The hell of a parent's estate sale. What I learned.

I understand completely. My parents house is filled to the brim, antiques, porcelain dolls, hummels, collectibles, books, furniture, clothes, clothes, more porcelain dolls. Every drawer, closet, stuff, stuff and more stuff. Mom insists everything is worth thousands (she does have beautiful items)......she can’t grasp why it isn’t worth more than she paid for it, never mind the fact no one wants it. So we struggle to thin things out. This job is too overwhelming to wait it out. I’m 68 and really don’t want to be doing this. I’m a minimalist for a reason :)

I just went through this, selling my mother's estate and downsizing my own household at the same time. The woman who handled the estate sale explained why the young folks don't want our good china, silver, crystal and table linen. It isn't that they don't appreciate it. It's just that it can't be put in the dishwasher, it has to be hand dried, the silver has to be polished, and the linens may have to be ironed. As I lamented having to sell the fine antique china and sterling for next to nothing she suggested I look at it differently. I'm just me now. I don't generate so many dirty dishes and cutlery that washing/drying is such a hassle. "Indulge yourself," she said. Sell the everyday dinnerware, keep and use the fine antiques for myself. And that's what I'm doing.

Unfortunately, this is today’s phenomenon...many articles out there about the younger generation not wanting mom and dad’s old stuff. I suggest taking photos of your furniture to a reputable consignment shop and get their opinion on if they can sell it or not. If they say no, you can believe it - they are in the business to make money too.
Ran into this while downsizing my parents home....if consignment wouldn’t take we donated. Even the consigned stuff did not bring big bucks, but at least it went too good homes. Good luck.

Some of us do appreciate "old, beautiful furniture," but it's just not in the budget. Sometimes I watch Antiques Roadshow just to sigh over the beautiful items, and then gasp at their value! Oh well ...

When my mom passed away, she had very little but we have a community place here that donates kitchen and household items and furniture (including beds) to families who are getting started after being homeless or tragedy in their lives. They were extremely pleased to get what little we had.

Love, love, love antiques. Wish antiques could talk to let me know their past :) I have some pieces of furniture that are haunted. I know, weird.

My Mom and I both had place settings for Forstoria glassware, which I had donated to a hospital rummage sale. Went to the sale on the last day and there sat the glassware, marked-down for the last day.... [sigh]. Sad to see that as it had cost a small fortune to originally buy it.

I have noticed since Ancestry and other places are doing DNA to let us know where our great-great-great family came from, there seems to up an up-tick in young people wanting to know history of the families. Hopefully they will be more accepting on taking heirlooms.

Right now I have a bin full of dollies, beautifully hand-made. These belonged to my sig other's family but he doesn't know who made them, etc. These will go to the rummage sale. I do have my great-grandmother's hand-made dollies and I actually use them :)

I'm sorry I don't have an answer about the furniture, but I do have a suggestion for clothing and small appliances... My church has what the locals call the "free store," and what we actually call the Community Center. We accept these items that people donate and then give it away to people in need. We operate out of a small house and have no place to store large items like furniture, but clothing, dishes, coffee pots, mixers, blenders and other kitchen necessities, all are donated. We give it to women who have escaped abusive situations and are starting over with nothing, often with children. We give it to families whose homes have burned down - in our area, lots of people heat with wood, so that happens more often than you might think. We give it to anyone in need. There is never a charge, but there is always a need!
Anything in reasonable repair is accepted. We give away literally tons of clothing. Men's clothing is especially needed. Many Seventh-day Adventist churches have either a free store like ours or a low-cost thrift store. Check with them as well as other charitable organizations in your area. Don't forget the Salvation Army, I know the one in my area has a thrift shop!

Mom is allowing us to go through her stuff (many boxes, never unpacked for 20 years, though neat, not exactly a hoarder), and sell or give away (yeaaah! 10 boxes of books!), and then repack and take back (too bad). So I know most people don't want a set of Noritake china with settings for 12, but will have to try Ebay anyway... she wants it sold. A few other items like that, but thank God, no furniture; the good stuff went a long time ago. I can only imagine how difficult this would be to do it all at once ..... hugs to all of you who have and will!

Wow! This is depressing and heartbreaking. My parents have very old hand crafted wood furniture a few pieces from the 30's and 40's that came out of my grandparent's house when they passed away in the late 60's!

I am so very sorry that people just don't appreciate old beautiful furniture anymore.😞

Oh yes. I have put stuff by curb. Gone in 5. You know, I would almost rather it go like this.

Segoline;

What I learned when I cleaned out my mom's house is that "stuff" is just stuff. One's stuff is only worth what it's worth to you when you own it.

No one wants your "stuff".

I gave almost everything to Goodwill. The really "precious" stuff, like mom's creche, I put out on the curb and was thrilled to see truly impoverished people come by, see something lovely and take it home, cradling it in their arms.

It was a humbling experience and has had me downsizing ever since.

Furniture rarely sells used. Unless it is truly remarkable and/or well known antiques.

i ended up giving the vast majority away ... goodwill came and picked it up.

Yes, heartbreaking

the china, silver, jewelry, etc was given to my daughter. The grandfather clock to my brother. Is was really our grandfathers clock....nice it stayed in the family.

I can only imagine your frustration with this. Gosh.

Years ago, years,my mom gave me some really high end antique furniture. I am glad I have them. I am so sorry for your predicament.i know it's shared. I know that doesn't help much. It is just appalling,really.

I feel for you. My parents had an antique store on their property, as well as a housefull of antiques. High end handmade furniture, sets of china you name it. We hired a recommended antique auctioneer.. got good vibes from him ( of course) He listed the sale,, horrible winter weather.. he delayed the sale, relisted,, horrible weather again. When we finally had the sale they got about 1/3 of the value. What do you do? We had to get the property cleared out for the house to be sold. I contacted several local private dealers,, not a one even responded! You are right todays younger people want cheap crap for the most part.. or they simply are not into the lifestyle that includes china and silver. My own daughter buys from Wayfairer and the like.. easy to trash and replace when you want to change your décor. Its sad...