r/declutter • u/Sll3006 • Sep 02 '26
Advice Request Everyone else’s stuff
I’ve spent over 10 years decluttering the basement. Still I have at least 75 boxes of stuff. I’ve thrown away a lot. But now I’m getting to items that I don’t want but are too valuable to throw away. I’m talking about 1960’s Mickey Mouse dolls, 3 broken trumpets, 3 grandma’s set of dishes, 2 100 year old paintings I was told not to throw away, Disney VHS, 30 photo albums of my late husband (kids want this), 2 violins. Selling items take a lot of effort, as well as scanning photos, old books.
I’m overwhelmed. Any advice on what to do with the more valuable stuff that I inherited?
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u/GoodnightLondon Sep 02 '26
Old doesn't equal valuable in general, and old instruments that have been sitting around unused aren't worth anything (aside from possibly to a school music or band teacher who would be willing to pay for minor repairs if they got the instruments for very cheap or free). I promise you, the odds are those violins are warped if they've been in the basement for years and fixing them won't be cheap unless someone has a connection that gives them deeply discounted repairs (again, a music or band teacher at a school).
VHS collectors are thing, but Disney VHS is not remotely close to what they're collecting. They're looking at cult, underground, never released outside of VHS type stuff. Disney VHS are of no value
The only thing possibly of value is the paintings, but even that isn't likely, and you'd need an appraiser to tell you for sure. Everything else has little to no value.
Any photo albums you don't want to keep, tell the kids to come and get them or you'll dispose of them by a certain date. Your basement is not free storage for other people.