My parents moved to my house more than three years ago. They had a large house and gave away some furniture, but there is still a lot of furniture and boxes of stuff that they moved to my basement, garage, and spare bedroom. My husband and I would like to dispose of (either sell or donate) and use the money for their care. The items won't yield much, but someone else could make use of them.
If I ask mother what to do with the furniture, of course she would want to keep it. Father would not know what I was talking about. Since parents have been here they have not used any of the items. There must be hundreds of dish towels, linens, tablecloths, cookware, etc. Most have never been used and still in the original wrapping.
We want our space back and would like to know how to handle this. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
You did more than I would have. My Mom took with her what she need in the AL and the rest I gave away. No storage at my house.
I have 4 households of junk in my house and am currently in the process of getting rid of others junk. If they can't remember it is here, they'll never miss it and I want my house back.
If anything ever comes up, I have no clue what you are talking about, I am done being a free storage unit for stuff that obviously means nothing to them or it wouldn't be at my house.
I would invite family to buy items that they would enjoy having and sell or donate the rest. You would be surprised at items that charities appreciate receiving, such as unusable clothing, it is cut up and sold as rags to companies that need disposable cloth rags. My point being if you can't sell it, donate it and not throw it away. You never know how items can be repurposed.
Enjoy getting your home back, the least said the sooner mended.
You can tell Mom that you’re thinking of redecorsting and you need room in YOUR house to do so. Ask her to remove any items with true meaning and you will sell or otherwise dispose of the rest. Put a time limit of a month on it. Keep to the schedule and remember this is your home and you are not a satellite PODS storage facility.
You already answer your own question. Since your mother hasn't used her stuff, she probably won't remember them. So, sell them and don't tell her. If she asks, tell her they're in a storage facility.