Re: Sorting out Dad's junk
- From: Graham Reed <greed@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:27:05 -0400
Simon Smith <simon_smith_news@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
My dad died not long ago and I have some questions. Among other
things, [...]
I was helping a friend in a similar situation. It's tough, especially
for him (and more for his brother, who can't let go).
Similar amount of "stuff", plus some serious pack-rat-osis from a
post-depression growing-up. So there's a lot of "it's still good"
stuff, but very little "someone who isn't in the family would want
this."
Like the mechanic's tools. What's left may be interesting, especially
the home-made stuff, but everyone who can come by to take a look has
already taken the stuff that is still useful.
For the "getting rid of the good when junking the cruft" problem, the
only advice I've got is: Don't worry about it. Really. It's sad, on
the boarderline heartbreaking level, to think that all that stuff is
just so much junk. But if you think of it that way up, and then go
through looking for the gems to keep, I think you'll be better off.
(In this case, the default approach would be to treat everything as
gold and go through looking for what you can throw out.)
Pictures from family events should be kept, I feel. The stamp
collection... well... I don't know what to do with that, but it would
probably be worth finding a collector. Unless you're intersted in
taking over the collection, having it for the sake of having it is
just the way to an over-full house.
See if there's chairities in the area that might want the books or
records. Maybe school libraries for history projects? Maybe not,
that's probably a Presumption of Literacy which isn't appropriate in
today's kinder, gentler education system that's more worried about
weapons than teaching.
Records can probably go to a record shop easily enough. (Any 16s in
the collection? My friend's father had some 16s... I'd never seen one
before.)
I think the best advice I can give is to not get too tied up in the
emotional side when deciding what to keep. And, frankly, not to worry
too much about any _value_ that might be there in general. It would
probably be swamped by the cost of actually trying to sell it. (Some
things in particular, like old rare cameras and stuff, that's
different. But in general.)
--
Never attribute to drunkeness that which can be adequately explained by
stupidity.
-- David G. in the Monastery (and many others)
.
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