House clearing-out when in a gated community

Parent Cafe
21

When it was time to clear out my last parent’s “treasures”, fortunately, they had downsized to a small senior apartment, and any type of garage sale would not be allowed. I took quick photos in the apartment. Photos showed the room of furniture or a full bookshelf with trinkets, not individual items. In the kitchen, I would open a cabinet or drawer and take a picture.

  1. First I sent photos to family members to claim anything they wanted, and told them I might need to choose the recipient (lottery style) if more than one person wanted the same item. Miraculously no one did! ALL family members lived far away, and I told them I could store items temporarily but they would ultimately need to come and get them (in a limited time), or pay for shipping. I would enjoy a visit. Win-win. Very few items were claimed, however.

  2. I also sent photos to about a dozen friends. Timing was such that many of their children were graduating college and renting their first apartment. Nearly all kitchen items, tools, and more were claimed. I put the items in piles, and friends needed to retrieve (in a very limited time frame) to claim.

  1. After family/friends I pulled a few items to sell on FB marketplace, but there was not much left at that point, so I was able to pack in a passenger van and bring home to a garage temporarily.

  2. Everything else was either trashed or donated to a charity (another van run).

Fortunately, it wasn’t too time-consuming. Or maybe I don’t remember :wink:

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22

Just after Dad died Mom got an apartment in an elderly housing building, and so the massive yard sale/clean up occurred then. When Mom passed a couple of years ago, cleaning out the apartment was surprisingly easy—most of the things of sentimental value had been divided up when the family house was sold 20 years prior. There was little of sentimental or actual value in the tiny one-room apartment where Mom spent her last 20 years.

A cousin who lived in the same building took the sofa and chair. Her neighbor who lived across the hall (who helped her often) gladly accepted her AC unit. Her small eating table went to a neighbor as well.

Thank goodness that one chore was not as bad as my sisters and I had anticipated.

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