Downsizing for 2019

Tom Weber and Tracy Mumford writing for MPR News on No one wants your stuff, Mom: 10 tips for downsizing:

There is a scene playing out over and over again across the country right now. It involves tears and hurt feelings and overstuffed storage spaces.

It’s the moment of truth, when it comes to stuff.

Aging parents point to their antique dining table. You know the one: They’ve loved and cherished it for years. The treasured family heirloom. The one great grandma Ethel personally carried on her back across Missouri. They turn to their children, horror in their eyes, and say: “What do you mean you don’t want it?!”

It’s not always a table, of course. Insert a china hutch, a ceramic cat collection, or a gold floral couch, and this is a conversation many families are having right now.

“I thought you’d want that.”

“I kept that for you.”

“It’s not my taste.”

“I don’t have room.”

Over the last few years, I’ve been downsizing my junk, selling and donating as appropriate. Sentimental items and heirlooms can be the hardest to deal with when they are passed on to you. I have some of my maternal grandfather’s tools in my toolbox and a few other items from my maternal grandmother as well. Honestly, photos are better than anything. I can scan them in, frame a few and pass them on to another family member.