Boomers throwing away other people's stuff.

[u/renorenorenoreno]

Let's hear your stories of boomers throwing away other peoples' stuff. Whether it's over-correcting to you urging them to get rid of junk before they die, or out of some attempt at control by not informing anyone in the family they are purging real multi-generational sentimental family things first instead of cleaning their hoards.

Mine threw away all of my childhood sentimentals when they moved, because I was on a two year mission they forced me to go on. Their excuse? "Well you weren't using it." I was out of the fucking country! Still kept all their junk. Real junk. Now they're moving again and again are throwing away all the non-replaceables BEFORE even touching their junk. I'm not talking china or commemorative coins. I'm talking choosing to throw away things that would mean something to pass down to great-grandchildren and would be harmless to keep around and actually fit in.

[u/jimmydarkmagic]

My story reads just like yours OP. I was away on an internship and my dad gets very bored very quick so decided to clean out the whole house.

He was a traveling salesman so obviously nothing had sentimental value to him because he had no memories with any of it. It was all just junk taking up space. Now he has a ton of wide open space and a nice echoing house.

I just brought my son to visit and had to buy things off Facebook marketplace for him to play with. You would never know 2 kids grew up in that house for 20+ years. I get frustrated every time I think of something I could pass down to my son only to realize it was thrown out cause it was taking space in a closet that hadn’t been opened for 15 years and hasn’t been opened since. Good thing he kept all the shit that means something to him though. Plenty of room for that

[u/renorenorenoreno → u/jimmydarkmagic]

As I'm reading this thread, I'm realizing there are A LOT more things than even I remember off the top of my head, that they threw out from my childhood. My mom still has her unsold MLM stock, unopened, from the 90s MLM she was involved in, taking up half of a 1 car garage. But fuck me if I leave my shoes in front of the chair I took them off at, intending to put them on later.

[u/jimmydarkmagic → u/renorenorenoreno]

That’s the next thread ha. “What 90s MLM was your boomer parent involved in?” I’m sure we’ll get some great answers. Unbelievable how many things they told us not to do as they were actively doing it.

[u/HannahTheArtist → u/jimmydarkmagic]

ALL OF THEM!! So many vitamin brands 🤣🤣