A short trip with the Son-In_Law

I do stock pile some things. I have some things that did belong to my parents and even my grandparents but nothing that needs a barn to store them. hahaha I also have things from when my kids were babies and then from when they were in school. We did have a really nice set of china that was my mother in law's but my youngest daughter now has that as she has a place to display it all and I didn't.

Your Dad sounds like my husband, a real pack rat and doesn't throw anything away, but doesn't use the stuff either..

Unfortunately, yes we do do that. Hubby worse than I am, and I am fixing to get on him if he does not watch out. I am not completely innocent, though. I hope you guys have a great trip. I think it is cool that SIL gets such a good connection to you out of this.

What a subject, grandpa Bob! I say that because my dad is the same darn way! He had so much junk everywhere that it almost looked like a junk yard. Since they've moved, he doesn't have as much junk as he had because hubby and I cleaned out his home made shed/garage while he was gone and got my foster brother to take the load to the dump before dad got back home! lol He was pretty darn shocked when he got back and found his shop in much better shape and order than he ever had it before! lol He didn't get to take any of that junk with him when he moved!! Tee Hee!! Hey! Gotta do whatcha gotta do!

I do not, my husband and Mother on the other hand.........

Hey i hope u have good luck with that because aim not having good luck a storm is going to pass over my house and that mean trouble no light no water etc.So i hope u get a good life c ya.

Well, I think most people are like this in some way and stock pile items and such. I know when we were getting ready to put our Condo on the market last May we had a lot of things we got rid of, and still have a lot we could get rid of as well. The worst I ever seen, was back around 15 yrs. ago or so ago when I was a Nanny type for an older retired couple, and 2 of the rooms were so full full of stuff, that they almost reached the ceiling in one of the rooms. Wishing you the best getting all of the stuff moved and the place cleaned up.

Yes, because someone always end up saying they need something. Everytime you throw something away , you have to rebuy it or someone in the family ends up having to. I think it is wisdom to save and not to waste. Who knows how important that something may end up being for someone.

You guys are going to have a lot to do! Your wife sounds like my dad. My grandma is getting on in years is taking care of my Papaw, who has dementia and diabetes among other health problems. So she has been trying to go through all their stuff, and get rid of some things before either of them passes on. She doesn't want to make my mom and my uncle have to go through it all. But she gives my mom stuff all the time when we visit, and it drives my dad nuts! It isn't even a lot that my mom wants in the first place, but she doesn't want to hurt her mother's feelings. But when we get home, my dad always has this hunted look on his face.

I give things away if I'm not using them, or if throw them away if they are really junk. My mother in law, though is such a hoarder and pack rat we can't get her to throw anything away. She can't find things she does need, because she has to hunt through piles of stacked up junk. She not only saves those plastic cool whip and margarine containers, but she saves the little foam things from meat packages. She saves every single one, and has for years. She got really mad at me once for throwing one away. She also has two refrigerators so crammed with food, leftovers and condiments and things that are way past the expiration date. I once went through her fridge when she was sleeping, and threw out a couple of big kitchen can bags full of spoiled food. She also has a ton of stuff in her attic, some things brand new, that were presents people bought her that she never used. There are clothes, plates, cookware, most in the original boxes and with tags on. My sister in law once convinced her to have a yard sale, and they did get rid of a lot of stuff, but you really can't tell when you look at the rooms because there is still so much stuff there. Lately, if she wants to give us something, we'll take it, and act really happy to have it, whether we want it or not. We figure it will make things easier later. The worst thing about all the clutter is that it makes it hard to do anything in that house. Nothing is in order, and it's a nightmare trying to clean and make room just to prepare a meal. She once lost an envelope with $1500 dollars in it. She kept searching through her stacks for about 6 months until she finally found it.

My husband is in the process of cleaning out the family's farm that had years and years of junk in it. The property has been in the family since his father and now the kids. We are the only members of 8 kids who live in town and my husband how works two jobs goes out there every weekend to take care of the place without a thank you from the other siblings. Do not get me started on what I think of them. I want to ring their necks when they complain about the cob webs or some such stupid thing. We pay the insurance and the electricity, and taxes. When the pump goes out we have had to pay for a repair man to go and fix it. They have not had to pay one red cent on the land. The land is leased but does not get enough money to off set the cost of the upkeep. When the land will be sold we will only get 1/8 and my husband see's nothing wrong with that. I try to stay out of it and keep my mouth shut. I have one sister in-law who yaps at me about selling the joint all the time. She is an in-law like I am so she has no say. The trouble is the executor is one person and she does not want to sell. I hope you are not running into the same problems when your dad goes.

Some things I do. I know I should get rid of them....and actually last spring I did get rid of a bunch of stuff....but my house is really not big enough to stockpile alot of things....

I try not to...I've gotten VERY good at disposing of things that arent used...or needed. This is since i moved into my grandmas old house and...she was a major packrat it took us AGES to clean out the house and find homes for things we didnt keep (ok 7 years later and i finally got the last of her stuff we didnt keep sold in a garage sale...it took 4 years of garage sales yearly on my long to do that) I hate going into the basement or an outbuilding and seeing it start to look somewhat like it did when she was alive. (not as bad mind you as she had piles and pathes in the basement)

I try not to, I don't want to burden my family with sorting it all out whenever I'm gone. I told my mom that too, I told her not to be collecting all sorts of things, because we don't want to have go thru it all when she's no longer here. My husbands boss's mother passed away a couple months ago, and she left all kinds of things for them to have to go thru, she was a pack rat, she has three houses in town, and two of them are full of things she's bought in the last 5o yrs. You wouldn't believe it, I've been helping the boss's wife go thru things for the past month now, I've helped her clean house, clean out one house, that was full, its been an adventure. None of the things she bought were cheap tho, its all been nice stuff, like fine china dishes, expensive jewelry, clothes, silver, furniture hardly used. She had one wall of shelves that was full of binders, in those binders she had wrote down everything she's ever bought, what she paid for it, where she bought it, and how she felt when she bought it, FIFTY YEARS WORTH. Her family has already gone and divided some things up, but theres so much, they are just going to have an estate sale, and try to sell her houses she had too. Thats why I told my mom not to be adding more stuff to what she's got already, I don't want to have to do all that one of these days.

Hi GRANDPA BOB, I think is so sad though to look at what you call junk is your dad's think of having those just in case he could make use of them or never want to throw anything away, but its best to do it now though while he is still around. I don't stock pile, well maybe you can call it that, I'm a hoader, I never like to throw things away, my loft is full with my junk and so is my cupboards, can't seem to throw them out. Tamara

Grandpa Bob, Carl is a pack-rat.. shhhhhhhhhhhh don't tell him I told ya! LOL