Heads: The MILLENNIAL – GEN X Perspective (cont’d)
Aging parents are downsizing but the struggle is: What to do with Everything!
Tension can build during the negotiation process as to what we the parents or children should keep and won’t keep. Make sure to be considerate and understanding when discussing the future of your parents belongings. The biggest struggle for the parents is seeing their children disregard something that the parents cherished for so long and found very valuable.
In many ways we forget how much things have changed and how quickly.
Decades ago, wedding gifts were something to be kept for life where as now it might barely make it through the first couple years without getting tossed or broken. Wedding dishes are simply rented and returned rather then purchased and kept in a china cabinet. While in the past cash may have been considered the insensitive or lazy way to go, for many today, simple cash is much preferred.
Children’s toys are bought new rather they passed down for the new concerns of health and safety have grown.
Furniture styles have changed drastically, the passed down furniture will either be restored, repurposed or disregarded.
There is an alternative location, purpose or use for all that will be passed down to us from our parents. It is just a matter of sorting through it and finding what means the most to us and reminds us of the positive memories we have shared with our family.
Hope this has shed a little light on what to do when it comes to downsizing and passing on the heirlooms as the parent or as the young adult in this situation. The next entry will start to look at things from the Boomer perspective – the other side of the same coin.
When it comes to the finding of a new place, searching for a moving companies or locating the right storage facilities, Morrison MacKenzie can help. Call 519-389-7153 or email mo@moresold.ca if you have any questions or wish to be pointed in the right direction when downsizing or retirement in the near future.
