There was an excellent article earlier this year in the AJC titled “We collect stuff all our lives. Then what?” It brought up an important discussion between my parents and I as well as sparked a lot of debate with my fellow organizers and our clients.  I’ve been accused of being “cold hearted” by my mother because I do not want her china cabinet and Spanish inspired walnut dining furniture from 1968.  My goal in writing this post is to explain to our baby boomers and their parents that we are not cold hearted or lacking in sentiment but have been raised in a materialistic disposable time.

My parents were raised by the generation who lived through the depression and two World Wars.  They were taught to appreciate everything because they survived a time where there was nothing.  While I was raised to appreciate hard work, my parents also gave us a very easy life full of whatever food, clothes and toys we wanted.  Each generation wants to provide the best for their children. My generation has been able to buy whatever we need at affordable prices making us mass consumers of everything from electronics to cars and homes. This has lead to a disposable attitude towards the goods we purchase.

It is also much harder to find furniture and goods that are high quality and long lasting. We can buy a room full of furniture for less than $1000 so we don’t care as much if it is out of style or breaks after 5-10 years. Many newer homes don’t even have dining rooms or formal living rooms anymore. The number one hardest thing to sell right now in the furniture world is a china cabinet. Most of my friends don’t use real china or silver when entertaining; we are much more casual. I think this is a combination of two-income households and being way too busy.

I’m not trying to make excuses for my generation but I do want our elders to understand, we aren’t trying to be rude or callous when we tell you not to hold onto your stuff for us. We want you to get any money or value you can from the items you worked so hard to buy for yourself. You do not have to know the person who will wind up with your treasures. If you can sell it or donate it, I promise someone will love it and take care of it as much as you did.

I also want to re-iterate a point I made a couple of years ago about storage. Please do not waste money storing items you will never use again or items for your kids or grand kids if they tell you they do not want them. The AJC article brings up two alarming statistics: “Last year, we spent about $7.7 billion on stuff to organize our stuff and another $24 billion to store it”.

I know all big changes like moving or getting rid of items can be very stressful. Please contact us so we can help you feel less over whelmed. We now have a re-selling division of Simply Organized. What we can not re sell for you, we will find a charity to give it to.

Heather Rogers 404-825-2105 or Heather@simplyorganizedyou.com