My mom has suddenly decided she wants to be a minimalist. The problem is that I too have been getting rid of stuff and putting more order into my house. My mom STILL has my hat from when I was a baby. Today she asked if I wanted it. Along with my porcelain shoes, an 8th grade yearbook, random toys, items I made while in Kindergarten, etc. She doesn't want to get rid of things, I think she just wants someone else to hoard them. :sigh: What do I do? She makes me feel bad for not wanting these things.
Meanwhile, I'm going through things and trashing about 1/2 box of items from what we packed up and stored away 6.5 years ago. I feel like I'm making progress until we get a nice package from my mom. It's hard for me to throw away my handprint from when I was 4. LOL
Quickshep19
09-24-2011, 02:05 PM
Could you suggest she put the most special items or pix of them in a shadow box? I hope my mom doesn't do that to me. I definately don't have the space.
amcess721
09-24-2011, 03:56 PM
Take pictures of the items. Then get rid of the actual item. One scrapbook or photo album could be held onto easier than all the stuff.
megkmc
09-24-2011, 04:34 PM
Been there, done that. My mom died in 2007, so all of us kids had to decide if we wanted to keep our childhood "things" or throw them in the trash. Most of it was thrown away. That has helped me to keep less of my daughter's things for memorabilia. Honestly, take a picture of the things you look at and think "awww" and throw the rest away/donate. Better to do it now then when you are grieving in the future, those are all things you will need to deal with at one point or another.
flynnsmom
09-24-2011, 04:42 PM
My MIL did that to us with DH's stuff. Now granted, she is a fabulous minimalist and I take notes from her. He ended up keeping it around for awhile and finally got rid of most of it. Lots of it was baseball cards and comic stuff, so selling that was motivating.
pgkcb13
09-25-2011, 03:30 AM
Oi, I get packages like that from my mom all the time. There are a couple things I've keptout of guilt, but most of it gets donated. My mom says she's fine with it(she says she kept it for me, I can do what I want with it) but I know some of the stuff pisses her off :blush: Since my mom's a hoarder it's boxes and boxes... ugh.
ITA with the picture thing, or if you think you'll forget it existed just get rid of it, why keep a picture of something you might feel guitly about getting rid of if you can instead forget it competely :)
hibiscus869
09-25-2011, 12:09 PM
My parents do that kind of thing all the time, they want me to take all the stuff they no longer want but can't face throwing away. I figure once you give something to someone it's now theirs and they can do what they want with it, which in my case is usually to chuck it or donate it. I have kept some things from my childhood that I think my kids would enjoy seeing but other than that I'm not sentimental about it. But I am kind of compulsive about getting rid of clutter so I am probably more tough about these things than most. I think the idea of taking a picture of the items is very good, we do that too.
Quickshep19
09-25-2011, 02:59 PM
Oh, if the items aren't all personal type stuff (handprints, old report cards etc) try to find somebody that really really wants the item. Then it will be easier to part with it if you are really blessing another with the item. I drug a dollhouse all over the world with me because my most favorite uncle made it for me & I played with it all the time as a child. After YDS was born, I realized there were no little girls in my future so I blessed another little girl with it. She was so happy & I felt better about decluttering.
