Dear Amy: I have two sons. Getting them to collect their treasures was a challenge. They just weren’t interested. My solution…I give them their own “treasures” for Christmas gifts and birthday presents!
Yes, old printouts of orthodontic appliances, elementary school rewards and many other “treasures” made us laugh! Problem solved.
Dear Amy: We went through all of our kids’ things ourselves and made a (small) pile of what we wanted to keep, a pile of what we thought they would want to keep, a pile of things that could be donated and a pile of trash. .
Our kids came home to go through each pile. They took what they wanted to keep (and their father jokingly suggested contacting the Smithsonian to see what treasures to donate to the museum). The most moving group of objects to deal with seemed to be the very, very dusty Mormon Tabernacle Choir of stuffed animals arranged on shelves in our basement.
— More beanie babies
Dear Amy: I have three daughters and I stored many items for them. For a few months, I took out a few items each day, photographed them, and texted the photo to the owner, asking what he wanted to do with it.
Most of these items were sent to the charity van. The few remaining items they wanted were put in a box and given to them or mailed to them. I only have a few boxes of their stuff left.
Dear Amy: “Not So Empty Nest Mom” should check to see if her community has a local “Buy Nothing” group. If so, she can list the items on the group’s social media page and members can claim items for “porch pickup,” meaning people will come and take your stuff!
— Buy less, share more
Dear Amy: Here’s one thing we’ve done to “help” our sons own their stuff: They live locally and visit us regularly. So, in addition to leaving the house with their mother’s leftovers and fresh baked goods, they also came home with a box of their things from the basement.
Eventually we had one last “love it or leave it” day and anything that didn’t make it home was thrown in the trash or the Salvation Army store. Of course, that’s only half the battle, as we still have a lot to sort out, but hey, baby steps.
Dear Amy: I was in my twenties, and like the “not-so-empty-nest mom” daughters, I continued to pack up my childhood belongings at home while living on the other side of the country.
One day, during a visit home, my mother came into my room, looked me straight in the eyes, smiled and said with deep concern: “You know your father and I will tell you really like. But anything you leave behind on your next trip here will go in the trash. You should start considering shipping what you want now. She then left the room.
Problem solved. I knew I had a deadline and responded appropriately.
Dear Amy: We have been working on this with our children for years. Every time they visit us, I make them take something with them. When we go to visit, I take something with me.
We reduce the pile, little by little.
— Bob, in Racine Wisconsin
Dear Amy: You should have suggested the tried-and-true method for dealing with this dilemma that moms have been using for years: “Come get your stuff or I’ll throw it all away.” »
— Going through the trash
Dear Amy: “Not So Empty Nest Mom” should move all of her daughters’ belongings into a storage unit. The monthly rent is quite cheap.
Dear, I went there: Many readers have suggested unloading their children’s belongings into storage units. This is a logical and effective solution to freeing up space in your own garage, but it really just transfers the original problem to another location.
If people choose to do this, I suggest they make sure the tenancy eventually transfers into the adult children’s names, so they will be responsible for the rent.
© 2024 by Amy Dickinson. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency.
