Keep or Toss?

I don't know why I can't get rid of that old Sansui amplifier. When I bought it, it was THE top of the line, $600. And that's back in 1970 money. Still works. It sits there and sits there, but I just can't part with it. I know I'll never use it. Nobody's interested in high end stereo equipment any more.
 

Hoot N Annie said:
Ya now, I still downsizing, and I must say I have not missed ONE SINGLE THING that I have either donated or trashed. Not one.
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Same here!!!

With me it is settling the emotional baggage attached to some things, once I resolve that it's just stuff and out it goes!
 

I wish my mother had invested the money she spent on china and glassware in the 1970s, in CDs. They probably would have appreciated in value rather than declined like so many vintage and antique items. When she bought her collectibles, she probably thought they would be a good investment and a nice inheritance for me, because at that time these things were sought after and fairly pricey. Little did we know the bottom would fall out of the antiques market in the 1990s. Nowadays, you can't give this stuff away.

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debodun said:
I wish my mother had invested the money she spent on china and glassware in the 1970s, in CDs. They probably would have appreciated in value rather than declined like so many vintage and antique items. When she bought her collectibles, she probably thought they would be a good investment and a nice inheritance for me, because at that time these things were sought after and fairly pricey. Little did we know the bottom would fall out of the antiques market in the 1990s. Nowadays, you can't give this stuff away.

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It looks like it would be a full time job just keeping that clean.
 
I'm no authority on the subject, but I believe that's called "depessionware" or something like that. I live in 'coal' country and everybody's mother had tons of that glassware. It was thought of like gold. While all the mothers collected it, none of them ever actually tried to sell it. Families found out there never was a market for it.
 
I have two sets of china from when we were first married. Gosh, the plates were a lot smaller back 47 years ago! I thought my son or daughter would like them some day but they are not interested. I need to see if I can sell them. And I tend to keep too many "memory" items. I have two separate totes of each child's graduation from high school. I kept their graduation caps and gowns, diplomas, banners that we made for their graduation "Lunch" and programs. I finally realized these were memories I was keeping for myself and not them. Gotta let them go! I don't want my children having to go through my things after I'm gone and say "Why did she keep that?"
 
I am in the process of getting rid of stuff. Clothes, books, etc going to Goodwill. A girl I used to work with came and got 5 boxes of stuff for her family and friends. She has a hard time making ends meet so I told her to have a garage sale, keep or share with relatives. I don't need more than 1 of the stuff I gave her. She was excited to get it as she works in housekeeping at the hospital and doesn't make much money. We have been friends for years but don't see her as I am now retired.
 
Even at thrift stores, the merchandise is sitting, dust covered, on the shelves. Nobody want's someone else's used stuff. I got a Depression glass cookie jar for $2 a few years ago at a local SA.
 
The only things I have kept over the years are for sentimental reasons. When my children got married I gave them the expensive things now. I want them to have good memories of my keepsakes and not sad memories like they would have after I pass away. I love when I go to my Daughters and we eat off of the china dishes I got when I got married. I also gave her some of my jewelry now. My Husband has also given my Son some of his things. I feel better doing it now rather than later.
 
Sometimes it irritates me that older people seem to be "set" on what relative gets what, irregardless of desire to have it on the part of the inheritor. For instance, I always admired a tea set my maternal grandmother had in her china cabinet and I often mentioned it to grandma. She would just smile cryptically and say nothing. After she passed and her will was probated, the tea set went to my cousin. A few years passed and I asked my cousin about it and she said she got rid of it (did not specify how). I asked her how she could part with such a fine tea set and she said that it was "too old fashioned" for her. I ended up with 2 salt and pepper shaker sets.

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For me, it's not so much I won't throw it out, but I forgot it's there. I don't have tons piled up. Just tons neatly piled up on shelves. I am a paper keeper. When I moved here 25-26 years ago, I had to throw out my 1972 phone bills. Damn, that was hard to do.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
For me, it's not so much I won't throw it out, but I forgot it's there. I don't have tons piled up. Just tons neatly piled up on shelves. I am a paper keeper. When I moved here 25-26 years ago, I had to throw out my 1972 phone bills. Damn, that was hard to do.
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I have a couple of drawers full of old bills. My late husband told me to keep every receipt and bill I ever get and for some reason I did that but decided not to recently. I am beginning to sift through it all a little at a time, as I can.
 

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