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The issue with estate sales is that they are usually estate disposals. People inheriting their parents’ stuff are usually themselves grown adults with their own

by jl6 2y ago

The issue with estate sales is that they are usually estate disposals. People inheriting their parents’ stuff are usually themselves grown adults with their own busy lives, and the average estate consists of immense amounts of clutter that the inheritor has approximately zero interest in. They’re grieving, they’re seeking closure. Not looking to spend years sifting through hundreds of thousands of items of household bric-à-brac looking to extract value. They want your house cleared so they can sell it and hopefully pay off a bit of their own mortgage.

ZaoLahma 2y ago
This is all sadly too true, which is why I think we should do our best to declutter as we age. Ideally when our time comes, we should only have things of immediate use and value to us left, and pretty much none of "might be good to have one day". I've seen instances where people couldn't get rid of things due to grief and decided to keep it all tucked away for several decades, leaving the decluttering to the following generation(s). Better then to be a bit proactive.
- smegger001 2y ago
  My grandmother long ago made up her will of who got what, and then when she was through with it she told all of her children and grand children to write in her notebook which items not already spoken for they wanted when she no longer needed them. When was ready to move into her assisted living facility she got out her will and notebook and distributed everything she wasn't taking there with her and got rid of the rest. Compared to my other grandparents where it was a giant fiasco and almost nothing documentedas to how it was to be distributed and accusations and mistrust it sowed amongst my father and his siblings, I can say for certain its far better to be organized.
badgersnake 2y ago
I’m sure if somebody came along with a serious offer for the collection with the goal of exhibiting it somewhere else it would be accepted.
- ghaff 2y ago
  Well, yes. But that assumes someone with the capital and interest in kicking off a probably money-losing museum. After all, another computer museum with some significant holdings also went out of business 20-30 years ago. Silicon Valley is not unique but computers and other industrial artifacts are just not what most people have in mind when they're looking for a museum to go to.

by jl6 2y ago

ZaoLahma 2y ago

This is all sadly too true, which is why I think we should do our best to declutter as we age. Ideally when our time comes, we should only have things of immediate use and value to us left, and pretty much none of "might be good to have one day". I've seen instances where people couldn't get rid of things due to grief and decided to keep it all tucked away for several decades, leaving the decluttering to the following generation(s). Better then to be a bit proactive.

smegger001 2y ago
My grandmother long ago made up her will of who got what, and then when she was through with it she told all of her children and grand children to write in her notebook which items not already spoken for they wanted when she no longer needed them. When was ready to move into her assisted living facility she got out her will and notebook and distributed everything she wasn't taking there with her and got rid of the rest. Compared to my other grandparents where it was a giant fiasco and almost nothing documentedas to how it was to be distributed and accusations and mistrust it sowed amongst my father and his siblings, I can say for certain its far better to be organized.

badgersnake 2y ago

I’m sure if somebody came along with a serious offer for the collection with the goal of exhibiting it somewhere else it would be accepted.

ghaff 2y ago
Well, yes. But that assumes someone with the capital and interest in kicking off a probably money-losing museum. After all, another computer museum with some significant holdings also went out of business 20-30 years ago. Silicon Valley is not unique but computers and other industrial artifacts are just not what most people have in mind when they're looking for a museum to go to.