This makes me think of an Alf stuffed animal we inherited from my husband’s aunt…. oh how she loved that show! Just today I mentioned to my husband that someday we’d probably prioritize making one of the kids take Benny Bear, his love-worn teddy bear. When our daughter was born, his mom gifted Benny … sporting a pretty new pink bow.
Not worth much, but somebody might like it
https://www.ebay.com/b/Alf-Vintage-Stuffed-Animals/165956/bn_1913886
BTW… Cords are back in style! Beautiful jacket.
We got rid of the wooden barn that had been a hand me down from an older friend. We kept the Breyer horses, all the collapsible corrals and all the horse stuffed animals. We also kept the wooden rocking horse. My youngest was and still is a horse girl. She has a daughter so hope her daughter will one day enjoy.
We have used so far- books, duplo, little tykes car track. Soon we
Will take out the blocks.
I didn’t save any baby clothes but I wish I had saved a few.
I am hanging on to my son’s Lincoln Logs. We loaned them a family member’s child for awhile, he is no longer interested and we have them back.
You bring up good points but not ones that help me get rid of items! 
Sorry! I have the toys not because I was thinking grandchildren but because I hadn’t cleaned that area out yet. I’m now glad I didn’t get rid of everything.
Since we just finished a major clean up to downsize, I can comment on the value of old toys. There were several toys (star wars, Pokémon, American girl doll, etc.), that seemed like they should be valuable. I priced them out on eBay and each time they were not. So they went to rummage sales or good will. Even my old Barbie stuff was not worth much when I found them online.
I went though the items of clothing I saved from when my daughter was a baby. I tossed almost all of it. Used baby clothes don’t hold up over time, I know I put them away clean, but they seemed yellowed or faded or smelt funny. (I could never have given these items to a new baby). The same was true of most of the children’s books. The pages were yellowed and smelly and in some cases, (mostly scholastic books) the pages were actually falling out. The toys from when my daughter was very little - Fisher Price, Thomas, etc., were donated ages ago.
Yes! The Brio train set, pattern blocks, regular blocks, castle blocks, Little Tikes small toys, domino blocks, and some I’m forgetting. Plus all the books!
I should have joined this thread quite a while ago. I ended up with a lot of my mother’s stuff after she died, since I was the only local sibling. Almost five years later, I haven’t made much progress in getting rid of it.
Pokemon cards are very collectible but depends on the character, power, age, condition. They should be taken to a game shop. Some are worth a few hundred dollars. Some are worthless…sort of like baseball cards.
My daughter reviewed her Pokemon cards, she knew which ones might be valuable. I think she decided that one card that might get her around $40… But, they can’t be sold to collectors without a professional evaluation which costs money. So, she decided to just save them all.
It was similar with old video games. We had a couple that might be worth something, but not enough to make it worth trying to sell .
We did get money for old DVDs and video games from local stores. It only was worth the trip because we had so many to sell. When you have a hundred to sell and some are worth $2 and others are worth 50 cents, you can still walk away with a decent amount. Plus there was no hassle of selling online and doing shipping etc. This was a few years ago, I think the old record and movie market has dried up. I probably wouldn’t get as much today.
I recycled MANY many Pokémon cards. They were in pristine condition, because my mom bought binders for them. I have kept most of my sons’ video games/systems, but I may just give them away at some point.
We still have old tube tv, VHS player & tapes, games. One recycler will take for small fee. On my to do list to decide- keep for use over holidays, or free up space?
After spending the last few months basically touching everything we own, I can share how we made our decisions.
If something would be useful to one of us (myself, my husband, or my daughter) in the near future (so not something that a potential grandchild would use), we saved it. If it is used everyday, it went into our new small apartment. If not, it was boxed in plastic containers and went into our storage unit (stuff like holiday decorations).
If it held really strong sentimental value to one of us (photos, old yearbooks, old family jewelry, etc.), it was kept. Again, the most “priceless” in terms of value to us (old family photos, etc.) are in the apartment and all the rest is in plastic boxes in the storage unit.
If it could be used by somebody now (good condition, good use), it was donated to a rummage sale, charity bin, local library, or a refugee organization. This included most of our furniture (we had already furnished our new apartment), kitchen wares, linens, toys, puzzles, games, etc. Old books went to a collection bin that benefits a local church (they take any book with an ISBN no matter the condition)
If it was electronic and out of date, we brought it to the town dump (they collect for recycling of some kind). I made sure to drown or smash the hard drives. This included TVs, computers, printers, etc. I was also able to take to the dump old metal stuff (like broken outdoor furniture) and expired fire extinguishers.
If it had immediate value, but we had no interest in it, it was sold. This included jewelry, collectible coins, old DVDs, outdoor furniture in good condition, an electric piano, etc. I didn’t make much on this, except for some very ugly Italian gold chains that netted me over $1,000. I also failed on this in not being able to get anybody to buy an old Movado watch. (Still hanging on to that).
When all else failed, the stuff went to a junk collector or out with the trash (our town really limits the amount you can put out - only two bins a week -so this was challenging). I really tried to minimize this group of stuff, but some things were just too old, broken, or unwanted to do anything else with.
What we did may not work for everybody, but it worked really well for us. After going through this process, the entire family feels freed by not having all this stuff around us. We have not missed anything we got rid of. My daughter even thanked me for doing this now (so she doesn’t have to do it years from now).
We’ve been in our downsized house for 11 years now. I did a huge purge before we moved. But guess what – it’s like mold: The stuff is creeping back. I need to purge again.
It is like the laws of thermodynamics! Entropy has a natural tendency to increase. All. The. Time. So does junk. I too have been on a purging spree lately.
Yes, on the creeping in. It’s honestly mostly because people still insist on giving me things. My friend who knows I am very minimalistic recently gave me a very cool carafe for mixing up salad dressings. I’ve used it once. I just don’t want it. I don’t want anything with the exception being my love for clothing. And, I have lots of sheet music. I am never going to scan it. Same with the photos. It’s too much. But, other than clothing and sheet music, I just don’t buy more stuff myself.
We did the big purge/downsize six years ago. However, we had a condo in our building that recently went under contract in six days. We are waiting until they close to see how close they got to their asking price. We are actually talking about selling and just renting for awhile. Preferably renting furnished. We aren’t sure we want to stay in this area long-term (even though we thought we would when we moved here). Ds finishes his MBA in June. We aren’t sure where he will land. Selling would give us tax-free money (close to the max one can get when selling a home), and that is very appealing. We would immediately gain $2,000 per month from insurance and tax savings. We would pay more in rent than that, but renting would give us much more flexibility and buy us some time to think about where we might want to go. We’d stay in the area for awhile as my dh is still working. He needs to think more about his timeline. All that to say, that it may be time to do another pass on everything we have.
We had the pleasure of using a service that is in our city of once a month bulk pick up. That pick up got rid of the rest of the “garbage” from our house move. Even with that pile, it was picked over by the metal scrappers (old fire pit) and also of many empty plastic storage containers we had - like literally we had probably well over 50 large storage containers!
That said, I’d like to say that we completely shed all unwanted things but H doesn’t work that way.
WIN: Snuck several bags of stuff into the car for Salvation Army dropoff before DH could notice. Mwuah hah hah.
LOSS: Picked up random screws and broken plastic bits from the floor and was firmly told to put them in the junk drawer.
I plan to sell my Roland digital grand piano - it’s 30 years old and I haven’t played in at least 10 years and don’t plan to.
It’s my piano and it’s my choice but my husband – who cannot play – is beside himself over this. Oy. You’d think I was selling the kids.
I sold my daughter’s Roland digital piano to the local Guitar Center - got a decent price for it. They bought the piano, the stand, and the bench. It was about 25 years old, in excellent condition, and had not been played in about 10 years. I saw them list it on their site after we sold it.
Sigh. I feel your pain. That’s the stuff my husband always tries to save.