The money wasted on crap....

[DayVee B]

We have 4 kids ranging from 20-26, two of which are still in college. Our big thing is we have a house full of furniture and other household items my spouse can't part with just in case one of the kids "might need" something when they all finish college and have to furnish their own house/apartment. I keep telling her they won't want most of that old stuff. I'm even willing to part with some of the "family heirlooms" or antiques that really have no personal meaning to us, they're just kept out of a sense of guilt because some old great-aunt used to own it.

 

[rmark]

I finally replaced the old shed - the new sheds half empty due to weeding out the old one. Living in a 1000 sq ft home helps as there’s no where to store extra stuff.

 

[Nemo2]

Winter of 1997 my late wife and & I were camped on a Baja beach......next to us, in a large motorhome, were an 'older' couple, (slightly older than I am now).

They told of selling their house, (Minnesota, IIRC), to go full time RVing; house was apparently full of antiques and their 'kids' wanted none of it.

In came an auctioneer.....and the lady allowed that she had to leave the house for a day because it was so emotional for her.

Her...and nobody else.

 

[JRon]

We don't have a lot of extra stuff around - not because we haven't bought crap, but because we have given most of it away. Most of our recent purchases have been toys and books for the grandkids who visit at least weekly. Once they grow out of things we will give away what they don't use. We realize our kids don't want much of our stuff, but they have laid claim to a few things like our Hamm's Beer motion sign, not Grandma's dishes.

 

[CaptTom]

..."family heirlooms" or antiques that really have no personal meaning to us, they're just kept out of a sense of guilt because some old great-aunt used to own it.

This is actually one of my motivators for decluttering. I don't want my kids going through my "stuff" and feeling they need to keep anything out of some sort of sentimental obligation.

 

[Car-Guy]

I'll admit that I'm an impulse buyer and a hoarder.... Not a good combination... My solution, when I fill-up one "outbuilding", I just buy another and keep on stacking it in....

My wife tells me that one day the guys from American Pickers are going to show up and want to go through my stuff...

 

[Teacher Terry]

I much prefer that things get used versus thrown away. We have sold things and used the magic sidewalk. I don’t find 4 pairs of pajamas excessive. I have both summer and winter ones. I like to get in them after dinner and in winter need warm ones. We downsized when we retired and moved into a 1400 sq ft house. Moving across country a few times prevented me from saving all my kids stuff)

 

[Jerry1]

I read a book called "Rightsizing Your Life" by Ciji Ware, which I highly recommend. She tells the story of one lady who could not bear to part with all her treasures when she and her husband downsized. She put them in storage at $300/month. She finally got rid of them after 3 years.

As the author says, "You do the math".

We did the math when we moved and downsized. Not including something that may indeed be irreplaceable, storage units are a joke played on the masses. We thought about it for a minute but the math does not add up. Think about it - a small unit will easily be $100 per month. So if you’re going to store something in there for a year, $1,200. I would be easier to just throw most stuff away and just repurchase it if you ever need it. In our case, the “junk” we were thinking of storing probably wasn’t even worth $1,200.

 

[brett]

When we downsized we gave away two bedrooms, a rec room, an office, and living room full of furniture. Plus lots of other items. We had not interest in selling the stuff with the exception of an old upright freezer that nobody wanted.

All to people who really needed it but did not have any money. Single mothers, women's shelters, etc.

No one wants the china, etc. Been in boxes for seven years now, through two moves. Our children do not want it.

Friends of our inherited lots of sterling silver wear and crystal. Experts told them the best was to melt the silver for cash, use the crystal day to day because there are warehouses full of them.

Since retiring and downsizing we place far more emphasis on experiences than we do on things. We just stopped buying things that we do not need.

 

[1242Vintage]

Years ago I bought a house from the in laws. It had a huge attic that only FIL accessed. When MIL asked him to discard something he interpreted that to mean ... store it in the attic because it might be needed some day.

When we bought the house from them I was exploring the attic and was amazed. Brought wife up and she was shocked. Boxes and boxes stuffed up to the roof. There was so much up there that the ceiling joists over the garage had a noticeable sag.

We spent the next day hauling at least a dozen truckloads of “stuff” over to in-laws new house. They weren’t home at the time so we neatly unloaded and stacked everything they left behind into their empty garage.

MIL was not happy with me but FIL definitely caught most of her anger.

Lesson-learned, my garage is very neat and not a place to store anything useless. Our attic is empty too!

MIL passed on years ago and FIL now lives by himself. I’m dreading some future days that wife and I will have to spend cleaning out the attic and garage of the home he lives in now.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

We just paid our property taxes! A bit of a waste (for us) as most of it goes to the school system that we never used or will ever use.

 

[Gumby]

We just paid our property taxes! A bit of a waste (for us) as most of it goes to the school system that we never used or will ever use.

We also never have and never will use the schools in our town, and we pay very high property taxes. However, we believe that an educated population is a benefit to all of us, so we don't mind paying. Good schools also keep property values high.

 

[kgtest]

We did the math when we moved and downsized. Not including something that may indeed be irreplaceable, storage units are a joke played on the masses. We thought about it for a minute but the math does not add up. Think about it - a small unit will easily be $100 per month. So if you’re going to store something in there for a year, $1,200. I would be easier to just throw most stuff away and just repurchase it if you ever need it. In our case, the “junk” we were thinking of storing probably wasn’t even worth $1,200.

I have a friend who basically is a nomad with a storage locker...and $hit scattered about 3 continents at friends and families houses.

Not a way I want to live. Don't let what you own, own you.

 

[ziggy29]

We just paid our property taxes! A bit of a waste (for us) as most of it goes to the school system that we never used or will ever use.

I used to feel that way until I decided to look at school taxes as how I am paying back the cost of my own education.

 

[Sunset]

We also never have and never will use the schools in our town, and we pay very high property taxes. However, we believe that an educated population is a benefit to all of us, so we don't mind paying. Good schools also keep property values high.

Good schools also keep the kids busy for a lot of the day, so they aren't hanging around getting into trouble

 

[Nick12]

I pay my property taxes in November too. I get a 4% discount if I pay early. I'm happy to say I've been paying the same property taxes give or take $100-200 for the last 26 years.