I don’t think there’s anything anyone but mr. singular will want once I shuffle off this mortal coil. I just know that if any of the people I’m related to or friends with will probably have a pretty cavalier attitude about keepsakes, and there won’t be any sort of a kerfufful disbursement of rememberances
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Care to elaborate some your OP is a tad bit cryptic.
I’ll take your car.
Get a will, I guess.
Weird. Most people make the “want to die first” speech saying they want to avoid the backbiting and bitterness that follows their passing. You want to avoid everyone being pretty calm about it?
My only real gripe is my books. Hundreds of them, some I’ve had for decades, and when I die the ones that don’t burn well will hit a recycling bin if they’re lucky. No one else reads at all, much less has similar taste.
Ha, I relate completely. I have so many things that have value to the right people. I have a hard time imagining my survivors taking the time to check the market value, more likely it will end up curbside. That or sold at a garage sale for a fraction of what it’s worth. I’m hoping to retire at some point and sell off the things that I treasure but the value of which may not be readily apparent to a casual observer.
I have alot of stuff that means something to me. No one else. I have a few sparklys that are willed. I took my Daddys wedding ring off his finger before they closed the coffin, much to my sibs chagrin. I’ll be buried with it. My Mothers keepsakes are all that I really care about. My Sisters will sort that out. The rest the kids can do whatever. Son-of-a-wrek likes to tell me there’s gonna be one huge garage sale and the rest burns. I believe him.
I’ll take one for the team and take the books.
(I had a stranger, youngish Indian man, slide into my DMs last night. We discussed Afghani history and current social and political situation and his insecurities and social weirdness.
He offered to send me a picture of (his description) “my treasure.” I’ve never been so relieved to get a photo of a man’s library.)
But I did find it odd that the poor guy - who teaches English literature in the Indian/Punjabi equivalent of senior high school in New Delhi - has a library that looks like books without bindings. And that his mother objects to his “hoard” of maybe 100-150 book. Before he sent his photos, he asked how many books I own, and I had to ballpark. 1000? 3000? I don’t know.
If my estate has enough to spare, or I learn how to let go sooner, I will send all of my hardbound history and English lit books to a stranger in Delhi.
There are a few irreplaceable things in my possession, but not many. If the kids preserve the real history, I don’t give a crap where they dispose of the Pyrex or jewelry. Keep what’s important.
Says the daughter of the House of Hoarders.
I had to help clean out an elderly friend’s house after he died. There was a hope chest filled with photos of people nobody could identify. The guy and his wife were childless, and there was nobody left who could identify the people in the photos. It was sad to have to throw them out.
I resolved to do what my mother did: pare down as I age so my kids will have very little to go through and dispose of afterward outside of my books. I’m not parting with those.
My things, when I’m dead, I don’t care about. My things were never alive.
The one thing that does bother me is, if my death is unexpected, what happens to my cats?
I suppose they could subsist on my mortal remains for awhile, assuming I die at home, but what then?
I’m 11 months older than my gf, so I assume I’ll die first.
My wife wants to die first because she can’t imagine life without me. She thinks I’ll get married again after she’s gone. I’ve assured her that I won’t marry again, but I’m leaving the funeral and going right on Tinder or wherever people are hooking up in my wifeless future. I might even try my luck at the reception after the funeral.
I’m only 58 and in good health. but my neighbors keep an eye on my comings and goings. I’ve offered my paid-off farm and a “trust fund” of $25,000 for my animals to one of my nieces if she agrees to care for the aging animals for the rest of their lives.
As for the rest of my stuff, even the books, it’s just stuff. I’m trying hard to buy most of my new books in Kindle format so I don’t have to worry about having a place for them. I have a few antiques, and the sibs can take whatever and sell the rest, as far as I’m concerned.
I should, however, print out (or email) my will so that if I die unexpectedly people know what they get.
StG
My husband has all kinds of tools. I don’t know what half of them are, let alone how to use them. I figure if he goes first, I’ll just tell people to come take what they want.
I don’t own anything valuable but a (nearly) complete set of Stephen King books, and some of those are the original paperbacks I picked up in second-hand stores in the eighties. Anybody want those?
I’ve already told my husband that the smartest thing he can do upon my passing is blow up the house… after he sells my art work, which should go up in price once I’m dead.
This is the scariest thing for me. One of my cats is so charming and delightful that a friend that had never had cats offered to take her if we both fall off the twig simultaneously. After a casual interview I knew I could not allow that to happen. My darlings (one the best cat that ever lived, the other a deeply wounded cat we can’t help but care for because no one else would) are indoor only cats, to avoid traffic and feral cat/dog deaths, living to 20+ comfortable lives. She would only allow them to be indoor/outdoor cats, where they would probably delight in the nearby woods but also soon provide a snack to the healthy coyote population. I really need to find someone I can trust to take them.
Edited to say I would probably leave the house to the person that would come into this situation if they promised to keep them safely indoors. I hope to install a cat deck patio next year where they can safely be outdoors. Those things are amazing,