As parents grow older, many adult children try to encourage them to let go of some household items to create a simpler and more comfortable living space.
Delicate China
Fine China and crystal used to be a household’s prized possessions, only to be used during the holiday seasons and with special guests. Most people now live low-maintenance lifestyles.
Fine China and crystal can’t go in the dishwasher, which means one person must wash these delicate plates and cups by hand for an hour after dinner.
In addition, with the decrease in kitchen size and cabinet space, storing boxes of good dishes that will only be used twice a year (if that) feels like more of a burden.
Heavy furniture
Back in the day, families boasted about their oak armoire or a heavy cherry wood hutch that was the centerpiece of their dining room. They were built to last.
But those bulky furniture pieces are extremely difficult and expensive to move. Lots of millennials and young adults live in apartments or homes with open floor plans where these beasts just don’t fit.
Plus, today’s style is all about tall, thin, and versatile furniture. Heavy wooden furniture simply takes up too much space.
Collectibles
Some people spent years purchasing “limited edition” plates, porcelain animals, or holiday-themed junk. They do this thinking that someday they’ll be worth more money.
However, the collectibles market is virtually nonexistent these days. Many of these items won’t even sell for close to what you paid.
As far as kids are concerned, these items are dust collectors. They can’t be put on shelves without cleaning them and have to be handled with care. Spending time polishing and displaying these bulky items doesn’t fit into a minimalist lifestyle or sleek living room.
Photo albums
Growing up, everybody had thick photo albums with sticky magnetic pages to hold all of their pictures.
The issue is that those old photo albums actually damage your photos over time. They turn yellow and start to peel. And they take up a lot of space in shelves.
Most adult children would rather sit down with boxes of photos, weed through them all, scan the best photos into a digital folder, and display only a few really meaningful prints in a small photo frame or box.
Linens
Grandmothers everywhere are proud of their linen closets full of towering stacks of lace tablecloths, leaf-shaped doilies, and heavyweight handmade quilts. One quilt crafted by Gramma is great, but twenty handmade quilts are too many.
Vintage linens also often have to be dry-cleaned or ironed to look nice. Who has time for that? Most kids prefer lightweight, breathable blankets and tablecloths that can be tossed in the washing machine.
Kitchen gimmicks
Every kitchen has a drawer or cabinet filled with specialty tools that only do one thing.
For example, gadgets like electric egg poachers, extra-large bread machines from the 1990s, or specialty pasta makers you thought you needed at one point. They are now shoved to the back of your bottom kitchen cabinet to collect dust.
People today love countertops free of clutter and appliances that can perform more than one task. These are items like blenders or even basic skillets.
Paper
Before computers, everyone kept every bill, bank statement, and tax return shoved into a metal filing cabinet.
Today, almost all of that paper gets scanned and stored electronically, where it can be accessed in seconds. Nobody needs drawers full of electric bills from 2004. They take up precious space.
One of the easiest rooms to declutter is clearing out paperwork. Don’t know where to start? Most adult children are happy to help their parents tackle paper graveyards.
Silverware
There’s no doubt about it; sterling silver cutlery is gorgeous. However, left alone, silverware tarnishes when exposed to the air.
This means it needs to be polished regularly in order to maintain its shiny finish. And it can’t be put in the dishwasher since it doesn’t react well to high heat and certain soaps.
For kids who live fast-paced lifestyles and prefer grab-and-go entertaining, polishing dozens of forks, knives, and spoons just to have dinner doesn’t sound fun.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
9 items grandparents say they keep to avoid upsetting family
Many of these things are never used and sometimes even get in the way. Yet they stay, simply because a family member once gave them with love.
9 items grandparents say they keep to avoid upsetting family
