Need help! Inherited belongings of 1 parent + 2 stepparents. Home, garage and storage units are full. Caretaking 1 parent now, no time!

So you are not the PoA for the remaining parent? This is too bad. But maybe you should stop asking a person with ALZ to make rational decisions. Dementia robs people of their reason and logic. They also lose all their empathy for others, this is why that parent doesn't seem to care that you are stressing out over it.

Some ideas:
Pick a day or weekend to have this parents' grand and great grand kids come and pick out things they'd like to keep from the storage places and your garage. This goes for your siblings, too. You tell them to come with a large vehicle or trailer. You don't second guess yourself or anything they take. Just let it go. Anything they don't take will either be part of an "open" garage sale and after that, leftovers will be donated to charity.

You just pick a date and if people can't make it, so too bad. If they really want something they'll find a way to get there. The idea is for others to do the decision-making and clearing out of stuff and for you to do as little as possible. If they live far away, oh well. Then make sure to cancel the payments on the storage garages.

We had an "open" garage sale when my MIL went into AL. She had a lot of piddley junk that we didn't want to have to clean, fix or price so we advertised it as a charitable garages sale with all procedes going to MIL's ongoing care (which it did). We told people they could name their prices. Most people were very generous. We didn't even have change, to make it simpler we just had them "buy" more stuff if it was less than $1. It was a huge success for a minimum amount of work.

Any sibling that gives you grief over clearing out your garage and downsizing should be told to come get the stuff themselves right now. They can have it, they just need to get it on your terms, in your timeline. Say it with a smile. Then don't back down.

If they want the stuff in the storage lockers then they need to move it to ones they will lease and pay for. I've discovered that my kids do not want my very nice stuff that I've been hanging on to. So, make money on it now to help with your parent's care.

Also consider that if you're feeling shakey and overwhelmed, maybe you are entering burnout and need to consider a facility for your LO. It's not a moral failure. A failure would be you not recognizing your own needs, and understanding that if you burn out then who will take care of you and your LO? Don't allow yourself to burn out. You don't have to be the care solution.

I wish you success in figure out what's best for you.

The whole storage unit thing in the USA is a very sad reflection on us, and on our accumulation of stuff that none of us needs. And no one ever goes back for. I would say 8 out of 10 units are full of silly things we are for some reason unable to give up at the time.

Once it becomes overwhelming in terms of amounts of stuff it is almost impossible to deal with.
I recommend a professional organizer. Meanwhile let family know if they want any of this junk they have the next three months to look at it all. Then out it goes. IMHO our living spaces reflect the insides of our minds in terms of detritus that is worthless to us or anyone else, and the amount of useless churning and recycling of it.

As long as you are not paying for the 3 storage units then I guess you can't do anything about that until she gets really bad with it. That could be a while. If she can't afford the storage units payments then they will be auctioned off once payments stop. This may be the best thing for you so you don't have to deal with it.

If there anything you are holding onto from the other deceased parents that you want? If not then just start throwing stuff away. Keep one or two things from each parent and get rid of the rest. That stuff is NOT your parents.

I know that sounds harsh but sometimes we have to do things like this to reclaim our lives. Your home and your garage are not a shrine to your parents stuff, nor is it a storage unit. I don't think any of your parents would have wanted you to just store their possessions indefinitely like this.

What's going to happen when mom dies are you going to keep her 3 storage units full of her stuff in your house and garage too? I don't think you have the room to do that.

You said it best when you said that you "need psychological support to accomplish what needs to be done" as hoarding is a mental illness, and most hoarders can't do it on their own.
And while you say that things aren't quite as bad as the TV show Hoarders, you're still a hoarder, as it sounds like your family members are as well, so perhaps it's a learned behavior.
So I do hope that you'll seek out a good therapist that deals specifically with hoarding disorders, and then start getting rid of the stuff, as it's only stuff. You can't take any of it with you when you leave this earth, so why keep it when it's causing you so much stress?
If there are sentimental things you can take pictures of them and then let them go.
Set a goal(and stick to it)for family members to come get what they want, and for your home, garage, and storage units to be emptied, and the rest either throw away or if it's still in good condition, give to charity.
You will be able to breath much easier when you have all this stuff out of your home and life.
And please continue to work with a therapist to make sure that you won't ever allow things to get out of hand again.

My parents also weren't exactly "hoarders", or they were/are "clean hoarders"...everything wasn't at the point where it was toxic or unlivable....YET. Note that there are different levels and types of hoarders from what I learned..."clean" hoarders and "toxic" hoarders, and the second is usually a long-term result of being the first.

But the last stretch of taking care of my mom at our home, it was IMPOSSIBLE for me to clean almost ANYTHING in the year or two before she fell and started the hospital--> long term care pipeline, because everything I did to make way with that was met with harassment and exhausting annoyance. That's when I absolutely knew both of us could not live together anymore. She would definitely be a toxic-type hoarder if I wasn't there for her.

I started cleaning and organizing years before she became totally disabled, knowing that I was going to have to deal with all that myself someday, and I NEVER told her when I did it. Now that I have her staying in long term care, I still NEVER tell her what I'm doing with the house. She and my father absolutely shut me out of practically anything about their lives, and the only way to not get her upset now that she's in a nursing facility, is to return the "favor" and not tell her anything I'm doing. I know that sounds terrible, but honestly it's what worked.

Even with myself, it was HARD to take bags and bags of "stuff" to the donation place and I could feel that psychological "save it!" pulling too. But I've donated bags of stuff before, and I end up not missing any of it, and bonus: if someone got good use of what I donated, I made the world a better place!

You need State long term help with caretaking. Once you get that you can start truly decluttering and being free in your own home. Chances are the rest of the family doesn't even know what's around and won't miss it.

Look for a business that does a contractor’s clean out. They’ll donate what you wish and take some to auction. They’ll take the rest to the dump. There’s probably little value in what you’re keeping.

Mom has Dementia, she is not capable of making decisions. You probably make out the check every month. So start with her stuff. Hire a person who cleans out. You first go thru and see if there is anything you want to keep. If not, let the person you hire sort thru. Sell anything that is worth anything. The rest donate. The person u hire should be able do this all for you. They work by % so will try to sell what they can. That will give Mom some money in the bank and jo more paying the storage people. Then you have this person start on your house. You are not out anything if they work on commission.

Seems you have a lot on ur plate. Maybe time to place Mom in Memory care if she has the money or a nice LTC facility with Medicaid paying.

One more thing, you can't be sentimental when cleaning out especially if you have no room for it. You have to harden yourself and just DO IT! You will feel so much better when its all done.

Why do you think that it’s illegal to get rid of your mother’s belongings? If that is the only thing stopping you from doing this, ask someone about the laws in your area?

It’s a total waste of money to be storing items that won’t ever be used again. Get rid of all of it. Just think how much better you will feel not dealing with it anymore once it’s gone.

Does your mom ever see any of her stuff? It’s locked away, so how would she even know that you disposed of it. Let her believe that it’s still there.

Does she see any financial evidence of storage fees being paid? If she doesn’t then there shouldn’t be any reason why you can’t allow her to believe that everything is still being stored. Or show her fake receipts if you feel that she will get upset.

When it came time to empty my parent's home, I got some wonderful advice [from someone on this forum] is to swap out an item from my parent's home with one of my items.


Example, my parents had some really nice table lamps, and the ones I had had no sentimental value to me. Swapped out. Same with bookends, now when I see the gold flamingos bookends I think of my parents :)

One thought is if your siblings refuse to help by defraying the storage costs, then you could unless they choose to pay/take over payments, you are going to stop paying the storage costs. If you know of specific heirloom items you want/ they want, you all have a date by which to act, then let it all go. They are just things, and you need to be able to support yourself and most importantly have peace of mind and body.
It's all just STUFF.

Call an estate sale company and have them conduct sales to get rid of all this clutter right away. Pluck out a FEW things you want to keep, and thats it. Let the hordes of buyers take care of the hoard FOR you and give you $$$$$ at the same time. The company may charge you 50% of the sale profits to sort thru, organize, display and sell all this stuff, but it will release you from the mental anguish you're going thru. It's just "stuff"....the real memories of loved ones are in your heart and mind.

Your mother has Alzheimer's, btw, and as POA, YOU make decisions FOR her now. Including what storage items to get rid of. Do not speak to her of your plans, obviously, just do it.

Is the furniture in decent shape or it wrecked? If it is in good shape, then please donate it to Goodwill or another thrift store. A lot of people can use furniture and it sitting in a storage shed it will just collect dust, rot, or become rodent and bug food. If there are old clothes, get rid of those to. If they are in decent shape, donate them. If not you can do what we do and cut them down to use for rags and toss the rest. If you have letters from someone keep two or three and get rid of the rest. I was cleaning out boxes and Mark had like three boxes just full of these (mostly cards). I keep a handful and got rid of the rest. If it is dirty, broken, has smoke on it, stinks, just get rid of it.

If there are old papers you can put them in bags and take them to a place to be shredded for a fee. You'd be shocked how many things are old bills or old papers that are not needed. Old magazines, newspapers, and the like also go. You can find most anything paper related on the Net these days.

Thank you everyone for your helpful replies! I've read each of them more than once, they're encouraging and informative.

So far in our area I've only been able to find estate sale companies that hold estate sales in homes, they won't go to storage places to hold them and the storage company where my mom's units are won't allow estate sales because the access to the facility is controlled by a security keypad it is a climate controlled facility, all units are interior and have no external access so it cannot remain open for random people to come in and out.

I'm thinking the best bet might be to donate nearly everything. There are only two or three items I am interested in, and my only remaining sibling has zero interest in anything. I like the idea of switching out a few of my own things for the nicer things my parent had, donating my things that have no sentimental value.

Though due to tons of other responsibilities I don't have as much time to focus on it as I'd like in order to be completely and quickly done with it all at once, I've been steadily working on getting rid of what is stored in my garage and home with the help of a professional organizer, definitely don't want to leave this sort of problem for my kids. Most of the personal things and inherited things I had stored in my garage are now gone. I see light at the end of the tunnel.

Anyway, thank you all for your encouragement!

I literally just had a mini emotional breakdown before reading this thread. I am dealing with my mother’s quadruple hoarded house and my brother, living in that house who is a hoarder. If you want to hear it read on. If not skip to the summary where I will say what I have done so far.

The situation: My mother grew up with as the only child of a depression era hoarder who was poor and always afraid of being in want, thus saving everything, including every envelope of mail (scrap paper) every plastic container (free tupperware) every stitch of clothing. All furniture and dishes/glassware was considered priceless. Although my DH and I spent 5 months decluttering grandma’s house and selling/donating anything worthwhile, mom brought the rest of the hoard to her house.

Mom lived in her house for 58 years, never throwing anything out, as she had been taught (there was no actual garbage or infestations). She brought in grandma’s hoard. Then she allowed my brother to stay there for 10 years after he got divorced and he hoarded there. After my father died, my mom partnered up with a man old enough to be her father. His own daughter forced him out of the house HE gave her, and he moved 74 years worth of stuff to moms house. Actually SHE did that.

Mom passed almost 3 months ago. I hired one of her home health aids to go through, pack, take or discard all her clothing. It was a TON and too emotional for me. DH, and army of friends and family have filled 2 30 yard dumpsters, had an estate sale and donated literally tons of items to the church & goodwill and sold things online. In the meantime, brother has moved in and is bringing more stuff to the house. (Please, forum, don’t tell me to evict him, I have been to 3 lawyers, he is considered an owner of the house as stated in the will and cannot be evicted).

Summary: 1) EVERYONE says “just” call an antique dealer and they will come to the house (or unit), take the antiques off your hands and even give you money! IRL I’ve only had one dealer even come to the house, after sending pictures of everything to every antique dealer in the area. There may have been a time when that would have worked, but the antique market is way down right now. One dealer said to me flat out, “furniture is dead”

2) I think people are correct when they say you can stop paying on the storage units (especially if mom is on Medicare) and they will be stuck getting rid of the items. It sounds awful, but what those people charge is criminal. I like the suggestion to have you and family come and take any truly cherished items first.

3) I have spent hundreds of backbreaking hours bringing items to churches for sales, and Goodwill. It’s heavy and painstaking. I have also sold a few pieces of furniture and whatnot online, but it still involves loading driving and meeting people..a ton of time for little payout.

4) After almost 3 moths (while no longer caring for someone) I am down to what a “normal” house that has never been cleaned out in 58 years would look like, which is a LOT. My next move is to have Big Brothers Big Sisters (Heartsprings) come with a truck and take whatever household goods and furniture they will take - it all has to be brought outside.
After that, it will have to be the junk man. Which is a shame because the real trash has already been thrown away.

You and I are not alone. I met a lady at an antique sale that has spent 4 months cleaning out 3 rooms and has 4 rooms to go. This seems like an epidemic in our society.

Why mention getting rid of belongings.
If your parent has dementia.
If your parent is not going to be returning to "home"
YOU are the one that is responsible for the storage units.
You can hire a company to go in and go through the unit(s) and arrange sale of sellable items, donation of items that do not or will not sell. And items that are left can be "recycled" (there are "junk" removal companies that will recycle many items that would normally go to landfill)
Yes all this will cost a portion of the proceeds from the sale of items but you will not be the one having to deal with it and maybe the cost of the units over the next few years will be more than what the fees will be.
If you are responsible for making decisions for mom you do not have to consult her on this.
When was the last time she visited a storage unit to get "Aunt Gerties" tea set?

When my MIL dies, I’m renting a garbage thing for the driveway and I’m throwing 90% of it away because it’s trash disguised as stuff. She uses fitted sheets with no elastic and that are thread bare. Etc.

Now when I give her stuff, I give her things I’d like to get back after she dies (like good sheets lol ) because she is never going to use them. It just gets added to the hoard.

Usually when I go over there, I ask her to tell me about these items, and then I make a mental note (goes straight to trash).

The rest will be donated to anyone who wants it. I won’t waste my time with garage sales or eBay— it’s a perfectly good choice for people who want to do that, but it’s not worth my time and the effort.

freecycle.org

Same. My garage is full since moving my Mom to board & care. My Dad passed away in 2021 and he built so much of his own furniture; hutch, entertainment center, end tables, dressers, cabinets.

My house is full, there is no interest for this beautiful custom furniture and I have priced it so low my father would be horrified.

Salvation Army will take some of the more useful things like bedroom sets . Dining table and chairs , lamps etc . Some kitchen items , appliances . They have a list on their website .
I don’t think curio , or China cabinets are very useful or popular these days. My parents and my in laws had those huge wall units with glass and lights, full of Knick knacks to get rid of . Nobody wanted them Uggh . I am not one for a lot of furniture or clutter . Just makes it harder to clean .

Start getting rid of things but do not tell Mom .

There is always junk companies to take away what you don’t want if you don’t have the bandwidth to go through and make sell , donate and trash piles. Pay one time ( with Mom’s money ) then the cost of the storage unit each month stops .

You sound like you don’t have time to go through so much stuff that is part of why you are overwhelmed .

I truly feel for you but have no answers sorry.

I do not know how to move from a full house/full brain to letting go. Some people can so easily!

I can do so for a holiday... only. Just taking my current favorite clothing, accessories, books, hobbies.

I know the Marie Kindo 'spark joy' method worked for many but not for others... although it can be practiced. The skill of only keeping what does in fact spark joy, NOT spark feelings of obligation to keep, fear or guilt to dispose. It may even feel selfish.. only keeping what sparks joy to YOU not others..? But in the end, it will all go. Become atoms & change into other matter.

I think those that have suffered loss through tornados, hurricanes, cyclones, wildfires/bushfires have deep lived experience of this, of letting go of stuff.

I hope you find an affordable service to help you. Wishing you kind thoughts.

Honestly I think the real issue for you is that so many of the things you have stored are sentimental to you and so you are having a hard time just letting the stuff go. Some people have said that taking pictures of sentimental pieces and writing something about what made the item special and then letting it physically go can help.

There is nothing you can do about your mothers 3 storage units if she is paying to keep them (don't pay the storage bills for her). Sure it's wasteful when you know she will never get that stuff out of storage, but you have clutter in your garage and home and your own storage units that you need to focus on. If you don't have room for big items like furniture in your own home that is easiest to get rid of because you can call the Salvation Army for a pickup on these pieces if they are in good shape or other charity organizations in your area.

The longer wood furniture, etc sits in an hot/cold garage the more damaged it will get from the temperature fluctuations.

Why not just tackle it slowly with a goal of getting 10 items out of your house a week. Even if that means just tossing the items in the garbage (everything becomes trash eventually and it doesn't mean you need to be the land fill to store said future trash).

When I moved dad to AL from his apartment with mom, they had 4 China hutches crammed into their little apartment. The hutches are beautiful, not my taste though. I tried to give them to anyone and everyone, no one wanted them so I had to move them. I still don't know what to do with them, my daughter suggested Facebook market place

When my father passed and my mother moved, they had a full house, garage, garage outbuilding, two outbuildings, and 5 storage units crammed with stuff!! This was the home I grew up in so it was very painful but I had to work in hurry. Truly it was an insane job.

I could write a whole long post how I did it…but short answer was, I gave away every useful piece of furniture and even decorative stuff to wildfire victims who lost everything. They got some nice items at least to start with, and emptying the house felt less psychologically bad knowing things were going to decent people. It was a diy effort with a sainted friend of mine, but once people knew where the stuff was going - movers for example - people were so helpful.

This worked so well I did it again, smaller scale, when I moved mom from her apartment to MC - yup more wildfires.

If there’s any unfortunate disasters around where you live, this is one way to go.

Good luck!

Screw everyone who wants you to save things - I am so sick of control freaks who do nothing . You are the person drowning and depressed . There is 1- 800 - Got - Junk . I may do that with the basement . Also what I do is Place an ad On Craigslist under Free and I got a homeless guy take all my brothers clothes and I Gave him shoes and a suitcase . I gave all my Mothers Good clothes , Purses and New shoes To a Home for schizophrenic people because I Know they need things . I had a tenant who Killed himself - His brother refused to come get his belongings . I had another tenant who disappeared and left everything behind - A Woman came and took the bed and Bureau and thanked me it was for her son . Often times I Place ads on CL for free and People are very Thankful . I have moved a Lot In the Past and would give My Plants away to nice people . It Makes me feel good to Know these items are going to people who really need them . Sometimes STUFF is Just STUFF . Get rid Of the storage spaces they are a real hassle and waste of Money . Notice your siblings are not helping You so dont even Listen to what they have to say .

Call Got Junk--you will pay them to haul things off.

Call the estate/auction place. We had to pay $1200 to have them haul off all of the furniture in the house. We also had to pay a $250 disposal fee. (A lot of furniture had to go to the dump.) We will get some kind of check after the auction.

Anyone know what ancient civilisations did? I love hearing about the wisdom of the Incas, the indigenous Canadians or Alaskans (hope I used the correct term?) The New Zealand Maori have the most wonderful health advice that has helped me. I'd be willing the bet the Australian First Nations people have very practical ideas on worldly goods left behind.