What items did you inherit a ridiculous amount of?

[easyas123]

A small hutch that belonged to my maternal grandmother - not sure where she got it.
A few sets of china my paternal great grandparents had, as well as my maternal grandmother had.
Jewelry from my paternal grandparents, as well as a oriental rug.
And a very special possession, my grandmothers flask. Still has scotch in it she didn't finish over 20 years ago.

 

[aboveH20]

Canning jars!

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Good looks, athleticism, intellect, drive, determination, wisdom, kindness, humor, perfection, and above all
...
...
...
...
MODESTY!!!!!!

 

[VandVsmama]

~ 11 1/2 years ago when my mother died, my dad decided that he wanted to eliminate all traces in their house of his life with her, so over the course of 18 months, he shipped tons and tons of boxes of stuff to my house. All sent via UPS. Every memento, every photo, even pictures I'd given them of my own children.

For the first 6 months, it was mementos and related stuff like that. And then for the last 12 months of his weekly shipments, the boxes included stuff that was of no use to us, nor did it have any sentimental value. Things like:

• dish towels from the 1980s
• ugly table cloths from the 70s & 80s
• seriously ugly coffee mugs that they'd held onto forever. About half of them were those freebie coffee mugs that you get as giveaways from local companies.
• fabric remnants - my mother used to sew
• wire coat hangers
• plastic coat hangers
• clothing
• 5 years' worth of "Woodworkers" magazine. My mom was not into woodworking.
• National Geographics
• more coffee table books than I can count
• all of my father's old college textbooks
• decorative wall hangings & decorative pictures full of the 1980s mauve & blue color combo
• decorative breakable figurines of things that mean nothing to me nor did they have any sentimental value

It went on and on and on. I figured out early on to just open the box in the garage and literally throw into the trash most of the contents. So my dad essentially used it as one of the most expensive means of getting rid of your stuff that I have ever heard of.

My MIL has way more stuff than my dad did. So when she is no longer able to live on her own some time down the road, it's going to be quite the ordeal to go through everything with her. This is a woman who has boxes of her dead mother's old clothes...including underwear...from the 1980s. Thankfully, there's a locally owned business in the area where they come in and do estate sales in exchange for a % of the sales. We will absolutely hire them when the time comes.

 

[AndreaDM]

Canning jars!

The last home we bought (not current home) had DOZENS of them in the basement, some still had very questionable contents! I had a coworker who canned so gave her a bunch and donated some to a friend who was doing a charity dinner and wanted to use them as vases. The ones with food? Left them for the next owners lol.

 

[sheilafri]

Thanks for starting this thread OP. I need to get rid of so much stuff that it’s daunting. We’ve lived in this house for 50 years. DH loves to keep empty boxes, but he’s starting to get rid of them. We do purge occasionally but we need to do much more. It adds up so quickly. DH cleaned up my email yesterday as I was running out of room. I had over 20,000 emails! Crazy I know. I also started getting rid of old receipts/bills, old appliance manuals, etc. I’m trying to set aside this task for once a week, otherwise our kids will hate us when we die.

If you can do it, great. Your children will love you for it. My mom calls us all in every couple years to help her clean out her stuff. Then she really only wants to shuffle it around or she replaces it if we do manage to get rid of it. We (the kids) have just secretly decided to wait until they die and get a dumpster.

 

[barkley]

Feel free to forward any boxes of scrapbook supplies to me! Or better yet, drop them off at a retirement or nursing home. They will be much appreciated.

if people can let go of the stuff then it's a great suggestion-as shown in this thread people can form unusual attachments to items they will never use just b/c a family member was it's previous owner.

 

[mom2rtk]

if people can let go of the stuff then it's a great suggestion-as shown in this thread people can form unusual attachments to items they will never use just b/c a family member was it's previous owner.

Well, it's all a very personal decision. If someone can't let go of all the "stuff" then I guess it's on them to figure out how to store it all. There is no right answer here. Some people are more attached to things than others.

 

[RangerPooh]

China! 6 sets and counting. My husband is an only child and when his parents downsized we got all the china from his side of the family. His father, his grandparents, etc. He cant part with any of it so I try to just use it occasionally for every day dinners. I hate the thought of all of it just sitting in storage unused for most of the year.

I have inherited 4 sets of china, and due to having careless kids we never use it. I have both sets of my grandmothers china, moms china, and one that belonged to a great grandmother. Years ago we bought a hutch at an estate sale and it came with a set of china, I sold it for dirt cheap to a friend.

 

[aboveH20]

The last home we bought (not current home) had DOZENS of them in the basement, some still had very questionable contents! I had a coworker who canned so gave her a bunch and donated some to a friend who was doing a charity dinner and wanted to use them as vases. The ones with food? Left them for the next owners lol.

You win! None of mine had food in them

 

[barkley]

I have inherited 4 sets of china, and due to having careless kids we never use it. I have both sets of my grandmothers china, moms china, and one that belonged to a great grandmother. Years ago we bought a hutch at an estate sale and it came with a set of china, I sold it for dirt cheap to a friend.

i feel a twinge of sadness when i go to our local charity shops and see the hundreds of boxes of beautiful china plates that are being sold as..................SHOOTING TARGETS. yup, they have become so overwhelmed with donations of unwanted inherited china that this is their means of selling it. i don't know about the big national chains (goodwill and such) but most of our local have also refused donations of china hutches for the past few years-again, inherited and unwanted there's no real market for their resale.

 

[AndreaDM]

i feel a twinge of sadness when i go to our local charity shops and see the hundreds of boxes of beautiful china plates that are being sold as..................SHOOTING TARGETS. yup, they have become so overwhelmed with donations of unwanted inherited china that this is their means of selling it. i don't know about the big national chains (goodwill and such) but most of our local have also refused donations of china hutches for the past few years-again, inherited and unwanted there's no real market for their resale.

I am always seeing hutches for sale on FB marketplace, no one wants them anymore!

 

[scrapquitler]

When my Mom passed away in 2014, she had a brand new giant package of Saran Wrap from Costco in her kitchen. I happened to run out of mine that week, so I took that package home. I've still got at least half of the roll left. The joke in my house is that my kids will probably inherit that roll of Saran Wrap when I die.

 

[goofyernmost]

Good looks, athleticism, intellect, drive, determination, wisdom, kindness, humor, perfection, and above all
...
...
...
...
MODESTY!!!!!!

I just got the good looks and modesty.

 

[RangerPooh]

i feel a twinge of sadness when i go to our local charity shops and see the hundreds of boxes of beautiful china plates that are being sold as..................SHOOTING TARGETS. yup, they have become so overwhelmed with donations of unwanted inherited china that this is their means of selling it. i don't know about the big national chains (goodwill and such) but most of our local have also refused donations of china hutches for the past few years-again, inherited and unwanted there's no real market for their resale.

And this is why DH and didn't register for China when we got married. I knew that I was to inherit some, and it was rarely used growing up. But to destroy as shooting targets is sad.

I am always seeing hutches for sale on FB marketplace, no one wants them anymore!

We were going to do this with ours, but ended up giving it to a friend who's ex took theirs in their divorce. Downsized to a smaller buffet style hutch from Costco and like it much better.

 

[Lynne G]

Wax paper boxes. Over a dozen. Not sure why, maybe forget had it? Donated all but one to local church kitchen.

 

[Cynt]

Tools, tools and more tools. My Dad was a car person and a farmer. He has every tool made and known by man. The only good thing is he was OCD! His garage was organized and clean like your local hardware store. He had a specific place for every wrench, bolt, screw driver, hammer, etc. I go in there and just laugh and talk to him. He died July 2022. I can't bring myself to getting rid of it yet. We'll see what the summer brings. Hopefully we'll be ready for an estate sale and then sale the house.

All his belongings in the house were organized as well. He could not stand clutter and junk. Thanks Dad. He made the process of going through his things easy peasy.

 

[tasha99]

Nitrile gloves. And this was in 2014, not 2020. My mom had 20+ boxes off them.

 

[Earstou]

Bags and bags of worn ankle height nylons. Don't know why they weren't tossed originally.

 

[NYCgrrl]

My mother owned a fabric store which could account for the 2 boxes of belt buckles in the closet.