids throw them all away after I die, then that’s up to them, but I’m not eating off of paper plates and throwing my mother and grandmothers diaries away.
I don't think anyone is suggesting you get rid of things that give you joy -- or that you eat off paper plates. Get a grip.
I agree. I am a maximalist, and I enjoy my stuff!
@@amandatrayes5272 probably a rage bait comment, who didn't get the message that these posts got overused on marie condo and are boring...
I can help with this. When my mother passed away in 2004, I put everything in storage, for 10 years, at $100+ a month. Do the math. No, the maple furniture is not worth thousands of dollars. Sell or give away everything except pictures, insurance documents, and sentimental items or just keep what you want but get rid of everything else… because little by little it will go away anyway. I have kept very few things 20 years later now. Don’t put anything in a storage unit!
Yeah, storage units? Forget about it.
This is not new. I had to wade through sets of china, glassware etc., all prized possessions of the generation(s) who came before me. Sometimes it felt difficult to do so, but most of the time, it felt like a trip down memory lane with people who loved me. We should be so lucky that we should have such a problem in a world where so many have so little.
I am so sick of my generation being accused of society ills.
Wow… more complaining. 🙄
Say it again, louder, for the people in the back. Blaming Boomers for everything is just ageism...which is as bad as racism, and just as against the law.
@@pushslice, no, pushing back on ageist bullying.
@@avengingemmapeel
Come on now; we are all adults here.
that’s complaining.
@pushslice , blaming a generation of old people for a problem is ageist and bullying. There are plenty of people of all ages who buy too much junk and keep it. Tired of the answer to every problem being blame the Boomer. Look to yourself first, then look around. It's not just the people born from 1945 to 1964, thank you very much!
As a boomer, I find this offensive. And it offered absolutely no creative solutions for getting rid of clutter, other than adding to te landfill problem.
Absolutely correct. The woman "Expert" looks to be under 40, yet she proclaims to know it all when assessing older folks motivations for keeping "stuff". Why do these people spend countless hours sorting through every item, instead of renting a dumpster if the "old folks stuff" is unwanted and worthless? I'll tell you why: they think there is a pot of gold hidden in mom's basement. Criticsize the seniors for holding onto stuff, while hoping for a gold mine at the bottom of the pile. TV show "Storage Wars". was cempletely bogus, with the producers planting valuables. Nobody stops making payments on a storage unit that has valuable "stuff". Quit griping and just toss the "worthless" stuff you know it alls.
Seriously offensive. This wasn’t about the baby boomer generation having too much stuff. It was about a younger generation that at every turn lets us know they shouldn’t have to be put out to deal with something that interferes with their joy. They are literally suggesting it’s their right to start telling their parents, who are still very much warm and worked are their whole lives for what they have, to start clearing stuff out because they say so. And really, I’m tiring of “boomer” being used with general disdain for anyone older that they just don’t understand or relate to.
ABSOLUTELY AGREE. This was the epitome of age-ist.
Oh get over it
You all have too much meaningless stuff and it’s exhausting to take care of it all .
Focus on your health and making new memories and ditch all the material things like those VHS tapes that are obsolete .
I agree and really feel that ageism is the last untreated ism. This “story” was so patronizing
@@lyndajamrozik4786 some people enjoy collecting VHS tapes. There is something about what you grew up using that hits different. Like I love physical media and I am only 32. I collect things I grew up with so it isn't JUST baby boomers! It is like saying "stop using a cell phone because if we could live without it than so can you!" The things you value are probably considered junk to them. Try to see it from both sides...
No. You are selfish if you make us -- your children -- spend literally months if not years of our lives, sifting through all your accumulated stuff that we don't want. It's YOUR responsibility to deal with YOUR stuff. Not your children's.
Let’s remember that boomers didn’t have cell phones or computers so there are boxes and boxes of photos, records, cds, important papers etc that younger people now keep in their phones. Also things were very sentimental to us so we kept that stuff. I noticed that young people don’t get as sentimental over things given to them as much.
Totally! My daughter has not one sentimental bone in her body
I was going to say the same thing! I bet if you look at the younger generations phones you’d have to say “How many photos of friggin meals you’ve eaten do you need”?!?!?!? 😂😂😂
My parents were depression era, there was so much stuff. I will not leave that job for anyone. It was so difficult sorting it out..emotionally… not gonna happen like that to those I leave behind. It made me a minimalist.
What a bunch of bull. I sell vintage and young people are snapping it up. They love the vibe and the quality. No cheap Chinese junk for these savvy shoppers, they know Grandma did it right! They’re using vintage along with contemporary to make their own esthetic
So maybe they’ll want my mother’s china???
This. It's more sustainable to purchase vintage items that last longer than plastic crap. But be careful with some of the dishes, etc., because a lot of those post-war pre-70s items were made with lead. We don't want those items!
But wouldn't that vintage stuff be the generation before the Baby Boomers?
@@daveassanowicz186 1946-1964 baby boom
Anyone who was faed with cleaning out a relative's house can sell the stuff. It's just an incredible amount of work.
I agree baby boomers have a lot of stuff. I am one who is slowly getting rid of a lot of it. But it’s nonsense to imply that younger people don’t have just as much. I’ve been been in many millennial homes that are cluttered and crammed full of stuff. Take stock of your own things before slamming boomers. It’s not boomers that like stuff. It’s American that like stuff. Do you think all those Amazon packages are just going to older Americans? Is it old people who are driving fast fashion and the mountains of garbage it creates?
I'm a boomer and my father died 20 years ago. He wanted to me to take all the ktichen stuff, sterling silver (lots of it), and china etc. Then my siblings did not want the antiques in his bedroom that had been in the family for 150 years. He got teary-eyed that no one wanted them. So I told him, "Don't worry Dad, I'll give them a good home." If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't have taken a thing from his house. Nice stuff yes. But it is just stuff, and now my house feels like a damn museum. I've been slowly donating everything and getting it out of my house. It can be someone else's treasure. I am glad that I made my Dad happy towards the end. That is priceless to me. The stuff....not so much! To everyone out there who will pass away at some point, do your family a favor and don't burden your family with all your stuff. They will thank you to the heavens for not doing that. lol!
To the contrary, I wish I had some of my family antiques. Now I go to antique stores and estate sales etc and buy other’s antiques for my historic home. Those of us who love antiques appreciate people like you who save the good stuff!
@@AAdams-rm5vz I love antiques. I'd go antiquing with my grandmother all the time at a young age. But people have their own taste and want to do their own thing. I say if you don't want the "stuff" because it's all just stuff, put it back out in the market for someone else to enjoy.
Lots of sterling silver? Silver has been rising steadily in past year; a sterling spoon - not silverplate - can fetch $29.00 (Oct 2024).
I feel for you. I'm glad I decided to downsize when I did; before it became a burden to my family.
@@DavidCarroll-t5g That's nice and yes, sterling silver. It can still be someone's else's stuff. I don't want to live my life polishing silver all the time. It's a pain. I also don't want to live my life thinking about how much stuff is worth. It's still stuff. Times have changed. One thing I think is wrong with this country is that Americans have to put a price on everything. They are fixated on the wrong values IMHO.
This is so condescending. The presenters have shady smiles and they're talking down to their children. Guess what??? I don't care if my children want my stuff, however while I'm still alive, I enjoy my stuff. I'm not a boomer, I'm a millennial. I'm not a hoarder but I do like my things. These presenters are talking about their parents like their little children. Throw it all away after your parents die if you don't want it. Stop talking down to them and trying to force them to live a way they don't want to.
I’m a young boomer. At this point, my siblings and I have emptied two houses of antiques and memories. It was fun to choose from our loved ones things! When you finish making your selections invite friends to help themselves…have a sale OR hire an estate sale co.
You can cry as you go through the things and remember the holidays, etc. 😭
I'll be 60 in December, and for the last month, I've just been decluttering/destashing. I really didn't have a whole lot of stuff after I sold my house, but I love crafting so now I'm down to just making simple and quick cards and making jewelry. It feels so good to just have what I need because when that time comes, I dont want to burden my children
Don’t let these people make you feel bad because they try to! Not all baby boomers have giant junk collections in their house as they say we do
I make cards and some jewelry too 😊
I like how Godding explained the influences that impacted boomers instead of just shaming them. My son recently explained to me that something I was having trouble getting rid of from his preschool years was something he had barely any memory of and didn't feel any emotional connection to. It is a Brio train table that a friend of mine made for me/him. It was a good reality check.
This story was so offensive and ageist. The slant seemed to be, “Downsize now as you’re old and will be dead soon, and no one wants to deal with your stuff…” Wow. Really? How about this instead. Older people are allowed to have and enjoy their possessions while living, just as anyone else is. The idea that a younger generation can dictate how someone else chooses to live their lives is absurd. Respect personal boundaries, personal space and a person’s own autonomy and decision-making power. Stop infantilizing older adults by downsizing their lives for your own convenience and control.
Older people are living longer with full and vital lives that are valuable and worthwhile. They have possessions because they have lived longer and have naturally accumulated more things simply because they have had more years of life, though that’s not to say that accumulation cannot occur at any age with any generation. The ageism in the piece is so condescending and disappointing, but it is emblematic of our American society that is so ready to discard things and people in favor of youth and convenience. People need to stop trying to make decisions for others. Do better CBS. This was awful.
You say it all!
I agree
Yes, indeed, it was terrible.
Look, if you don't want to go through the stuff or keep any of it then don't. Call an auctioneer or an estate sale company. They'll get the house empty and give you a fraction of what it's worth and you can move on. It seems interesting that the conversation is a woe is me because my thoughtless parents died or ended up in a nursing home and didn't throw away stuff I don't want. When my parents died I only wanted a few sentimental things, a needlepoint, a favorite print, a milk pitcher that belonged to my grandmother, etc. The rest went in an estate sale with the proceeds going to charity. I never complained because my parents left me with their stuff.
Do estate sale folks take the everyday "stuff" that's not worth anything? Sounds like it might be a lot of work to clean out the collection of mason jars in the basement or all the spare gardening tools that have rusted or the boxes of books from high school or all the craft supplies that weren't carefully curated and are unruly in the closet - you know, what we might call "junk" if it didn't belong to someone we loved and wouldn't say it to their face. Just wondering.
@@anneheath7181 The people we used did. They emptied the house.
@@anneheath7181 I am a professional organizer & my company does this. We ensure that everything possible is donated to various charitable organization or individuals. Almost every bit of "everyday stuff" (unless truly damaged) is actually "worth" something (not $$$) to those who need or can use it. To use our company can be quite expensive, however.
@@anneheath7181I go to estate sales all of time. Typically they are held right in the home,so EVERYTHING is for sale. When my husband and I were younger,we had a cleaning business and I would buy the entire contents from under the kitchen sink for a few bucks.
Wow poor them, your parents need more respect than this show is providing. This is ageism at it's finest.
Absolutely!
You mean I WON’T ever use my college textbooks from 40 years ago? I may want to “brush up my Shakespeare!” Lol
I gave away my high school yearbooks. Didn’t see any point in sitting around reminiscing about a past that wasn’t my present anymore.
@@jparrottmerrell I have mine, small school, classmates all very close with regular reunions and meet-ups. Sadly, many have now passed.
@@jparrottmerrell I went to three middle schools and three different high schools (vagaries of moving a lot - military father) and the high school year books - well, I took photos of the few pages that mattered to me and the rest went to the town dump. Oh, so long ago.
Stop the Boomer bashing!
Just remember, in 30 years your children will be talking about you and your things in the same way. Then you will know how this feels.
I agree. I never insulted my parents' collections this way. Why is nastiness tolerated on TV? It is stereotyping at its worst.
“You buy it for parents, you inherit it”. Makes us think twice.
I work for a small estate sale company in western Chicagoland. It’s a booming business (no pun intended). We are always surprised by the amount of stuff folks have. After a 2 or 3 day sale we always have a lot left for donations. Our clients make some money, and the house gets cleaned out. Yes we see some fantastic items, but we also fill dumpsters with mouse destroyed Christmas decorations or other “cherished” items, and junk. STORE STUFF IN PLASTIC BINS, NOT CARDBOARD BOXES. My advice to anyone thinking that they have too much stuff is have a sale, make some money, and enjoy a nice vacation. Some folks get to benefit from selling things, some folks don’t. Don’t burden your kids.
If your kids are burdened it means they are inheriting, like spoiled kids complaining. Don't leave it to them in your will. Leave it to charity. Then no more whining of spoiled entitled adult children.
@annsalty5615That’s what I say. I’ll keep whatever I like. They’ll have to get rid of some things, but they’ll also get a home.
True, I didn’t want all the stuff… but I am so glad I did keep some cherished items like their china, a few favorite teapots and a few albums with photos so that I could look back and remember and celebrate them.
There was no conversation with the kids.. When we sold the large 100-year-old house they grew up in that we had owned forever, we allowed everyone a chance to take what they wanted. Whatever was left, we sold or gave away. Then my wife and I moved to a much smaller home 500 miles south, where the winters are milder. We have very little left to sort through, except photos and keepsakes/mementos, and are happy to be junk-free. BTW, y’all seem very self-righteous and smarmy toward the Baby Boom generation. I only hope your children, if you have any, will be more respectful of their parents than you seem to be.
Described me perfectly. 😂 I’m a minimalist at heart but not in practice. My creative, depression era parents live on in my brain. Tin foil savers, makers of rubber band balls. My father was an original MacGyver. NOTHING must be wasted. EVERYTHING has potential. And there’s always the problem of adult children’s stuff while they are going through the nomadic phases of young adulthood. We just moved in our 60’s. STILL digging out. 😢 I get decision exhaustion very easily. Papers are the worst!
That being said, I’m glad my parents didn’t purge. I took great comfort sorting through things after my father passed. I have all his art materials & as I advance in my own work it’s like getting to know him all over again. I come across some improvised tool and think, “ That’s what he was up to!” And I cherish his flannels, making quilts from them that we can wrap ourselves in. Mom passed things to us before she died, that she knew we wanted. Then everything else was usefully packed off without too much agonizing.
Your second paragraph says a lot. Minimizing doesn't mean purging. Nor should it.
Leave the baby boomers alone! I’m so tired of people picking on their parents for having belongings. It was my honor to take care of my mother’s belongings after she passed. I made sure they found a good home. Kids got their hand out for the inheritance but don’t wanna deal with the estate. It’s mean and lazy.
Yes!
I recognize that I have hoarder tendencies.. Im 62.. Im working on it, lol.. I realized that it must be a genetic trait because my mom, 82, who is now a widow..had moved into a very small house, maybe 1000 sq ft.. and theres barely enough room to walk.. Every wall has book cases and cabinets stuffed full with things piled on top.. The second bedroom has a bed, but you cant see it, you cant walk around it you can barely open the door.. Ive offered to help clear things out after my step dad passed 6 months ago.. But shes not willing to part with anything.. Says I can throw it out or whatever when she dies.. A lot if boxes full of 40yrs of paperwork.. she will spend hours trying to sort through one box.. finding receipts from when she went somewhere, or bought something 20yrs ago.. and it reminds her, and she spends 15 -20 mins telling me story about something she saw or did the day she bought a car, or went skiing.. lol. Yes, theres a china cabinet full of vintage glasses from the Apollo moon missions, depression glass she collected, Some crystal dish she bought when she actually got to meet Sarah Ferguson who was promoting Princess House brand at the time... Dear Lord . what am I going to do? My complaint is that I cannot thoroughly clean and dust the house, as packed as it is, and I surely cant hire someone else to do it.. Its her stuff, and if she wants to live surrounded by it all, who am I to tell her she cant.. But it does make me look around my own space, and it makes it easier for me to let go of things I havent worn or looked at, or used in the last couple years..
Don't have this conversation during the holidays. Do it during a less hectic time and know that it won't be a "one and done" event.
This boomer just had my house flooded and my poor kids had to help deal with it all. No more , I’m getting rid of things now !
Flood: a blessing in disguise?
I was thinking: natural disasters & evictions.
I try to practice Swedish Death Cleaning and be minimal in my home. My 76 year old mother, however, has already said I'm leaving it for you to deal with my stuff. She says it's not that much but because it's in cabinets and drawers "out of sight out of mind".
Wow, they're so selfish, aren't they? You can hire people to clear this stuff away now. They'll look for important docs, etc., so you don't have to worry. Just hire someone.
Your mother could have cognitive issues that make deciding and planning harder. Beware. This "Oh well, you will do it" is the iceberg of the Titanic.
@@Cathy-xi8cb I hope not but it's definitely hard to see her age.
@@clarisahernandez5280 Ask yourself why she doesn't mind leaving you with the mess. It might not be because she doesn't care enough about you to leave you a burden. It could be because it is painful for her to bump up against her own limitations. In the early stages of cognitive loss, people are aware that they can't think things through and get overwhelmed mentally. It scares them. They close the door to that knowledge and wait.
Yes, I heard this 'it'll be your problem' from my 90 y/o MIL as I tried to help sort out her things to donate. She didn't speak to me for a year because I tossed out 1960s encyclopedia sets. I tried to donate them--but you know that no one wanted them. She unnecessarily hated me and that was a high price to pay for "helping." Now her sons get to do the rest of the work, because I'm done.
Not a boomer issue. Wait till the kids have lived in a house for 40+ years-see how much they have accumulated.
Idk.....in the last couple of decades, young people increasingly have to rent as opposed to eventually saving enough to buy, so they purge items every time they move---mainly due to rent increases forcing them to find cheaper living quarters. The end of most months is when the excess gets tossed into alleys, dumpsters and curbsides. Much of is well picked over before the garbage truck appears.
I know many women who are in their 30’s and early 40’s and I was stunned by their hoard of their parents stuff. I have minimal stuff and life is so much easier at 65!
Very patronizing tone! Unless your parent is debilitated keep your hands off! Why do you assume all boomers have too much stuff and need your help!
Boomer reference not necessary… the anchor is tone deaf… this is not only a ‘boomer’ issue, not cool cbs this morning
Indeed. There are also younger generations than Boomers that hoard a lot of stuff like gadgets, keyboards for example. I came here after watching several keyboard reviews…
The boomers I know don’t really hoard stuff. They do in fact dispose, reuse, recycle and give away some stuff.
I wish people aren’t ageist (esp. the hosts) towards any generation.
I agree.
My wife and I are 72. We have been married for 51 years and lived in the same house for 47 of those years. So I get it. But here's the thing, your stuff sometimes is valuable to you because of the stories connected behind it. Gifts, maybe because of who gave it, or who admired it when it was used. That is why no one wants it, they have no connection to the stories. The good china that was used when I was a child that we still use probably means nothing to my children. But I remember when it was bought and how excited my parents (Depression era children) were unpacking it and then using it each holiday. Everyone in my life that was important to me has eaten at least one Thanksgiving dinner from those plates. So when our time comes we hope our children will have some of their own memories of the things we have and they grew up with and maybe, just maybe, it will mean something to them to own some of it.
@roberthurley6860 You are so right! Hubby & I are near same age and approaching 30 years married, in same house. Son lives with us still (mid-20s), daughter has lived in another state since young childhood and is 17 years older than our son. We acquired some things when our respective parents passed. Neither child is likely to want, nor do they really care about the stuff we have. As you implied, they don't have the same stories or memories of the items or the people connected to them that I do. I doubt they'd even be interested in many of the photos I hold dearly - they have no first-hand connection and unless they develop a personal interest in genealogy, or my quilting, or past stamp collecting, the stuff will be scattered to the winds of donation drop-offs, or the local landfill. Oh, there may be a handful of things they'd want; daughter has expressed an interest in a few paintings I did; son would probably keep a game he played as a child with his grandma on our annual visits, but beyond that, not much else I fear. They create their own memories and associations from which they themselves will retain items or rid themselves of them.
I'm Gen X and keep hearing people, usually on shows like this or in articles saying that nobody wants your china or brown furniture. It's simply not true. There are collectors of all things. If you have nice, well made objects, somebody wants them. If you have cheesy, kitschy things that bring happy memories to someone they will buy them. I personally have started a collection of Mexican Feathercraft because when I was 3 years old my grandpa gave me a couple of unframed pieces and it reminds me of him. Black velvet Elvis paintings can sell for big money now. We all have memories and sometimes like objects that help us remember.
As a younger person, I wasn’t able to take things from my grandparents because I couldn’t move or house them. So it wasn’t that I didn’t want them- I just wasn’t in a position to take them. Now that I am, it’s too late. Also, there weren’t as many kids to take things. My older relatives all have between 5-12 siblings. The younger families have 1-4. That’s a lot of stuff to take on! Also, the things I cared about might not have been what they cared about. I was able to keep a set of not-fancy dishes. I loved them because my grandma had a sweet tooth and they were what she served ice cream from❤. They aren’t worth much but I have moved them with me many times. All the fancy china, big furniture, etc went to others or got sold. Some family members actually thought I didn’t care- the truth is that I believed it would be irresponsible for me to take the bigger/ nicer things at that time in my life. Now I am more settled, but I know I made the right decision at the time.
@@embr9723 I love your ice cream bowl story. I understand totally. Its like good energy right?
@@roberthurley6860 Absolutely.
My parents died in the late 1980’s they were also collectors and sellers of antiques. I lived many thousands of miles away. My sister and I kept some stuff…in a storage unit until my sister’s house was built. We hired an estate agent and sold most of the “ treasures”. I have one piece that my father’s grandfather built and a piece from my dad’s high school shop class in the mid 30’s.
Stop stereotyping!
YES. I felt like they were talking about "us" like adults talk about kids. Oh woe are we, oh lack-a-day, whatever are we going to do with parents these days? Give me a break.
If you are left with a house full of stuff, call in some professional help. They are not emotionally connected to your stuff. Room by room select a couple item you want to keep and tell the pros to get rid of the rest; donate or landfill. Tell yourself, I am sending these items off where new people can get them and make new memories with them.
Hah, you have to go through everything. My dad would stick money in his record covers, etc. and I found gold jewelry “tucked away” and so forth. Boomers want to hold onto their stuff. My parents knew what their house and land was worth and they just figured that cleaning it out after their death, it took over a year, was the price I paid for my inheritance. I wanted five small things from my grandmother. I went through every box. Did I mention they had three bedrooms stacked to the ceiling with boxes and a three car garage and a double walled heated and air conditioned barn that was built to hold two RVs but was filled with boxes of both sets of my grandparents’ stuff they had never gone through: it was a nightmare.
@@j.j.9123 Ugh, what a price to pay!
Have an estate sake or auction and make some money in too of it. You'd be surprised what has more value than you could have imagined.
@@j.j.9123 Your nightmare was due to greed. Everyone needs to figure out what their time is worth. You could have taken the five things that you wanted and let an estate company handle the rest. And yes, maybe one of those customers would then find a ten dollar bill inside a record album,but it wouldn’t have been your nightmare to deal with right? When my sister’s husband lost his job,I bought a huge bag of suits at a Goodwill bag sale for $5.00 for him and his boys to wear to church. He found $750.00 in one of the pockets,gave me $100.00 and considered the rest to be a gift from God,literally.
I have an avalanche of books, which I know my daughter won't want. I told her to take them to Half Price Books and make a little money. Otherwise, I have craft stuff that she can donate or sell. I've already given furniture away to family members so that all I own is a bed, a chair, three bookshelves and two craft shelves. And, my clothes would all fit in one suitcase, including my 4 pairs of shoes. I've been downsizing since my stroke and it feels great.
If your local library has a Friends bookstore, they will come and pick them up if it’s a sizable collection.
That sounds really easy to deal with on a day to day basis!
I read that article that they referenced by business insider. I sent it to both of my baby boomer parents. Neither of them had anything constructive to say back to me. I am so scared to deal with two houses packed to the hilts. 😩
Hope your inheritance will cover a company to do it.
@@Cathy-xi8cb thanks, but my parents never made economic success for themselves... Dumpsters don't cost much tho.
I’m living the nightmare. I’m from the last year of boomers and I am cleaning up what my parents piled up. I am very close to just carting it off to the dump.
I'M a BB and I am slowly moving stuff out of my house. It is so hard. It feels terrible
Actually, there are several different types of Baby Boomers, and the ones I know are downsizing and minimising.
This is exactly what my parents are doing. So they dont leave me with an incredible amount to go through. They also already have what goes to whom. Its such an incredibly kind thing to do for your loved ones.
@@AubreePortune For decades, many have been thinking that all these things give them comfort and safety - once they start to reduce, they find it so relieving, the feel light and free without all the ballast, like you sometimes feel on vacation or in a holiday home.
The last of us.
Wish my family would. Going to be a nightmare to go through it all.
@@DCGuy1997 Just tell them you don't want anything and they can note it in their will. Problem solved.
Parents who are baby boomers did not go up with a lot of Internet so they are used to holding on to paper, when you can transform it to a digital presence. Add in people who are actual hoarders, and this can be a problem. We are cleaning out my father's stuff, now that he passed, and a year later, we are still into it. Do a little at a time so you don't get overwhelmed but keep at it.
Paper! Indeed...I am a paper keeper! And as a boomer, I don't trust that digitized records will survive (I've had computers crash without recovery), and I'm not trusting of "the cloud". I do try to back-up, but it's hit & miss. But back to the papers, it is often overwhelming to know what to keep & what to shred or toss...even with searching for "document retention" advice. I probably still have my tax returns from 1972 when I moved away from home!
I'm only in my 40's and realised this when I had to downsize ten years ago and I'm only just getting around to it. It's going to take months to reach my goal
I don't know if my mum is as bad or better, she's got a load of stuff but has 3x the room
Precious Memories are boomer Funko Pops
One of the things that is generally unique to the baby boomer population is speaking without vocal fry!
YES, and we don't speak with the question inflection (!?) That drives me nuts 😂
@@CEinCville Oh, me, too. There are some folks whose content I enjoy but I can't stand the up inflection at the end of most sentences - and this includes the lovely young clergywoman in our congregation. It's a struggle - but then, many things are - I have taken to being careful that I don't turn into "that old lady" who becomes garrulous when with others because of pent up conversatonal inclinationis. Oh, well, this is all "first world problems"
This woman giving advice has horrible vocal FRY 🍳 that hurts my ears. Maybe she should get rid of that.
❤😂
But there are people who want that stuff... some stuff, high quality antiquities is a real thing. And some of those super cool retro 50-70's styled stuff is cool!
That's what they keep telling themselves, but getting the high value it "could" be worth, takes a lot of time, patience and knowledge.
@@calpurniabruchi5742 I just meant donate not dumpster. Selling would be nice and if the retired boomer wants to they might have the time. But to your point, my mom would try and donate the things that were just garbage, I didn't know it till doing volunteer work at the place the donations go and saw what they just trashed. So only donate unbroken/good quality things.
@@ivanlawrence2they will still end up in the trash. Goodwill doesn’t need millions of sets of silver and wedding dresses from the 60s.
@@darinherrick9224 hahahaha... fair enough. You did just make me think of that line from Fight Club where Marlo talked about someone loving it intently for one single day then throwing it away.
Not a Boomer issue. I’m a boomer, and my Greatest Generation parents both had boatloads of crap I had to clean out.
Demographers can easily demonstrate your statement to be false.
My parents are from the Silent Generation, born in the 1930’s and I am dealing with this now as they don’t want to get rid of anything!
I’m dealing with my mother from the Silent Generation. It’s so frustrating! She does not let go of anything!
Not everyone wants to get rid of everything. Talk to all the kids- might surprise you who wants to keep what. They aren't making anymore things your mom and dad used the rest of your life. I feel special using my parents kitchen towel or whisk or tool, and have room to store it... its comforting to know i have things of theirs. Extra mementos, pictures, tools and kitchen stuff etc to go through in my kids life later too.
Not for everyone, but once it's gone it never can come back.
I am currently sitting among 50 boxes of their stuff at my home since their house sold. I'm also glad they didn't have to get rid of it and they kept their house full and happy until the day they left this earth. I feel in honor of doing it for them. It's not a burden. ❤
I share the same sentiment.
Fortunately my Mom and step-father took care of this on their own. We helped them execute some of the tasks but they drove the process.
Not so when my father passed away while I was in high school. My Mom and my brother and I were left with an arduous amount of cleaning up our property (outside) and storage and garage from what was left behind. Probably when my Mom figured this out.
My in laws are the opposite. Acquire is the only word whose definition they understood. And now that he’s passed we’re dealing with her trying to deal with it for her first time. And that’s only after more than a year went by and we were able to get her to stop adding to what she now realizes is herself doing it to herself.
Needless to say my wife and I are practically minimalists! :-)
I have already talked with my kinds and laid out plans for disposing of my 2 collections. I have given them family things that they want and they are free to dispose of my stuff. It helps that I got rid of most family stuff when I moved across country.
3 words - Swedish death cleaning. You’re welcome from a Boomer!
Interesting. My mother was the silent generation. I'm a boomer. I help her auction of loads of stuff. And she kept a lot too. Moved to a 2 bedroom duplex. I'm organizing pictures and re establishing ties to photos of family before that went through hard times. And I actually gained very well made home furniture that can't be made today to last. It gives me hope and security in my life.
I've been downsizing continually....but my daughter doesn't want me to get rid of anything! OMG!
Give your parents the book "The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning." 🤣
Please don’t do that
No problem here. I downsized to a condo years ago and am getting rid of stuff slowly. Hopefully, it should be bare bones (not needing my storage area at all downstairs) in the next few years. Except for the pile I’m working on in my office, there is no clutter/junk.
Oh, of course. Let me rid myself of things I enjoy to make others more comfortable.
Yes. Sorry to be such a bother to you, but I happen to enjoy my "stuff" and if I got hit by a car tomorrow. Do your best with it and move on. Jeez.
I’m a baby boomer, born 1955…. My sister was born 1946, believe or not we can think for ourselves and figure out downsizing on our own. Then next generation needs to over their know it all-ness. Be honest and respectful and tell your parents you don’t want anything, they will get it because we went through it with our parents.
I found the general attitude of the hosts and their guest insulting. I hope your parents weren’t watching.
Absolutely!
I am a baby boomer. I live a simple, minimalistic lifestyle. My house is definitely not cluttered. Not filled with any knick knacks.
I already told my 88 year old mother I don't want any of her stuff. I plan to call a junk company and have everything hauled away.
That is a shame that you would dump everything in a landfill. Others may want or need or enjoy those items. At least use an estate sale service.
@@AAdams-rm5vz Some "junk companies" probably say they will clear out the home for free and all the while are going to sell everything. It's their business and they make money, so good for them not having things going to a landfill and to be used instead.
@@AAdams-rm5vz Or a professional organizer company, such as the one for which I work. We donate practically everything.
Bring it up over the Holidays???
You are going over to your mom’s house, which she will clean and prepare for your visit. Sit down at her nice dining table and eat off the good china, and then look her in the eye and tell her she should downsize and get rid of stuff because you don’t want to be bothered?
Good luck with that.
Horrible idea isn’t it ?
I’ve been to some estate sales in really big nice homes & small post WW2 homes. They all seem to have had women who went wild with China, Hummels, holiday decor, glassware & assorted linens. Just amazing the amount of money spent on stuff that no one wants now. 😢
In the future, younger generations will see beanie babies and Funko Pop collectables.
Though I'd personally keep the china modern dishes are to big and don't stack right.
Oh no. Hummels!
When I go to an estate sale with rooms full of holiday decor (Easter, 4th of July, Halloween,Thanksgiving, CHRISTMAS…) I think how much $ and mental energy and time did this woman spend acquiring, packing/unpacking, setup and storing it. At the same time, I’ve had my grandmother’s China for 40 yrs and haven’t used it in all that time. Don’t remember her ever using it either. Probably 70 years old now.
@ Right? I now have my own wedding china & my uncles Royal Doulton, Waterford from my mom. I do not remember the last time I set a table 🥲
Omg..my Grandmother had SO MUCH GLASSWEAR! It was enough to go around and then some…but it’s fun to use some of it on holidays and have her still there in a way.
I have my mom's LR and DR all of it maple, "brown", furniture from Ethan Allen. Reupholstered the LR in dark brown pleather and left off the skirting, making it look MCM. All of it is the authentic Mid Century Colonial from the 50s and 60s. I bought four pieces to finish out the set; one is a little chest of drawers made in the same plant that made the chest for President Eisenhower. It's like living in a doll house. Likely consign if one of the kids don't want the set.
I love Ethan Allen custom room plan.
This is well made furniture
The mockery of “brown furniture” is pitiful. People fail to think for themselves.
Boomer here. 30+ years in same house. Not getting rid of any stuff, not sorry, kids inherit everything, up to them AFTER I have gone.
Our first obstacle is what to do with all the stuff we got from OUR parents and, in my case, grandparents. Our kids have been very clear: they want none of it and don’t have room for it even if they did.
I just spent a few hundred at an estate sale on amazing Fenton, Waterford and Baccarat. I got dozens of pieces to resell. There is a huge seller market for some of these items depending on the item, style and condition.
They didn’t know what they had. I sold all that. It was the hundreds of Hummel figurines and Christmas house, with duplicates still in original boxes that didn’t bring in the money it took to deal with them.
At 67 I sold all mt CD’s and LP’s. 2700 cd’s and 400 LP’s. Got some money and got rid of stuff I was not using any longer. I stream now!
The stuff in my boomer home CAME FROM OUR parents homes or they bought it for us.. I had purged so much from my house during 2020. My house looked great and lean. THEN my folks and in laws needed to be cleaned out. Many items are collectable and do sell. IT has become my retirement job! Something goes out every day, sales, donations or open a box and go thru it.... All the warm fleece coats and boots have already gone to North Carolina post hurricane. Housewares will go when called for in the community we are helping. I have already thrown out the obvious junk. I have found old family documents and records I did not know existed. I wish my folks would shown them to me and shared the history while alive.
Funny thing is "they" say no one wants our stuff. But who's buying all that vintage stuff at thrift stores and online at sites like eBay and at garage sales??? 🤔
Hoarders.
@@j.j.9123 Not sure why I laughed so hard at your comment 🤣 😅
A real negative spin on boomers. Thanks. Sorry some parents are so much work. Btw i have down sized. My children are ok with what hassles they will be lrft with.
I am a young boomer. Do I have more stuff than I need? Yes, probably. My house is neat, there is a place for everything, I regularly purge, but someday, what is left will still be a job for my children. I plan on living another 30 years or so, and hoping I will stay physically healthy enough that it will be in my home, so, no, I will not be getting rid of the things that make my house a joyful and welcoming home.
To frame this as a boomer problem is erroneous. I know plenty of people in younger generations who have WAY more stuff than I.
It’s fine to talk about not leaving a burden of excess stuff for our heirs to deal with, but let’s not make it about ‘boomers’.
This is what estate sales are for.
We are going through this with my MIL. She is battling cancer, and in the mindset currently of giving things away to her kids and grandkids. I haven't been sure how to navigate this conversation. I personally do not want any of her things. It is very emotional for her, and she has a lot of sentimentality attached to many things.
A few years ago, I started doing frugal minimalism and I have decluttered a great deal of my house plus knocked down two huge storage buildings that were chucked full of junk and treasures. But I had to be very firm as my friends and relatives kept buying me gifts that started piling up. I now insist that they only buy me things I can use up like coffees, lotions or gift certificates. For my birthday a few years ago, they paid for a dental procedure! My son-in-law fretted that it was kind if hard to gift wrap!😊
Yep my parents and my father in law had ALL THE STUFF. We have been downsizing for 5 years and I don't miss anything. Life is easier.
The truth is that EVERYTHING ends up in the landfill eventually. Everything. That’s why it’s so important to stop making things from plastic.
We are in our 70s and I actually began de-cluttering 25 years ago and I am still at it. The easy stuff went first. With each de-cluttering there always was a "keep": pile. Now I am in the "keep" pile and there are two categories that kept items in the "keep" pile, emotional attachment and the idea I might need it someday.
We are financially comfortable so with this current round "the might need it someday" pile is going away. We can afford to buy something if the need comes up.
The emotional attachment pile is a little harder but the only criteria I have for it is would anyone in the family want it? Truth be told, the answer is no. No one cares about our stuff but us. So it is time to let it go so someone else does not have to do it.
I bet if there was a stack of cash piled up high no one 😂would be complaining!
I went tiny 9 years ago. I got a fraction of my mother's stuff after her death. It was good I have 5 more siblings. I did make a Christmas tree skirt out of Dad's ties. I have some more sentimental items that make my tiny place too full. I have also written books about organizing. It's crazy how things change.
After my dad died, a woman from a professional auction house came to look at all the stuff. She said there were 10,000 items in the house. It took me over a year to get rid of most of it.
For years before my grandparents passed away they had a system. If anyone was interested in an item we would have to let my grandfather know. He would then place a piece of tape with that persons name on it on the item. It had to be in his handwriting to be valid. It worked really, really well when my grandparents passed away. Everyone collected what their name was on, there were no issues, and the fun part is that I still have my grandfathers stickers on my items.