Heirlooms are one thing but collections of mass produced items are a real drain on children to dispose of. We are working thru my mother in laws storage locker, 30+ yrs in storage, currently $5000/yr. The locker was 10x10 and 100 percent stuffed. To get work room, we rented three lockers to sort the material. We now have one locker with 20 antique clocks, one locker full of porcilin lladros, and another one with furniture. And the original locker is still a challenge. So much of this should never have been acquired. And I still have my parents wedding silverware, 1958, still in the original wrappers.

A couple of events recently convinced me to never have a storage locker (though it could also be a packed garage) without some sort of exit plan. A storage locker because you're in the process of moving or need some space for outdoor gear because you live in an apartment?

Fine.

A storage locker because you have too much stuff and have no real plans to buy a second home or move somewhere bigger?

Not so fine.

Or you can just get an estate sale company to handle everything for you, especially if it's just hoarded antiques that don't have any real sentimental value. You can even have them set the obvious family photos and such aside for you.

Where is a 10×10 storage locker $5k/yr? That's a bit over $400/month! About a decade ago, I rented a 10×15 storage locker for $130/month, or $1560/year. Surely inflation has not been that bad to triple the price. Perhaps it's a geographic thing.

I feel you. When we moved my mother into semi-assisted living, she insisted on taking all of her 'valuable' Lladros with her. She still mentions what an endowment she's leaving us. They aren't without value, but the idea that they're going to put the grandkids through college or something is Beany Baby levels of delusion.

So much of this should never have been acquired.

That can be said about so much...

> So much of this should never have been acquired.

I fully agree. My mother was a compulsive buyer and holder.

My brothers and I literally had to sort, evaluate, sell, recycle thousands of items. I found stuff like a knife to cut a birthday cake with a button so that it plays the "happy birthday to you" song. Fake candles, with an electrical wire: she'd buy five identical boxes of those. Never saw them used once.

This served as a lesson to me: I'm not perfect but I'm working on it. Having lived in four different countries helped me understand minimalism too.

And, much more importantly, I definitely don't want my stuff to be a drain on my daughter. The first thing I told her: have zero regret, zero hesitation, about throwing out stuff that belonged to me. Anything that doesn't talk to you: throw it, sell it, give it. I don't care and you shouldn't either.

Pro tip: if one wants to collect stuff, at least collect things that are going to last. For example instead of collecting Labubu dolls, collect gold coins instead. Gold doesn't rust. And at least you'll pass down something valuable to your kid(s). Focus your compulsive hoarding tendencies on something that'll teach you something (gold coins are very good at teaching history). Gold has value since, literally, thousands of years. Can't afford a 1 oz coin? Save and buy a 1/10th oz instead.

I still have too much stuff. For example a real vintage arcade cab: this thing still works. Movers do actually swear when they have to move it. But at least I still play once in a while a game on it. And so does my daughter. This one is probably my worst offender but, well, it still brings me some joy so there's that.

You don't need all these items: don't be a wandering hyper-consumerist soul.