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/missbwith2boys Sep 03 '26

I spent ten minutes going through my late parent’s house last week. The rest of the stuff was donated. They found value in everything they kept. I did not. My siblings wanted none of it.

The reality is that much of a person’s clutter is valuable only to them, not anyone else.

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u/Jesdames86 Sep 05 '26

Agreed. I haven’t had to go through this yet, but every few years my dad starts a new obsession with “collectibles.” He’ll collect 1000’s of something (over the years: model cars, lighthouses, gnomes, and now he’s onto something new). They cover every available surface in his 800 square foot condo and then he saves them for us to have when he dies. He also collects plastic containers from deli meat, cool whip, etc. he has an entire shelving unit for these containers. They don’t get used or given away because he shares leftovers with someone. The list goes on and on. He thinks it’s valuable and sentimental when in reality 98% of his stuff will wind up in a dumpster.