Let's be serious for a minute

[ag4ever]

I’d hate for my wife to ever have to deal with all the crap I have hidden in places between two houses.

I agree with Eric & Adam on this!

My wife and I were talking the other day, and she is encouraging me to inventory my parts collect so she will know what to do if something happens to me.

For a little back story (well not so little), my father passed away in 2016 from cancer. He had 3 storage units of stuff that came from my grandmother’s house and my parents house when they moved from my childhood home to their retirement home around 2010. Two of the units were about 12’ x 20’ and the third was 12’ x 40’. In 2019 I decided to change jobs and took some time off before jumping back into working. I used that time to clean out the 2 smaller units and consolidate into the larger unit to save my mother some monthly expenses. Fast forward to present time, and now I am spending about 6 - 8 hours each weekend cleaning out the large storage unit. It is an archeological exploration every weekend. While reliving old memories is nice, I really would prefer not having this obligation. My mother had nagged my father to clean out storage and get rid of it, but he told her “I will do that as soon as I retire”. Well, being diagnosed with cancer caused my father to retire and by that point he did not have the energy or stamina to do any appreciable work on cleaning. So, now that responsibility falls upon me.

So, in short, I have been learning a valuable lesson: Your collection may bring joy to you, but think about the burden it will place upon your heirs if they don’t have a clear action plan in place when you leave this mortal world.

This has been one of the most emotional posts I have made, so to lighten the mood, here are some of the Jewels I have unearthed during my dig:



And one of my favorites, from my youth when we had a lake house in East Texas (Ivanhoe). Our house was on Lake Charmaine, right next to the ‘public’ launching ramp. We had many memorable times watching people launch their boat!

 

[Interceptor]

But Scramblers made the top 10 list of collectable vehicle to invest in 2024 by Hagerty

 

[bigwalton]

I agree with Eric & Adam on this!

That's so rough and exactly what we had to do with a large basement stacked full of tubs of stuff over the course of a week when my dad finally went to assisted living and we had a deadline to sell the house. We ended up with no choice but to call a junk company to haul off so much at the end of the effort.

SIde note, I had a number of those electronic project kits over my childhood and they did SO MUCH to teach me basic electronics. Those, Legos and R/C cars probably drove me down my path in engineering more than anything.

 

[Belizeit]

Payments on 3 storage units these days could bankrupt you in a few years.

 

[barrys]

For now, if I went suddenly, my brother is very local to me and would know what stuff is and value of it. And vice versa with his parts. I would want some of the money from the parts to go to fix up my Scrambler so my wife would be able to use it without worry of it breaking down and such.(she can drive, but would not enjoy the T18 in it).

 

[Chamba]

With my life insurance I'm worth more dead than alive. Therefore I like having enough ancillary crap for my wife to deal with that she thinks twice about how great my insurance would be.....

 

[spankrjs]

I have four CJ's and maybe a Scrambler bed worth of spare parts.

I put in my will the name of one person, and dollar amount, who will buy (for a low price) my four CJ's. They can do whatever with them at this point, I will be dead so won't care. I did this 7 years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer, that kind of makes you think of this kind of stuff a lot sooner than later......

In this way, family will get a little cash and not have to deal with four old Jeeps.

Just food for thought.......

 

[Belizeit]

Thanks ! Checks in the mail.

 

[John N]

I’m a landlord for a 700+ unit self storage facility (ground lease actually). I constantly see people who’ve stored their stuff for years only to finally just throw it in a dumpster. Most people should just ditch the stuff in the beginning and not store it.

 

[Belizeit]

I’m a landlord for a 700+ unit self storage facility (ground lease actually). I constantly see people who’ve stored their stuff for years only to finally just throw it in a dumpster. Most people should just ditch the stuff in the beginning and not store it.

Exactly. My M I L died 4 years ago. Luckily we have a den, which at this point is not being used right now, which now has a couple of sets of good bedroom furniture. I think my daughter or a couple of nieces or nephews will need items in the next few years. I would hate to be paying storage, especially controlled climate temperature storage.