Post #1270185

2026-01-04 18:24 UTC

A few years ago my wife and I decided to finish the basement. The first step was to clean it out, which involved going through all the junk that I had inherited from various family members. My mom always asserted that all of it was very valuable and CONSTANTLY checked that I still had it all and was taking good care of it. I went through each item one by one and looked them up. Dishes, nick knacks, all of it. It took me hours. The highest value item was maybe $10. Several large and heavy boxes that I had been obligated to haul around to all of the places I lived for the last 30 years, as my mother constantly asked me about them. It was all worth maybe $100, if I made the effort to attempt to sell it. Which would have taken a lot of time as we’re talking dozens of fragile things. It just was not worth it. I shoved it all into the trunk of my car and took it to the dump. My Mom died in 2011, so she wasn’t around to check up on all that crap. God damn I was so pissed. 30 fucking years of hauling that worthless junk around probably cost far more than it was worth. My mother was so insistent that I even had it sitting around taking up space in my basement 12 years after her death. Just another one of her little power plays.

Replies (7)

@hazeebabee@slrpnk.net 2026-01-04 19:00

Glad you freed yourself from all the stuff. I had a similar experience clearing out my grandma’s hoarded house. I am curious though, why take it to the dump instead of donating it to a thrift store?

Open ##1270192
@nomorebillboards@lemmy.world 2026-01-04 19:02

Luckily this is less of an issue in the future with “Ikea” or whatever

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@Starski@lemmy.zip 2026-01-04 20:38

Watch, there was actually a hidden fortune stuffed somewhere in there

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@limelight79@lemmy.world 2026-01-04 22:23

I’ve read that a lot of that “valuable” china really isn’t - some of it may have been at one point, but the younger generations just aren’t interested, so the market has just dropped out.

Open ##1270216
@Tabula_stercore@lemmy.world 2026-01-05 01:24

Good on you. Just as advice for next time; bring it to a secondhand/thrift shop.

Open ##1270225
@BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2026-01-05 02:24

Yeah, I feel a lot of the boomer generation has a hoarding problem despite so many not being in a situation to need to. I would have taken it to a thrift store though regardless. Even if they don’t sell it someone of the staff may make use of it. That said, good on getting rid of a burden on your life mentally.

Open ##1270231
@skisnow@lemmy.ca 2026-01-05 15:11

Never met her but there’s a chance she might genuinely not have known. My grandparents and great-grandparents thought a lot of family stuff was worth something but they never actually got it professionally valued. One thing that really stuck out was an ornate silver tea set that looked really nice, was in great condition, was a complete set, hallmarked, turned out to be worth fuck all because nobody actually wants silver tea sets in the 21st century, but they were a big thing a hundred years ago so there’s millions of them out there flooding the market. There was also a minor hoo-hah over inheritance of the family piano, which then turned out to be a mass-produced budget model that was no longer physically able to be tuned to concert pitch without risk of damage. Turns out budget pianos don’t become antique, they just become old and you have to pay someone to take it away.

Open ##1270278