History When is it time to get rid of all your stuff?

Did not know where to put this (category). Anyway I will be 68 this coming June. That said I have been thinking how fast the last 11 years have gone by. That is when my wife and I moved into our new house that we built. My wife's family has longevity in their genes. My mother-in-law turned 91 this past Sunday and she has more on the ball than most 30 year olds. Last week we had a big party for her brother (my wife's uncle) because he turned 100! He just gave up his car because he thought his reflexes were not quite as good as they were. On my side of the family things are quite different, since I have already lived longer than I expected. I had my arteries drilled in my early 50's. Most of my uncles on my mothers side died from arterial disease very young. My dad died at 64(cancer). I know things are better today but I look at all the stuff I have and think my wife will have her hands full trying to get rid of all these things. So I started going thru and pricing all of it for her and now think I will start to unload. Will try and post some picture later. Your thoughts. Sorry for the depressing subject!

 

Not depressing, realistic. Many of us are in your age range and are thinking pretty much the same thoughts. For me, it's never time to get rid of ALL my stuff...but it's certainly time to get rid of that which I do not think I'll live long enough to need. It's good that you are thinking ahead for your wife's needs, especially how to fairly price your stuff when it becomes time to sell it. Good on ya' for that.

 

I'm 37, and I've got a spreadsheet. It's primarily for my own purposes, knowing what I've got, what I've got into it, what I'd like to get for it if I unload it... But it has crossed my mind that if I wasn't here tomorrow, my wife would be stuck with a garage and a shed full of my unfinished daydreams to contend with.

As for your original question, WHEN IS IT TIME TO GET RID OF ALL YOUR STUFF?, I'd say BEFORE PEOPLE START TAKING IT if you've got a yard full and you're not as spry as you may have once been.

 

That's very considerate of you. I'll bet she has benefitted from your selflessness most of her life.

I'm only 48 so my ideas may not have the perspective of an older person but here it is anyway, since you asked:

How about getting rid of most of it but keeping a favorite. Or, using the proceeds to get "THE car" that you've always wanted? Or, using the proceeds to get her something. Or, a combination of the above.


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The time to get rid of your stuff is when:
1. You recognize your own mortality and finally realize that you will never use it and have no need for it.
2. You recognize that it will be a big burden to leave parts for your family to sell after your gone-even if you price it and label it. For survivors, selling parts is a big h***le.
3. You realize that your family will be better off if YOU take charge now and start selling your stuff. After all, you know what it's worth, you know the value of the parts and can sell them at a fair value NOW. You have the contacts, expertise and experience with car guys and can sell the parts a lot easier than your remaining family members will be able to.
4. You realize that your "p***ing" will be more than enough for your loved ones to handle without burdening them with the extra grief they will feel every time they sell a part you once touched.
5. YOU will experience the happiness of seeing someone else buy parts they need and may otherwise not find.

 

I'm not anywhere near a spreadsheet but at 55 I'm wondering how I pulled that much stuff together.
I have started selling and am pleased at the prices I have been getting. Took stuff to my first swap meet last spring and had fun. I'll do it again. My wife has no clue where I have stuff stashed or what is mine. My son is a car guy and gets it but it's quite a pile to saddle anyone with if I disappear


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This is just what I happen to have photos of
2777329

 

dude...just make out a will with me as the beneficiary and your problems are solved.
what are friends for?

 

19Fordy nailed it.
I've got three generations of "good junk" and no fourth generation interested in having it. I'm in my early fifties, so sometime soon I'll start thinning the herd of excess and just keep the essentials. I'm building my cars now while I still can so I can just drive and maintain them later. I won't get rid of cars until I'm unable to drive them anymore, but if I check out early at least the cars will be operable and sellable.

All that stuff that you refuse to sell now will probably end up in an auction or a dumpster. Give it the 50 year test: if you haven't used it in the last 50 years, you probably won't use it in the next 50.

 

Put my name on same of the stuff t

 

Put a small sticker on the back with a fair price and just enjoy it. You obviously have worked hard for it.


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I'd keep most of it, the money you would get won't replace the warm feeling that you get when you walk in the garage and see the walls, remember where you got it (well, I am 70 so I don't remember where all of it came from), just have "Pickers" on your wife's phone, one phone call and it's gone. I have far more junk than I have good stuff like you and in my case, since my wife is a metal sculptor she will use all the stuff I leave

 

You do have a lot of desirable signs and memorabilia and it has crossed your mind so the time just might be right to start selling it while you are able,selling now will bring a better return than a yard sale or family getting what they can.

Have lost a lot of my friends in the last few years and having their children come to me needing advice ,,some after selling stuff for penny's on the dollar. HRP

 

I must be truly nuts! Here I am looking at 75 on my next birthday and still buying/building "stuff". I still think I'm 45 but at times I feel like 95. What gives? I guess we gotta move on and do what we can before we croak.
Amen, Brother!

 

Lots of good advice here thanks. Not you 3W

 

I am 81 and already getting rid of most things,,My daughters dont need the weight on their shoulders..They have already told me of some personal things they would like to have,so no arguments after I am gone..I have their names on those items..

 

From a young guy, I appreciate this kind of thread and your realism regarding the situation. There are plenty of us younger working cl*** guys out here looking to build using early parts, and the lack of availability and overall high prices make it unreasonable or difficult to find what we need.

 

At 71 I have thought about this as well. My wife is aware of most of the stuff and boxes. etc are marked with a spread sheet and values. Lately I have been thinning down on some items. I don't want those left behind to have to deal with a lot of it. Have considered letting a couple of cars go too but not there yet. Only car that worries her is the 57 Fuely-it is not something just anyone can keep running properly if there are issues.
My other vice is old west and indian items-some have been in my family since right after the Civil War. Some of this stuff I purchased 50 years ago and haven't bought any of it for 20 yrs. Have had inquiries over the years and have started letting some of these items go-some I won't sell-my wife and kids can dispose of these things when I am gone

 

When my Dad p***ed he left behind 9 restored cars and a garage full of parts. My brother and I quickly realized that we should get rid of all the things we weren't ever going to use. We went through a big sort and had a couple of good days at the swap meet. Now it comes down to what cars to keep or sell. Between the cars I want to keep and the cars he wants to keep we couldn't come up with any that we wanted to sell. Fortunately for us we both are interested in the car hobby and have a pretty good idea what some of it is worth. I do wish Dad would have thinned down the collection some for us (both cars and parts.) Since my brother lives in another state now I have to maintain the collection. Doesn't leave me much time for building anything new and some of the cars are being neglected some. None of them are out side but they don't get driven and maintained like I think they should. I am only 41 but I think about what is going to happen to the collection in the future. I am going to talk with my kids and then decide what their interest is in the collection and see how much of it needs to be sold to someone who will enjoy it and what ones to hold on to. Difficult thing to consider.

 

You don't have to be getting on in years to understand this. I am 33 and I keep the pile of parts down to the absolute bare minimum on-hand. I find just letting go of things easier on my lifestyle as well, I might be missing a front end or a set of caps in the future but I can always track them down again.

 

At 73, I say he who dies with the most toys wins. Living in farming country, with many of the farms generations old, I hit every estate sale that comes along. I'm still buying, and have one more project I want to build before I go to feed the worms.
What worries me is, what the hell am I going to do with a room and ba*****t full of sewing machines, quilting frames and boxes and bins full of material, if my wife should go first ?

 

By the looks of your garage (shop) you should have no trouble organizing a sale. You have a desirable and very neat set up. I only wish I could find stuff in mine let alone display it. The tip about putting names on things you want to leave to some one is a good one. It helped out alot when my parents died and it gave the recipient a good feeling that he/she was remembered.

 

I'll be 64 in a few weeks, still have the first issue of Hot Rod I ever bought in 1961,and most of my toys from when I was a kid. Fun to watch my Grandson play with the same trucks. Selling off stuff has been part of my life, selling all of it is not something I could deal with, but would allow access to the walls I never sheetrocked. Taped and painted i'd have a place to display stuff. Having the stuff makes me happy, getting all the parts for the projects in one spot will make things easier after I check out. Bob

 

My brother p***ed away almost 6 years ago and he was seven years younger than me. He died from the complications of cancer, an affliction I do not have, at least for now. He was a car guy too and had lots of stuff, in addition to about six vehicles, four of which were hot rods. My niece is pretty savvy, but was in a career position and I was retired by then, so I became the "***istant executor".

My son was present one day when I was loading a trailer full of parts and said "I hope you won't leave me like this". Those words really struck a chord with me. I am nearing 71 and have been increasingly aware of a lot more time being behind me than in front of me. It is time to start reducing my 'warehouse' of stuff, vehicles, etc..to a more manageable amount, for me now and him later.

Not morbid......just realistic........"nobody gets out of life alive"

Ray

 

I wouldn't worry about decorative things like signs, toys, smalls, etc. That stuff is easy to sell at fair prices anytime. You're not tripping over any of it in the pictures, so I would keep and enjoy all that stuff personally. If you've got a back room of spares or hidden gems, THAT is what you may want to sort through; purge what you don't need/want, bring out the gems you forgot you had.

 

My first inclination is to say, ...When they get done saying ashes to ashes, dust to dust, and start throwing the first layer of dirt over your grave!

Granted, at fifty, and unmarried, I really don't have a dog in this fight. I am watching a few of my good friends in their 70 and 80s going through the same thing lately, though. I do very much like the idea of the small fair price sticker on the back of things, and let them hang and enjoy them.

If I was to p*** unexpectedly, my girlfriend has the numbers of my two best friends who would be in charge of liquidating my stuff. I can trust 'Polacko and Tom to get it done and get a fair dollar doing it. And maybe therein lies an answer to your problem... How 'bout a dedicated liquidator/friend?

 

I'm only 69, but moved a couple of years ago. I got rid of a lot of stuff. Some was sold most given away. Have a few parts left that are to good to toss but nobody wants it! Son will deal with the car and other real good stuff. I know he'll share fairly. So I'm good for now.

 

I would say deep down inside you will know when it is time, till then keep it and enjoy it. Your life with out the tings that make you happy will be just that, less happy. You do not have a lot of stuff..... If you sell everything what will your love ones have around to look at and smile and remember you by. A friend of my Dad's p***ed away almost a year ago, It was a long process for him"Cancer" He should have started liquidating his stuff at the diagnosis but purchased more instead. It turned out to be a burden for his friends and family but it was also a ton of $ for his family when he was no longer around to help. It is like $ in the bank but you get to enjoy it rather than look at a statement.

 

I'm 57 and starting to thin the herd, just because I want two or three finished cars instead of six or seven half-completed cars. You have all the good advice (except of course, 3 window Larry, who seems to always muscle his way to the front of the line ) a man needs. Kudos to you for showing concern for your family. Sell all you can stand to and use the $ take them all on a vacation together.

 

A very good friend of mine had a motorcycle repair shop and was into vintage Hondas, he collected all things old Honda bike, he said it was his retirement. He got pancreatic cancer and was in the ground in less than 6 months. He had more buildings and piles and stuff stuck everywhere so his wife and our group of friends were still getting rid of it 2 years later. I hope to never do that to my family.

The pics I see of your stuff are of desirable items that could sell quick, his was stuff only a few people at the time would need or want. I wished I could have taken it over as I am into them as well, but I was not in a position to do so. It ****ed going through all of it and trying to find a buyer and being asked what happened every time someone came to look at the stuff etc.

I have tried to keep the pile small, but it is hard. I have told the wife to just have an auction of the stuff left over from what my brother or she wants if something happens. Auctions are bad enough to sort and prep for, but at least it leaves quicker than piecing it out one at a time.

Sometimes getting rid of it can be as fun as buying it.

Good luck