I'm not a hoarder and I'm not sentimental. I kept a very few of Mum and Dad's things when I cleared their house - Mum's wedding ring, Dad's drumsticks that sort of thing.
Mum wasn't a hoarder either, really, and Dad had virtually nothing. But Mum was a prolific painter and she had so much art stuff, some of which had clearly come from her Uncle before. The picture frames would no doubt all have been used eventually - if she saw them in a junk shop or whatever, she bought them and then would eventually get around to doing a painting to suit. The few dozen I have were the 'working stock' she had when she lost the capacity to paint.
She had essentially done as Fire suggests, sorted her & Dad's wills, their PoAs, cleared the clutter. And yet, she had kept a few sentimental things - wedding telegrams, for example. I read them, but the people who sent them meant nothing to me, nor would they to anyone else after me, so no point keeping them. I understand why she wanted to keep them, though. There has to be a few things that are little momentos of your life and the lives of those that touched your own. It's little enough to deal with when you are gone, provided it doesn't amount to 3 barnfuls (OH - I'm looking at you).
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I'm pretty much the same @raisingirl - I have my mum's small sewing chest, a little family Buddha, a fountain pen, the family dinner table. That's about it. Perhaps having a small home helps. If I had a bigger space I would have wanted to keep some arm chairs and an antique cabinet - which I doubt would have used much. Everything has gone on to good homes and I am not stuck with a houseful of stuff I don't really want.
I do have a box of family photos that I don't know what to do with. Further down the line, I guess I will go through them and get rid of most and scan some. And I have a 200 year old family bible. That's a puzzle. I don't have kids. I have parked the bible too and will try and figure out what to do with it.
It was a bit of a chore to get my mum and dad to go through the old family photos that they got when their parents died and label them with who is on them, as best they can, because I wouldn't recognise great-auntie-whatever and cousin so-and-so as they looked in the 1930s or whenever. I've persuaded them to let me have them if they want to chuck them out (although heaven knows I have enough stuff already). Their own holiday snaps of various mediterranean scenery they can chuck if they want. And my school photos .
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Whereas my Dad, who loved music, found solace in the process of choosing music for Mum's funeral, although she had said to me she wanted the music at the end to be 'Zambezi' by Lou Busch because she had loved dancing to it when she was young, so he only had to pick the others. Her friends who knew her best all said to me as they left 'that'll have been her choice, I imagine?'. I didn't find it hard to choose music or a poem for Dad's funeral, either. I guess it just depends on individuals
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
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Mum wasn't a hoarder either, really, and Dad had virtually nothing. But Mum was a prolific painter and she had so much art stuff, some of which had clearly come from her Uncle before. The picture frames would no doubt all have been used eventually - if she saw them in a junk shop or whatever, she bought them and then would eventually get around to doing a painting to suit. The few dozen I have were the 'working stock' she had when she lost the capacity to paint.
She had essentially done as Fire suggests, sorted her & Dad's wills, their PoAs, cleared the clutter. And yet, she had kept a few sentimental things - wedding telegrams, for example. I read them, but the people who sent them meant nothing to me, nor would they to anyone else after me, so no point keeping them. I understand why she wanted to keep them, though. There has to be a few things that are little momentos of your life and the lives of those that touched your own. It's little enough to deal with when you are gone, provided it doesn't amount to 3 barnfuls (OH - I'm looking at you).
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”