<p>I became reminded of my “scary attic” as I was reading the midlife-crisis-get-rid-of-stuff thread.</p>
<p>Moved D to a new apt. yesterday - gotta admit, sort of jealous for a new chance to start out fresh in new digs! We are not going anywhere, but I swore once we got her move out of the way that I would have a mega garage sale - one or two days, get rid of what we can, donate the rest to the church rummage sale.</p>
<p>Which brings me to…the scary attic.</p>
<p>Our attic on our two story home is a full walk-up, walk in attic that is quite large. And filled to-the-brim! I won’t start on my rant of the junk my husband has saved…</p>
<p>BUT…thinking about some of the goofy stuff up there. Why do we save it? Why do we HAVE it!!!</p>
<p>Some of our stuff includes:
a box of porcelain dolls that my father in law decided my daughter should receive each year - each of which she was creeped out by their painted faces. (he was so proud of them we/she could not tell him to stop getting them)</p>
<ul>
<li>a coonskin cap that was passed on my a relative.</li>
</ul>
<p>Stuff husband refuses to give up:
Dozens of old antique chairs he swears he will refinish.<br>
Boxes of old books he swears will be valuable.
Plastic tubs of old towels (you never know when you will need oodles of rags!)</p>
<p>Stuff I refuse to give up:
Our crib and changing table used for all three kids.
A collection of the old Fisher-Price playsets that my kids and any other kids who have come to our house ADORE - from the house, to the zoo, to the Main Street, to the McDonald’s set, the airport…and on and on!!!</p>
<p>I am one of those people that loves to get rid of stuff. My husband, not so much. We have a large attic that is accessed by pull-down stairs … the only things up there are the Christmas wreaths we hang on our windows each year. We also have a side attic that runs the length of our bonus room and is accessed by a full-size door. That’s where we keep our luggage, Christmas decorations, gift wrap, file cabinet, three or four boxes of memorabilia, an antique family rocker and the rocker I used when DD was a baby. </p>
<p>If my house burned or was blown away by a tornado, the only items I would truly miss would be my grandmother’s china, my other grandmother’s Christmas dishes and all our pictures. Memories will forever be in my heart and nothing can take those away.</p>
<p>I sometimes fantasize about new digs, too, where I could take only the things I really want and not the items I feel obligated to keep.</p>
<p>I wish I HAD an attic. All of our junk is in the garage. The one stupid thing I’ve saved is a box of Power Ranger toys that probably won’t be valuable till the kids turn 50, but any of you with sons must remember the early 90’s when we camped out at Target when they were getting a delivery of the latest and greatest.</p>
<p>Oh, and I also saved a big bag of Happy Meal toys still in their original packaging. When I see the old toys and lunchboxes and games from my own childhood that people are paying big bucks for on eBay, I think that maybe one day some sentimental adult will want to add them to his collection.</p>
<p>Sistersunnie, we have two big plastic bins of Beanie Babies too! I have swore to my kids that I am saving them and when THEY have kids and they come visit me, each child is going home with a beanie baby every time they visit!!!</p>
<p>haha! great thread! My husband and I have a very good relationship, but when it comes to the Scary Attic the problems begin. He keeps his parents’ things out of posterity…plaques, awards, etc. that have nothing to do with US and they’re deceased. There are boxes and boxes and just looking at them makes me crazy. There are even more in our garage. My mother’s scary attic became apparent after she passed away and my sister and I had to clean it out to get the house ready for sale. Great grandfather’s naturalisation papers? Turns out she’d never cleaned out things from HER deceased in laws!! and its one thing if you can call 1-800- JUNK but we felt we had to go through it to make sure there wasn’t something at least of family interest. It took the two of us one week to get through the Scary Attic.</p>
<p>I have always told DH and DD (only child) that I do NOT want DD to have to decide what to keep and what to toss after DH and I are gone. That’s one of the reasons I am constantly getting rid of things. I think “stuff” develops more of a sentimental attachment after someone’s death, so it’s better to get rid of it before the person passes on unless it’s something you truly want to keep. Are you interested in the great-grandfather’s naturalization papers, dke? If not, please consider passing them on to someone in the family who is in to family history/genealogy. I have been working on a family tree for several years and would love to have an item like that to include with my family records.</p>
<p>My dad has boxes marked TOD (toss on death). He’s gone through his papers and while he doesn’t want to get rid of them now, he knows we’ll never need any of it.</p>
<p>A couple weeks ago I saw a huge bin of Beenie Babies for sale…$1 each! abasket - LOL on the tubs of cleaning rags!</p>
<p>When we were building our house I was quite concerned that I didn’t have enough storage and shelving. One of the carpenters looked at me and said “If you ever fill up all this storage space then you have issues” Oh boy…I have issues! :p</p>
<p>My sister had just begun a massive remodel of her home when our mother died. No Scary Attic in mom’s house, just tons of family stuff. Lots of it is now in my sister’s gigantic new basement. She jokes about installing those library shelves that move on tracks so that she can squeeze even more stuff in.</p>
<p>LOL on the Beanie babies…How many people still have them? I tie one on every gift that I give to a little one. It’s a good way to get rid of those once short lived collectables that cost a small bundle at one point. I was able to get rid of several at Christmas. The snowmen and Santa’s looked cute hanging on white gift wrap with coordinating ribbon. I do the same with the pumpkins at Halloween on cellophane candy bags with nieces and newphews, and the turkey beanies look cute on the kiddies plates at Thanksgiving. I got rid of a crate of those things and the rest are going to the hospital at Christmas tied to gifts for kids who are in the hospital during the holidays.</p>
<p>If you have lots of vases…call an assisted living and ask if they would like them. I had a box of 24 vases, and cut flowers to fill them from my garden last summer, to bring to a nearby facility. They were placed all around the common area tables and in the dining room.</p>
<p>Craft supplies are also welcomed at assisted living places. </p>
<p>Just look at the clutter and think about places where the stuff you no longer want could really be used. Everytime I go to the hospital I bring a stack of magizines and leave them on the tables in the waiting room. The hospital will also be happy to take your books for their patients. I donated two table games to a youth facilty, and kids bikes to a home for battered woman (many of these woman leave everything behind and the kids have very little. They also appreciate kids books and toys.</p>
<p>Okay, I have a scary attic, too. It is, like abaskets, a full walk up and pretty roomy. My husband is all of the husbands mentioned here rolled into one hoarding, sentimental optimistic saver. We have it all; beannie babies, antique chairs from his uncles office, books, record albums, old bibles, you name it. Whenever I suggest getting rid of some it, his response is “What do you mean?! That (chair, book, drafting set, chemist’s scale) is GREAT!” </p>
<p>If I go up there to find an actual item like a coat or boots, it is impossible to navigate the mounds and piles.</p>
<p>I hope we never have a fire. We will end up in the paper as a story about weird hoarders who’s house should have been condemned.</p>
<p>I have a scary basement. 5 full rooms of STUFF. The basement was cleaned out in a big way three times in the past 23 years, but STUFF just sort of grows down there. </p>
<p>Doesn’t help that my 23 year old daughter hasn’t thrown out ANYTHING from her childhood. She’s a sentimentalist. Son couldn’t care less about his things down there but is too lazy to decide what to do with it. </p>
<p>I indulged both kids and let them keep anything they wanted (except clothes, which we donate) in part because it was easier, and in part because I moved around a great deal in my childhood/youth and had to keep my things to a minimum. It seemed sweet to be able to hold onto all their favorite toys - well ALL their toys, actually. </p>
<p>Now I dread going down there. All I can say is, my grandchildren won’t need any toys or any books - ever.</p>
<p>DH and I have been out of undergraduate school for 37 and 31 years. We still have textbooks. We have pitched a few, but we definitely need to pitch more.</p>
<p>On the beanie babies: Princess Diana is buried in a closet upstairs.</p>
<p>We too have the huge bin of Beanie Babies under the eaves, and lots of other stuff. I told the kids that when they are about 30 years old or living in a house I will drive up one day in my truck and dump all these bins of their stuff in their living rooms. But not the Brio train set. I hope someday to give that piece by piece for birthday presents to a grandchild. First the figure 8 track, then a bridge, then a tunnel, etc, just the way my son got it. It cost a fortune and there is no reason it should not be re-gifted.</p>
<p>I can top all of your Beanie Baby stories: We not only have about 8 huge bins of them, but H IS STILL BUYING THEM. He wants all of the BB’s for each holiday. I’ll see these checklists by the computer. He buys them on eBay.</p>
<p>He gets rid of nothing. The other day I put a big stack of paper in the recyling…school stuff, cards,etc. He pulled all of the cards out - even the ones from the insurance agent and the card dealership.</p>
<p>This is actually a serious problem. I am only comfortable in tidy surroundings. We have tons of built in storage but it is filled to the brim. H still goes to antique malls looking for treasures. If we found treasures, where would we put them???</p>
<p>Missy, if only I had known, I would have shipped you the ones that went to Value Village last summer! Hmmm, perhaps all the other CC posters will surprise you by emptying out their attics and sending them all to you :D</p>
<p>When DD was eight years old, we took her and her best friend to Florida for vacation to visit my MIL and FIL who used to keep their boat there. My MIL and FIL wanted to visit a flea market there and, though we were not excited about going, we agreed to do so. My attitude changed quickly … DD and her BFF spotted two Bronty the Brontosaurus beanie babies. They were giddy with excitement because that particular beanie baby was rare. Imagine my shock when I saw the price tag … $8. I snapped up both of them, happily paid the $16, and gave them to the girls. When we got home from vacation, I did some research and found people who were willing to pay crazy amounts for Bronty. DD and her BFF decided they liked money more than a toy so we sold them for $300 each (it might have been $350 but the exact amount escapes me). They each put the proceeds minus $10 (bought another BB) into their savings accounts. Over the years, DD has gotten rid of most of the others, but hangs on to a couple that have special meaning. What a crazy fad that was and I was right up in the middle of that craziness.</p>