Keepsakes

[vraiblonde]

When Monello was back in MD he went into my storage locker and grabbed some things that he thought I might not want thrown away. Pics of my mom and dad on their wedding day, pics of my grandmother, of me as a baby and child, things that had belonged to my grandmother and great-grandmother that have sentimental value to me....like that.

Honestly, I wish I'd never seen them again because now I don't know what to do with them.

I don't have room to store them, nor the space to display them. My kids aren't interested in stuff like that (parenting failure) - I suppose I could dump it all off on them anyway and make it their problem, but it would just piss them off. My Mom dumped a lot of it off on me, with my full choosing and approval, but I was that kind of person who liked to hold onto the past and loved ones. And I'm still like that, which is why I'm having a hard time with what to do with it.

I had a brief thought of scanning the pics and take pics of the stuff so I could look at it now and then, but two things: I won't look at pics of my treasures, and it's not the same as having something in your hand that was once in the hands of someone you love. It's a reminder that they existed - that they still exist. A digital image isn't the same.

Anyone else having this problem? Any suggestions?

 

[RoseRed]

I have my GGGparents photo albums. Of course I never knew them, but I can't just toss them.

 

[Sneakers]

Digitize it all. That's what we've been doing for my dad's stuff and now I'm doing it for my own stuff. Even if you never look at it again, it takes no space to keep a thumb drive. Future descendants may appreciate having them, even if the kids don't.

 

[NextJen]

I'm going through a big transition in my life now. I'm eligible to retire and need my kids to find their own place and move out (housing market right now is making this almost impossible for them). In the meantime, I am slowly starting to clean out and pack up or pitch things. It took me a while to get to the point of getting rid of things that belonged to my deceased fiance, but I finally got resolved to let his things go as more life changes happened for me recently. I'm ready to move on. I'm keeping very little in the way of tangible items for memories. I have lots of memories I hold in my heart and they can go with me anywhere. Plus, I'm very limited in space in my RV (which will be my temp home for a little while) and I want to start fresh with all new things in the place I eventually land - so my motto now is, 'Everything must go!'

Good luck deciding what to do with your treasures.

 

[golam]

Digitize all your pictures and documents, distribute copies to cousins, friends and neighbors, in case they get lost or misplaced, the kids may want copies later in life, most tend to be un-interested until its too late. Finally donate them to the Historical society, Tudor Hall if they are from St. Mary's, they keep family files and would probably love to have them.

 

[ontheriver]

I am terrible at letting go of things that remind me of the people in my life who made me... What I've been doing is slowly giving those things to people that I know would appreciate them, like cool old fishing rods to someone who loves to fish... they mostly don't know just how much those things mean to me, but I do.

 

[black dog]

I'm leaving an unbelievable amount of stuff for my son to clean out...
I wish I could be at my own auction...

 

[Bann]

When Monello was back in MD he went into my storage locker and grabbed some things that he thought I might not want thrown away. Pics of my mom and dad on their wedding day, pics of my grandmother, of me as a baby and child, things that had belonged to my grandmother and great-grandmother that have sentimental value to me....like that.

Honestly, I wish I'd never seen them again because now I don't know what to do with them.

I don't have room to store them, nor the space to display them. My kids aren't interested in stuff like that (parenting failure) - I suppose I could dump it all off on them anyway and make it their problem, but it would just piss them off. My Mom dumped a lot of it off on me, with my full choosing and approval, but I was that kind of person who liked to hold onto the past and loved ones. And I'm still like that, which is why I'm having a hard time with what to do with it.

I had a brief thought of scanning the pics and take pics of the stuff so I could look at it now and then, but two things: I won't look at pics of my treasures, and it's not the same as having something in your hand that was once in the hands of someone you love. It's a reminder that they existed - that they still exist. A digital image isn't the same.

Anyone else having this problem? Any suggestions?

Send the pictures out!! to be digitized. At least that way you can send those to the kids if they choose to have them or other relatives. Companies do it and put them on a disc AND make them available in an online album. I used iMemories.

 

[frequentflier]

My husband and I have no children and no family near by. Who gets our "stuff" when we die? Only one sister has visited since we moved here almost 20 years ago! He has one brother in TX he rarely communicates with. I doubt anyone would be interested in photos and momentos from our lives.
We discuss downsizing all the time and will likely move out of MD when he retires. But still: "who gets our stuff"? We will be rewriting our wills soon and it is difficult since we have no heirs. Of course, I hope we live long enough and well enough to not have anything left over We will likely leave our worldly possessions to be auctioned off with the proceeds going to an animal rescue group.

 

[RoseRed]

I used Your Memories Remembered | Facebook to have my daughters baby movies digitized. Really nice guy and had them back to me within the week.

 

[Clem72]

It's a reminder that they existed - that they still exist. A digital image isn't the same.

You don't want to digitize the images because you want the physical reminder that they exist(ed). But you also kinda don't want the physical reminder either, you want someone else to have the physical reminder. You want them to still exist, but not so much for you.

 

[Ken King]

Digitize them, burn them and keep the ashes in an urn. That way you still have them and they can either join your ashes or be buried with you.

 

[vraiblonde]

You don't want to digitize the images because you want the physical reminder that they exist(ed). But you also kinda don't want the physical reminder either, you want someone else to have the physical reminder. You want them to still exist, but not so much for you.

I want someone else to want them to exist as well, and want the physical reminder of them.

 

[glhs837]

I want someone else to want them to exist as well, and want the physical reminder of them.

Then arrange long term conditioned storage until your kids might care. Might not cost much for a long term locker.

 

[limblips]

I planned for this for many years. I became an a$$hole and a grump preventing anyone from giving me anything and nobody expecting anything from me. When I do go I intend to carry on my a$$holiness by giving all my tools, vehicles, boats and guns to the family black sheep nephew since he and I are peas in a pod. Everything else goes to the curb for the vultures.

 

[TPD]

I am the one in my family that keeps the "stuff". Not only do I have too much of my own "stuff" but I was the lucky one who inherited the 60 years of "stuff" in my parents house after one of my siblings took out all the good or valuable "stuff". Who else has the hospital receipt for their mother's birth? My mother was born in 1940 at Sibley Memorial - total cost for 1 week (yeah those were the days when you could stay in the hospital for a week with your newborn) was a whopping $25.20! $19.50 for the room for 7 days, $5.25 for baby care, and 45 cents for drugs.

I also inherited most of the pictures from my mother. She had a lot - thousand+. When I retire, I would like to go thru and scan them myself and label them. The problem is we are losing the older family members who can identify who is in the pictures. Pictures are no good if you don't know what you are looking at. So I need to retire soon before everyone that can help me with identification dies off.

I have a large plastic container (20gal+) filled with things from my daughters 1st 18 years - significant newspaper headlines (9/11), her early drawings, report cards, unopened walkman/cassette tape, my first flip phone, school projects, etc. Not sure if she will every be interested in it but I have it. If nothing else, it can go in my library/museum that will be built in downtown Ridge after my passing (along with the mean girl's signs from the store). Yeah, my daughter talks about building this museum to hold all of this "stuff". I need to rewrite my will to leave money in a trust for this project.

Stuff - I need to purge some. I've said many times that people need to move every 5 years so they keep their stuff to a minimum. I haven't moved since 1993...

 

[vraiblonde]

Who else has the hospital receipt for their mother's birth?

See, and you can't just throw something like that away. You also can't pass it along to someone who will throw it away.

 

[TPD]

I am the one in my family that keeps the "stuff". Not only do I have too much of my own "stuff" but I was the lucky one who inherited the 60 years of "stuff" in my parents house after one of my siblings took out all the good or valuable "stuff". Who else has the hospital receipt for their mother's birth? My mother was born in 1940 at Sibley Memorial - total cost for 1 week (yeah those were the days when you could stay in the hospital for a week with your newborn) was a whopping $25.20! $19.50 for the room for 7 days, $5.25 for baby care, and 45 cents for drugs.

 

[ginwoman]

My husband and I have no children and no family near by. Who gets our "stuff" when we die? Only one sister has visited since we moved here almost 20 years ago! He has one brother in TX he rarely communicates with. I doubt anyone would be interested in photos and momentos from our lives.
We discuss downsizing all the time and will likely move out of MD when he retires. But still: "who gets our stuff"? We will be rewriting our wills soon and it is difficult since we have no heirs. Of course, I hope we live long enough and well enough to not have anything left over We will likely leave our worldly possessions to be auctioned off with the proceeds going to an animal rescue group.

We are in your same boat. No kids. I've been trying to go thru my stuff. We are going thru 60 years of "stuff" from my parents house. It's been hard to do especially since my very nutty sister is involved. But that's another story.

 

[stgislander]

My brother and sister-in-law, and my wife and I went through that with my mom last month. Boxes and boxes of old photos. Dividing them up between my two brothers and I into piles. Many got pitched because they held no meaning to us.