Wow, I am surprised by the number of comments on my post “Clutter”. I so appreciate the suggestions as Bernie and I will be starting today to go through stuff. He is not as inclined as I am to get rid of things…most of what we have comes from his family. His mother was a saver. But I have to say, she knew how to pack things up and label them. I like the idea of asking family members as we go what they would like to have. I don’t even mind keeping the stuff for them until they set up housekeeping some day (Chris and Wendy would HATE us if we gave their kids stuff now while they are trying to declutter). I have to learn how to post the pictures to send to family members, but maybe we can just take them for now.
On that note, as far as inheriting things from parents goes, those that have to clear out the parents’ stuff certainly have their work cut out for them, but they also have the opportunity to lay claim to or get rid of things that other families may be interested in. Taking pictures could allow distant family members the opportunity to speak up. Bernie had the job of helping people close down their parents estates when he was in trust work. Often families would fight over heirlooms. His solution: family members put their name on whatever they would like to have and the rest goes to auction. If two want the same item, it goes into the auction and they can bid on it. (Cold hearted).
I have three items from my parents: an oil cruet, a meat platter, and a small music box from Pine Creek Wisconsin which I bought for my mother when she was at Mayo Clinic for her cancer surgery. We have shelves of dishes and antiques from Bernie’s family. What to do with my mementos is easy. As for Bernie’s, you can see that we have our work cut out for us…we may need a marriage counselor before it is over.