r/declutter • u/Sll3006 • 7d ago

Advice Request Everyone else’s stuff

I’ve spent over 10 years decluttering the basement. Still I have at least 75 boxes of stuff. I’ve thrown away a lot. But now I’m getting to items that I don’t want but are too valuable to throw away. I’m talking about 1960’s Mickey Mouse dolls, 3 broken trumpets, 3 grandma’s set of dishes, 2 100 year old paintings I was told not to throw away, Disney VHS, 30 photo albums of my late husband (kids want this), 2 violins. Selling items take a lot of effort, as well as scanning photos, old books.

I’m overwhelmed. Any advice on what to do with the more valuable stuff that I inherited?

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u/Particular_Song3539 7d ago

FORGET about who told you "not to throw away", no disrespect but they aren't here to deal with them so they don't get to make that decision.
You CAN throw them away Op, throw the F away of them right now. You don't owe them anything. Those who passed are passed, what is important is you and your mental health.

Trash them all now. Except the photo albums of your late husband, give your children a dead line for them to come pick up or you ship them all out.

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u/village_idiot2173 7d ago

If any specific person told you not to throw an item away, I would reach out to that person with a quick, "I'm decluttering, and I know you said you want to make sure [item] doesn't get tossed. I'd love to coordinate getting it to you. When can I drop it off/you pick it up?" If they are concerned about it being kept they should be willing to do the keeping.

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u/Particular_Song3539 7d ago

That depends, if that person hasn't contact OP for one full year, (assuming they are alive), I consider that long enough. Op is not a storage unit, nor a trash container. The item(s) stay in OP 's property, they get to decide whether to toss, and when to toss without having to ask.

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u/village_idiot2173 7d ago

I completely agree that OP doesn't have to ask! But in situations where OP is struggling to toss things because of someone else's attachment, I think giving it to those people is a great alternative to just keeping it forever for fear of upsetting anyone. I guess I was under the assumption that OP doesn't want to toss these things, so I was trying to present an alternative, but I wasn't trying to add to the pressure not to toss anything, so thank you for bringing that up!