I'm currently at my dad's house--the house that we will shortly be moving in to sans dad. It is a horrible mess. There remains the refuse of the six people who once lived here, but now just use it for general storage. Oh, and some late 80s furniture with the charming color scheme of pink and light blue (remember that????)
My dad wants the house sold, but it’s an absolute impossibility in its current state. So Steven and I foolishly agreed to move into it for six months, fix it up and have it sold. At first, we were overjoyed at the prospect...more room and less money (only insurance, utilities and taxes, as the house is already paid off). We'll really only be saving about $50 a month, but hey! that's 50 more bucks in our pocket right? Plus, it will give us more time to save up for our down payment, as we're planning on buying a house of our own (FINALLY!) in September.
Weeelllll, I'm feeling a tad overwhelmed. The place, as it stands, looks like it should be condemned. I think I might have bit off a little more than I can chew. I am looking at this house thinking I just need to bulldoze the whole thing down. But then I'll find some cute little tee-shirt from my youth, or some old cub scout patches, or a cruddy clay ashtray someone gave my mom for mother's day, and I start becoming obsessively sentimental about all the trash I didn't even remember existed before I started cleaning!
Why is it so hard to let go of junk? Not your everyday my-kid-ripped-apart-yet-another-toy junk, but the toys YOU pulled apart in your day…you know, memories.
My family never really moved. My parents bought this house in 1978, and lived in it until my mom passed. And the rest of us just kind of felt like we had two houses…the one we actually occupied with our spouses and the one where our childhood lived. But I really think that it will be a good thing for all of us to leave this house behind and really focus on our own homes and families. We really need to just rent a storage unit or THROW THINGS AWAY! I mean honestly, do I really need that ashtray?
Maybe. How much are storage units these days?
10 comments:
Throw things away! BUT take pictures of the things you want to remember, but not necessarily keep! If you're going to be living there, you won't want the clutter. The memories are great, but for your own sanity make it livable for you and for the future owners!
I have some recent experience cleaning out houses, and I agree with Missy THROW THINGS AWAY! Especially things you had forgotten even existed. But yes, do take pictures. They still help you keep the memories but take up much less room. Trust me.
oooo...I dunno ladies...Im a keeper when it comes to sentimental do-dads. My theory is to get a Hope Chest and pack the most sentimental things away in there...you never know when you will have a sappy moment pull upon you, when holding said cruddy ash tray in your palms will bring back the most vivid of lovely memories! AND...those old tshirts can be made into a lovely old quilt...the cut scout patches would look cool in a scrapbook. See...you don't necessairly have to throw your memories away...AND they dont have to pile up in boxes in a corner!
But thats just me ;)...it runs in my family...when they cleaned out my grandpa's office when he retired, they found stacks of old snickers wrappers! YUP...exactly.
Yeah, just keep a few of the seriously tear-worthy things, or things that can be passed down. The rest, chuck it!
Let me know if you find my favorite pair of socks I left there back in 87' ;) I would love to come help one day... I've got some awesome painting skills!
If you need help I am mean at throwing other people's stuff away. (Just ask my mom about her last move). When we moved back from FL I got rid of about 1/3 of our stuff and I promise I don't miss it. Take pictures and keep a few treasures. Just remember if you haven't thought about it in the last 15 years, you won't miss it in another 15!
CHUNK IT ALL!!!! Like my mama always said, a cluttered house makes for a cluttered mind!
Hey Jenny! This is Mandie, Missy's sister. Long time no talk!
You are so lucky to get to go through all those memories in your childhood house. My mom rented out our childhood home to section eight renters and they literally destroyed it. It was so horrible to see what they had done to our house. THAT clean up was not fun.
check out my blog sometime! http://brianmandieabby.blogspot.com/
Julie's right, we did have quite the experience at throwing things out from our grandmothers house. We're now experts. So yes, defintiely throw things away!
I have to agree with most of the other people who have commented. You might keep one or two things that are worth passing down,but you should throw everything else away. If you think you will actually make a quilt or something out of old t-shirts, then by all means keep them, but realistically they will probably just sit in your attic for the next 15 years. And things that hold sentimentality for you might not mean anything to your kids. You are better off taking pictures and throwing everything else away. We moved several times when I was a kid and most times we had to leave our stuff behind, so I don't have a single thing from my childhood, but I don't really miss it. Good luck cleaning the place up, you can do it!
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