Parents/grandparents junk/treasure

Avatar for onehappymama
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2005
Parents/grandparents junk/treasure
8
Mon, 09-04-2006 - 11:10pm

Y'all would not believe what Quinn & I spend most of our day doing. We helped one of my friends clean out a house that belongs to her husbands 2 elderly aunts. (The oldest grew-up during the depression) This makes the 4th time I've helped.
They both in the past year have went into an assisted living care home.
The amount of stuff in the house is unbeliveable! The house is a 3 bedroom house. Not really a big house though. In 2 of the bedrooms, there was so much stuff that you could not see the floor. Fabric scraps (probably at least 300 or 400 pounds worth, I'm not joking!), calendars, no less than 100 pairs of nailclippers, tons of craft stuff, yarn, pictures, old sunglasses, at least 20 bibles, old dry rotted x-mas decor, moth eaten wool clothes, old diapers, wrapping paper, un-open gifts, address books, old telephone books, tax returns, cards, dishes, pot & pans, old food, postcards, thread, zippers, books, magazines, mousetraps (still in the packs), at least 25 #1 teacher mugs (one aunt was a teacher, please never buy a mug for a teacher!), candles (all melted from the heat upstairs), toys, old clothes, dishrags, lotion, dry rotted pantyhose, clothes hangers, shoes (some from the 40's), hats, cans of old nuts, gift bags, blankets, planters, silk flowers, 4 vacuums (one half way works), Kotex pads, rusted tools, coats, sheets, emery boards, junk mail, old drapes/curtains, yearbooks, hair spray, Tupperware, empty Cool Whip/margerine tubs, electric cords to God knows what, frames, slips, old bras, baby burp cloths, pocketbooks, etc...etc...etc...etc. I could go on & on. (No money though!) In addition to all this junk, there are mouse droppings so we had to wear gloves & mask.
I'm sure that you are wondering why I am telling you all this...this is why. If your parents or grandparents are getting up in their years & they have huge amounts of stuff, try to get them to go through it now. Or get your siblings, cousins or friends to help you.
There is so much in this house that they had to have a dumpster put outside. It is the largest one that is avalible. It is almost full & the house is probably half done!
The thing is I know these 2 ladies. I use to go to church with them. To see them, you would never know they had such a mess because they were so neat & clean. The livingroom, diningroom & kitchen were always clean, but their bedrooms & closets were a different story.

And...also...a warning that we need to be careful not to do this to our children. This is a common problem. I know of several others that have had to do the same thing. One lady help a friend clean out her fathers house after he died. In his basement they found 4 sets of unused car tires that were dry rotted, plus several (something like 20) cases of Pepsi's.




Edited 9/4/2006 11:26 pm ET by onehappymama
Avatar for nodinero
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-01-2005
Mon, 09-04-2006 - 11:41pm
Wow, that is unbelievable! You really celebrated Labor day in the true sense! It's hard to believe that those two elderly women lived in all that mess. My parents are already pack rats so I can't imagine 20 years from now...ugh! They were both raised by parents that went through the depression too. I think if you suffered through the depression you really have a hard time getting rid of anything. I've heard numerous stories from my relatives about the horrendous things they had to do and eat to survive. What did Quinn think?

 

 

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Avatar for onehappymama
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2005
Tue, 09-05-2006 - 1:10am
To Quinn, it was sort of like a treasure hunt. And in a way, it was. We did find some old toys that were interesting. The yearbooks were an interesting find. One was from 1963 & I found my aunt in it. The was a lot of old glassware (Fenton & carnival glass) & if someone likes that kind of stuff (not me) they would be happy to get it. I uncovered 2 upholstered chairs that were under piles of fabric & clothes. Yes, full sized chairs that were not visible. One of them looks to be sort of Swedish in design. It would be very nice, if someone wanted to pay to have it recovered.
When we started in the room that we worked in today, the stuff was up to our shoulders & in some areas, higher. I swear I am not kidding. We slowly made a path to the other side of the room. I had on a pair of sandals. I kept getting thread from the 1000 spools caught in my toes.
Oh...and the amount of sewing patterns was staggering. Most (I bet 90%) had never been opened or used. I bet that I threw away at least 100 patterns. Most had been chewed on by mice. Ew!
There were tons of things still in packages that had never been opened.
There is probably 50 National Geographic magazines. I wanted to throw them away, but my friend thinks that the libaray will want them. I tried to tell her they will not, but she is insisting that they will. I just let it go. I imagine that mise have chewed on some of them & at least pooped & pee'd on them.
On the way home, I talked to Quinn about way it's important for us to get rid of stuff that we don't need. How if we let it go, it can get out of hand.
Avatar for onehappymama
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2005
Tue, 09-05-2006 - 1:29am
BTW...I suggest that you try somehow to get a jump on your parents stuff. LOL!
Let me tell you what I do...my mother is a pack rat. 2 years ago, she bought a condo 2 doors down from her old one. My brother, husband, Quinn & I moved her. I found 47 rolls of toliet paper. She lives by herself. It took 4 days to move her out of a 2 bedroom condo.
So, I knew that she needed help. About once every 2 months, I go to her house while she's at work & I get rid of stuff that she will never miss. I've been doing this for about 1 1/2 years & she's yet to miss something I've tossed or donated. I know this sounds mean, but it helps her (& me in the long run). I suspect that she will be moving to Florida when she retires (in 3 years). She is bad to go to yardsales. I've tried to talk to her about not going to them. I've expained that she needs to have one. It's no use.
Avatar for cathiann
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 09-05-2006 - 9:21am
My Grandma's house was like that too (well not quite that bad).
Surviving Middle & High School
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-29-2004
Tue, 09-05-2006 - 1:32pm

It is a pretty common thing -- many older people do not like to throw something that is "prefectly good" out even though they know it has little or no value. Once the stuff piles up it becomes to physically and emotionally daunting to do anything about it. Good for you to help out in this way.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-17-2005
Tue, 09-05-2006 - 2:21pm
About the National Geographics...I can almost guarantee the library will NOT want them. Do you know how many people save those??? If your friend wants to give them to someone I would suggest a nursing home or somewhere like that.

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Avatar for onehappymama
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2005
Tue, 09-05-2006 - 3:48pm
I know that they will not want them either. The magazines really need to be tossed away because they are unhealthy for anyone to read. I'm going back over there tomorrow afternoon & another friend is going to help to. I think that between the 2 of us, we will be able to convince her to just toss them away.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-05-2003
Tue, 09-05-2006 - 6:51pm
That is unreal!