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Thread: Coming of Age: Downsizing

  1. #21
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    From my point of view, I feel it sad that those things that Mom treasures or holds dear have no meaning to me. And those things that I would have liked to have got discarded along the way. She has a household presently that has been furnished for 30 plus years and she doesn't realize that both I and my sibling along with our children have our own furnished homes and no need for her things...

  2. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by Teacher Terry View Post
    My Mom did not leave a mess for us kids. When she was 60 her and I took 2 years to get rid of stuff having many garage sales. They then moved into a 2 bedroom apartment. When my Dad died we got rid of his stuff. When my Mom knew she was dying she disposed of much of her stuff. We cleaned out the rest when she died. I am doing the same for my kids.
    what a gift she gave you and you are passing on

  3. #23
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    I feel such guilt and burden over my parents' stuff. Probably because it's in my face everyday. I'm always saying when things calm down, we'll work on the stuff. but it never calms down and my mom has always been through too much mentally and physically to even talk about her stuff. I'd like to hit some of the collections even she is kind of done with, i.e.: Hummels. I told her since I was a kid I do not like them and I only want one, a little girl in a bright blue dress with blonde bobbed hair because it didn't look like a Hummel and I was sure I'd have a DD who looked like that Hummel. I treasure that Hummel (the head's fallen off too many times to count) and I will always keep it. I will see if my DD, who indeed looked like the Hummel, wants it when I'm gone. I hope I won't be hurt if she doesn't. I hope my mom is not hurt that I don't want the boxes of other Hummels. She wants me to keep them until they go up in value. When I leave here when they are gone it will be for a small apt. I will not have room for the Hummels, nor the desire to see if they increase in worth. So in the end, it probably just causes the least amt of trouble and pain to wait til she has passed to get rid of them. But multiply that by all of her other stuff and I will be buried by junk and things that have sentimental value just because they mattered to her when she dies. I don't know if I'll be able to purge thoroughly when I'm grieving.

    I hope to die with my kids having chosen and taken want they want before I'm gone so all I leave them with is an envelope with the will and a dog.

  4. #24
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    The Hummels will never go up in value.

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by iris lilies View Post
    The Hummels will never go up in value.
    Does she actually look at and see the Hummels? It sounds like you have clearly identified the one that has value and importance to you. Perhaps this is cold of me, but I would stick the one you love in a drawer and give the rest to the Goodwill now, as they have an auction site and their value can be bid on there, and the money go to help others in need, as well as delight some Hummel collector. I would tell her, if she asks, that I lent them to someone for safe keeping, another collector who could display them properly.

  6. #26
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tybee View Post
    Perhaps this is cold of me, but I would stick the one you love in a drawer and give the rest to the Goodwill now, as they have an auction site and their value can be bid on there, and the money go to help others in need, as well as delight some Hummel collector.
    That is great to know. Do have any idea how to track the value for tax deduction purposes?
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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  7. #27
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
    That is great to know. Do have any idea how to track the value for tax deduction purposes?
    My ex was big into Hummels. There are books out there (probably Web sites, too, now) that provide trustworthy evaluations of value for sales purposes. I would buy the book or print the Web pages for the Hummels you're donating and use that value (and documentation) for deduction purposes. You also could print out results of successful ebay auctions (or auctions at other sites). Craigslist is useless for documenting values since you don't know if the item sold (or sold at that price).
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  8. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by SteveinMN View Post
    My ex was big into Hummels. There are books out there (probably Web sites, too, now) that provide trustworthy evaluations of value for sales purposes. I would buy the book or print the Web pages for the Hummels you're donating and use that value (and documentation) for deduction purposes. You also could print out results of successful ebay auctions (or auctions at other sites). Craigslist is useless for documenting values since you don't know if the item sold (or sold at that price).
    this sounds like great advice--we don't itemize so I never bothered to take the tax deduction on Goodwill donations, except when my husband donated his car. They gave us a separate form for that, but I don't know what they do with the auction site.

  9. #29
    Senior Member flowerseverywhere's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by iris lilies View Post
    The Hummels will never go up in value.
    So true. We have a painstakingly documented stamp collection that is worth far less than the face value of the stamps. Plus a box of coins someone saved in the family. Unless mint condition they are worth barely the face value. I know several people who watched their parents buy franklin mint type collectibles like plates and coins that are worth the price of raw materials. Way less than was spent for them. Take a look at the auctions ending soonest on eBay. Some Hummel can be had for less than $10 , and there are over 30,000 Hummel items listed, thousands of figurines. One of my sisters took a bunch of my moms stuff when she died and tried to sell it. Most of the China and silver “heirlooms” were virtually worthless.

    Ask your kids now now if they want any of your stuff. Unless it’s cash or real estate the answer is likely to be no

  10. #30
    Simpleton Alan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by iris lilies View Post
    The Hummels will never go up in value.
    I don't know much about Hummels but I do know that if we were interested in making money off our Roseville pottery collection, we'd be sorely disappointed. There seemed to be a revival of interest in them in the 90's and retail prices spiked appreciably. Unfortunately, that's when we started collecting.
    The sheer volume of pieces out there, plus the increasing number of counterfeits entering the market (I now think several of our pieces are counterfeit) make them a poor investment for anyone interested in more than their stunning designs and history.
    "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." ~ Albert Einstein

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