^Agree – for me it is worth it NOW… but it is a painful process!
@intparent Certainly my children may not want our furniture, but some of it is rather valuable. Our “breakfast” tableis actually a round tiger-oak dining dining table that seats eight. My mother paid $20 for it to buy it from a woman who was going to throw it away, and refinished it and gave it to my grandparents. I cannot imagine replacing if for less than $2,500, if that. Why would anyone not want a nice table or nice furniture?
I’m aware that if they ever have a house full of Empire furniture my stuff will be garbage, but I can’t imagine them living amongst it.
Replacement value is not equal to what you can sell it for to get rid of it, believe me… It may be a very long time, if ever, before your kids live in a place where they have room for or want a dining room table that seats 8. And when they do, it may be across the country… I am sure my parents envisioned me taking their furniture someday, too – a lot of it very nice, but by the time they were ready to give any of it up, I had my own stuff. Just saying, don’t get too attached to the idea that they are going to take it, or guilt them when the time comes if they don’t really want it.
@intparent I agree the price differential between asking and selling price of good, 100-year-old furniture is dramatic. If I were desperate to buy a table like the one I’ve described, might have to pay $3,500. If I were desperate to sell, I might only get $350.
My mother is cleaning her house right now and has a table full of “treasures” that she has put out for her kids and grandkids. Except for little pieces here and there, none of us want anything and I can see she is a little bitter about it. Most of us have enough of our own “treasures” that we should be paring down, rather than adding to. (We have all taken “something” but unfortunately not enough.)
^^ Same here. My parents have been clearing out their home the last 4 years. My father just retired and they put their home on sale. Even with 5 grown kids no one wants the 10 seater cherry wood dining table or the custom fabric sofas or 5 bedrooms worth of furniture. It is very nice quality and expensive furniture ideal to furnish a large home. They are considering selling some of the furniture to the buyer of their home or donating it once they move to a smaller home.
Half our furniture came from our parents. That said the older boy has already set up shop on the opposite coast with an apartment full of Idea furniture. Younger one is planning on becoming a naval officer. I don’t imagine he’ll want any of our stuff any time soon. He’s a tightwad though (and so is current long term girlfriend), so if he ever does settle down, he’ll be more than happy not to pay for stuff.
My In-laws are Earl LOL . Some of it is very good. It is also oak (not my taste). So I have many things in my house that I didn’t get to pick out. It is frustrating being a grown woman and not getting to pick out your own furniture. Yes -I know I should have just gotten a backbone and refused the stuff. At the time it didn’t seem like a big deal and the exhaustion of having young children canceled out the taste issues-but now that we want to downsize -I feel like I am stuck. Many of the items have a story -but I don’t think the “story” counts that much in daily life.
My D goes off to Grad school in a year and a half. She is welcome to take whatever she wants. However by the time we rent a U-haul and pay for gas -it may be cheaper for her to just buy something.
@veruca - wishing you luck, going through the same thing here. We have so much freaking stuff!
The things that stump me are gifts. Sometimes I just don’t want to hang on to certain things anymore, even though I certainly appreciated them at the time.
Now that my older son has moved out, I’m trying to not put the same pressure on him. I try to not give him anything that I would be upset if he sold or gave away for whatever reason.
Conditional gifts drive me crazy.
I have only one gift that I don’t like and don’t appreciate but will never get rid of. When I got married, my sister and BIL had been living in Japan for four years. They gave DH and me a Japanese Imari bowl. Nothing – absolutely nothing – in my house reflects anything Asian, and I really don’t care for that particular bowl or the Imari style. However, it’s from my sister, whom I love, so the bowl remains on a shelf in the living room.
Any other gifts that I don’t like I’ve gotten rid of. (Except my grandmother’s china. Can’t figure a way to get rid of that.)
We also have some nice pieces of furniture that WE really love and value. Our kids have interest in almost none of it. One kid would like my Larken oak slant top desk, and an oak dresser and commode in my bedroom. They might want the oak pedestal table and chairs in our breakfast room. Table is well over 100 years old. Chairs were handcrafted in North Carolina…and are really nice.
Our DR set is a classic from the 1930’s…and my kids do not want it.
We have been offered furniture from my inlaws, and have graciously declined. They have some really valuable Danish modern signed pieces. Not our taste.
I’m hoping my musician takes the piano. I hope.
We only keep what we have because it furnishes our big house. When we move…we will take the pieces we like (those listed above…and a couple of our beds). Everything else will be offered up, or sold.
I honestly don’t expect my kids to want or take anything. To be honest, if theynreallynwanted to have something right now, I would give it to them right now. I won’t put one item into storage when we move,
Our issue is dishes…multiple sets. From my mother. Some have gone…others are still here. Kids don’t want them…and neither do I.
“Also thinking my kids might want things”
Don’t do that to your kids. Let them pick out their own stuff. I can’t tell you how many times my MIL will show up at my house with some gawdawful piece of furniture that she can’t bear to throw away, so she gives it to me.
After a few years of her asking where “her stuff” went and me replying “to Goodwill”, she stopped giving me stuff. I am not a hoarder and I don’t get emotionally attached to objects unless they are really special. I have the blanket that my grandmother knit for me when I was 12; that is priceless to me. I don’t have the spoons, glasses, bric a brack and furniture that she left for me when she died-that’s just stuff.
I went away for a few days, came home and looked around at my house and just wanted to start burning things! Even though we don’t have an imminent downsizing move coming, I just don’t want to have so much stuff. And I do have some antique furniture that belonged to my parents and/or grandparents. Everything has an interesting story, but that only matters if my kids want it. I want to hit the happy medium where I don’t get rid of anything they want, but I don’t force anything on them that they don’t want! It shouldn’t be too hard if we keep open the lines of communication.
Another problem is having gotten some things from my father’s passing, holding things for my sister, and anticipating things coming from the in-laws. It’s hard to keep afloat!
My friend when she got married got a ton of silverware from her inlaws. With little kids she was never able to use these items let alone have time to polish them. They have been sitting in storage.
Even just living in a condo I am thinking what will dd take with her whenever she moves out to her own apt. The sight of too much stuff overwhelms me. I don’t know if I have become frugal or a minimalist.
We don’t have a ton of stuff but what irks me is the papers, the constant junk mail I am throwing out.
I have been working on clearing stuff out. One of my DS is a wiz at throwing stuff away. He is the complete opposite of my H who is attached to everything.
I have a dear friend who is a borderline hoarder. She doesn’t throw stuff out or give it away because she thinks her stuff has a lot of value and can be sold on EBay. Honestly, I look at the stuff and think that no one in his right mind wants all those “collectibles”. Whenever I hesitate over taking an object “with value” to Goodwill, I think about my friend and all her stuff. I do not want to live like she does, so out the object goes.
Occasionally you might be surprised. Apparently there is a secondary market for Hummels. 
My inlaws have a very full house of “stuff”. Someone is going to have to deal with that stuff at some point.
We have friends who had three households of “stuff” in their house…from grandparents, and a great grandparent who died. They kept it all. Finally put a deadline with their kids on taking it. Each kid took one meaningful piece of furniture. None took any of the China, dishes, etc. the family had a HUGE sale…sold a lot…and donated the rest to charitable donation places. They didn’t move anything except what they planned to use.
My mom passed away last month, and the day after my funeral my dad sat my brother and me down to go over a long handwritten list of bequests from her to us (many, many pages). Some jewelry, but mostly china, serving dishes, silver, etc. Maybe my dad could tell that we were a bit aghast, even though we were trying to hide it (both of us thinking, “I don’t want all this stuff… and where am I going to PUT it??”). He said, “Well, once I pass away or give up the house, this is how Mom wants things divided.” Whew. Dodged that bullet for a little while. But it is still lurking out there… 
Sorry about your Mom @intparent
^^me too @intparent.