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My Mom, the Packrat

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  • #16
    Quoth Ghel View Post
    I had my mom's mail forwarded to me, and I'm still receiving packages of stuff that she ordered from some mail-order catalog. I guess I'll be giving most of that stuff away as Christmas gifts.

    We're trying to sell as much of the stuff as possible. We're hoping to get enough from the sale of the house, truck, and atv to pay off the loans on each of those. We'll be selling the lift chair, hospital bed, freezer, and lawnmower. A lot of the clothes are going to my sister-in-law and her daughters. Then we'll donate whatever else is still in good shape.

    But so much of it is junk. We have to trash things like expired food and medicine. Ragged clothes and blankets. Chipped plates and glasses. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with her collections of figurines, thimbles, and shot glasses.
    My sympathies. I went through something similar this year when Brother and I cleaned out Mom's house. She wasn't a hoarder by any means, but she has Alzheimer's and collected a lot of stuff that we had to get rid of.

    Clothing. Tons of it, mostly from LL Bean and Lands End. Best I can figure is she'd order something out of every catalog they sent her, given that most of it was hardly worn at all.

    Food. She hid food (canned and boxed, thankfully) all over the house.

    Household items, especially cleaners.

    We boxed away the clothing, figuring we'll have replacements when something gets lost, torn, or stained. The food we donated to a food bank. The laundry soap, cleaners, and other similar stuff we split between each other. I went a year before I had to buy laundry detergent again.

    If it was broken, it went to the dump. If it had sentimental value or significant value, it got split between me and Brother.

    The rest was sold off in a massive estate sale. We literally opened the house for sale, and sold everything that wasn't nailed down. Everything went but a couple of pieces of furniture (to my surprise), those got donated to Good Will. We made about a grand on the sale; we took pretty much any and all offers.

    Once you clean out the trash, you might be able to do something similar.
    They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

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    • #17
      My mom bought a lot of stuff, esp. Capa di Monte. I lived with her. Before she died, I asked one of my aunts to come stay with me, since mom was in hospice care and I didn't want to be alone with her again (long story). So 2 aunts came with a cleaning woman and they started to trash papers. Someone put a lot of food (fruits, bottles of food) in a bag then the bag got put outside. One aunt hired a guy to haul stuff to the City dump. Unfortunately the aunt didn't realize the dump was closed on Mon. So I had to go with the guy to dump stuff at a landfill you pay to dump at. That's were I found the bag of really good food. And car mats, and other things.

      Now I have a cousin helping me clean, though she threw away my church envelopes, an open package of new batteries and some other things I forgot about now. She and her husband did help me cart some metal to a recycle place and I got a total of $16. We need more trips to the recycle place.

      Anyway, my problem is I'm too attached to my mom's things. Some of the clothes I won't give/throw away because I can wear them, but I have to think if I would really wear them. Also, I got sentimental attachement to her clothes. There are stuff from our trips abroad.

      I had garage sales, but I can't have them in my yard since it's hidden and no one stops. I have garage sales at relatives and a friend's house. I do ok. Me and mom collected Barbies, and I decided to sell most of them, and they sell well.

      I see a bunch of other types of dolls and I decided to use them as gifts for the poor. One doll, though says on the box, "Limited Edition Collecto's Doll Year 2002," so I'm wondering, would they be an acceptable gift to someone I don't know? It's new in the box, looks in terrific condition. But since it says "2002" on the side, you think the kid/mom who opens the gift will throw a fit because it's not something bought recently?

      Sorry for the thread jack. Good thing that it sounds like you didn't find a major bug infestation. A year after my mom died I found what looks like termites eating a bunch of boxes in her closet.
      Last edited by depechemodefan; 12-13-2012, 11:30 PM. Reason: adding
      Time! Time! Time is what turns kittens into cats.

      Don't teach me a lesson; all I learn is that you are an asshole.

      I wish porn had subtitles.

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      • #18
        Ebay is a great place to check market prices. The collectible doll, check there.
        As for the physical things you aren't able to let go of - take pictures. Put one on (like the doohicky from Italy), have your picture taken, and go from there. Say goodbye to it, aloud.
        Could you do an assembly line style trash? Start in one room, say kitchen, look at it, say trash, donate, push it down the line.
        Thank you for remembering the needy.
        In my heart, in my soul, I'm a woman for rock & roll.
        She's as fast as slugs on barbituates.

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        • #19
          My grandpa left behind a huge amount of plumbing supplies (he co-owned a plumbing business). They sat in the garage for years until my dad and uncle decided to sort through them. The PVC pieces got thrown away, but we took all of the metal to a scrap dealer and made like $300. We bought a Wii with it.
          It doesn't matter if you win or lose, as long as you look really cool doing it! -- Julio Scoundrel, Order of the Stick

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          • #20
            We went through the kitchen this weekend. Took a lot of dishes and silverware to goodwill. She had a lot of nice Tupperware spice shakers, so I went through them and washed them up. I used to think it was just an idiosyncrasy that she kept her spices like that, but now I think it's a health issue.

            Some of the spice shakers had cobwebs or dustbunnies on them. Others had evidence of water leaking inside the shakers. The garlic pepper was orange. So were the chives. I think some of the spices were decades old. Many of the spices had 3 layers of labels on them, and as I peeled them off, some of the layers were for different spices. Blech.
            "I look at the stars. It's a clear night and the Milky Way seems so near. That's where I'll be going soon. "We are all star stuff." I suddenly remember Delenn's line from Joe's script. Not a bad prospect. I am not afraid. In the meantime, let me close my eyes and sense the beauty around me. And take that breath under the dark sky full of stars. Breathe in. Breathe out. That's all."
            -Mira Furlan

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            • #21
              NSFW, keep brain bleach handy

              Today, we cleaned out Mom's bedroom. It's completely empty now. It feels good to have at least one room of the house completely cleaned.

              My husband found her, erm, personal massager in her bedside table. And started going "Eww! Eww! Eww!" We threw it in the trash bag and continued emptying out the room. Something we threw in the bag must have knocked the switch on the thing, because we heard a buzzing sound coming from the bag. I briefly considered digging into the bag to shut it off, but thought better of it. I said, "the batteries will wear out eventually." So I took the garbage bag out to the garage. Several hours later, when I took another bag of garbage out, the bag was still buzzing.
              "I look at the stars. It's a clear night and the Milky Way seems so near. That's where I'll be going soon. "We are all star stuff." I suddenly remember Delenn's line from Joe's script. Not a bad prospect. I am not afraid. In the meantime, let me close my eyes and sense the beauty around me. And take that breath under the dark sky full of stars. Breathe in. Breathe out. That's all."
              -Mira Furlan

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              • #22
                Quoth Ghel View Post
                My husband found her, erm, personal massager in her bedside table. And started going "Eww! Eww! Eww!" We threw it in the trash bag and continued emptying out the room. Something we threw in the bag must have knocked the switch on the thing, because we heard a buzzing sound coming from the bag. I briefly considered digging into the bag to shut it off, but thought better of it. I said, "the batteries will wear out eventually." So I took the garbage bag out to the garage. Several hours later, when I took another bag of garbage out, the bag was still buzzing.
                My friend had a similar experience. At his dad's house. For the record, his dad was a live alone shut in too, so no ladies around. O_o Found it the first day they got there. Apparently the moral is, don't stick your hand under strange couches.
                "Man, having a conversation with you is like walking through a salvador dali painting." - Mac Hall

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                • #23
                  Quoth Shangri-laschild View Post
                  Apparently the moral is, don't stick your hand under strange couches.
                  I snorted soda at this one. I'll remember this if I clean someone's house.
                  In my heart, in my soul, I'm a woman for rock & roll.
                  She's as fast as slugs on barbituates.

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                  • #24
                    Quoth Ghel View Post
                    My husband found her, erm, personal massager in her bedside table. And started going "Eww! Eww! Eww!" .
                    When we were clearing my Step dads stuff we found folders and folders of adult material in office style folders. Nothing 'moving' though.

                    At one point Sis thought one of the piles was his writing related stuff - good job I sent the young nephew out of the room before we allowed her to touch it though!
                    I am so SO glad I was not present for this. There would have been an unpleasant duct tape incident. - Joi

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                    • #25
                      Yeah, if my hubby dies before me, I'm going to have to put a note on my "toy chest," for whoever cleans out my house, that says: "Do not open. For your own sanity, just throw out this box unopened."
                      "I look at the stars. It's a clear night and the Milky Way seems so near. That's where I'll be going soon. "We are all star stuff." I suddenly remember Delenn's line from Joe's script. Not a bad prospect. I am not afraid. In the meantime, let me close my eyes and sense the beauty around me. And take that breath under the dark sky full of stars. Breathe in. Breathe out. That's all."
                      -Mira Furlan

                      Comment

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