![\"bar\"](\"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/bar.jpg\")
\nBasically, 99% of the time, my response was \u201cI don\u2019t want that crap.\u201d Now to be fair, her stuff, nor my grandparents stuff was crap, I just didn\u2019t want it. (Anecdotally, she did the exact same thing with her parents\u2019 stuff when they were gone).<\/p>\n
Stuff no longer equals success<\/h2>\n
Having stuff, especially nice stuff, used to be a status symbol. Keeping up the Jones\u2019 type stuff. \u201cOh you got a new fangled microwave? Well we got an Upright vacuum!” *GASPS*<\/p>\n
Now the only thing anyone compares anymore is who has the newest phone with the best camera and that thing fits in your hand!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The ideals of Baby Boomers and their parents\u2019 before them of having stuff is dying out.<\/p>\n
Shifting away from materialism<\/h2>\n
There are so many reasons for this and it\u2019s not just a shift in the attitude toward consumerism, it\u2019s a huge societal shift.<\/p>\n
Back in the day (I use that term loosely, like 20\u2019s-80\u2019s) the American Dream was to get married, buy a house,\u00a0have kids, and a picket fence (aka “stuff”).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Filling a house with stuff made sense, not to mention was basically the norm. Today, as living prices go up, price per square foot is at a premium, making most people settle with less space.<\/p>\n
No wasting space or money<\/h2>\n
These young couples (late Gen Xers or millennials) aren\u2019t buying fancy furniture or nice silver and china to take up what little precious space they have.<\/p>\n
On top of that, people for their 20\u2019s-early 40\u2019s are much more concerned with experiences rather than things.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
They don\u2019t have the same attachments to objects past generations did.<\/p>\n
A new generation<\/h2>\n
In an article written for NextAvenue.org, Richard Eisenberg spoke with NASMM (National Association of Senior Move Managers) executive director Mary Kay Buysee. Buysse states, \u201cThis is an Ikea and Target generation.<\/p>\n
[clickToTweet tweet=”Millennials live minimally, much more so than the boomers. -Mary Kay Buysee” quote=”They live minimally, much more so than the boomers. They don\u2019t have the emotional connection to things that earlier generations did,\u201d she notes. “]<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd they\u2019re more mobile. So they don\u2019t want a lot of heavy stuff dragging down a move across country for a new opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buysee could not be more correct, but how can those of us that will be responsible for our parents or grandparents help them transition or more morbidly, deal with what they\u2019ve left behind.<\/p>\n
Eisenberg gives some great tips on how to deal with downsizing parents or grandparents.<\/p>\n
Start mobilizing while your parents are around<\/h2>\n
If you plan of selling your parents (or grandparents stuff), Holly Kylen of Kylen Financials, advises \u201cEvery single person, if their parents are still alive, needs to go back and collect the stories of their stuff, that will help sell the stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Kylen is talking about here is getting the backstory on something your grandparents or parents might have gotten from your close family friends, the Astors (yeah, those Astors).<\/p>\n
Give yourself plenty of time to find takers, if you can<\/h2>\n
Sometimes you have years to plan for the inevitable. Sometimes you have absolutely no notice and thus no plan.<\/p>\n
If you can plan ahead, do so, and give yourself a healthy head start. Chris Fultz of Nova Liquidation says \u201cWe tell people: the longer you have to sell something; the more money you\u2019ll make\u201d. Not only that but you\u2019re not scurrying to empty an apartment or home to avoid another rent payment or electricity bill.<\/p>\n
#LessIsMore<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(HOMEOWNERSHIP) For perhaps the first time, another generation agrees with this sentiment that millennials feel about certain heirlooms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":337693,"featured_media":10886,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[602],"tags":[1477,1234],"class_list":["post-10875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homeownership","tag-downsize","tag-real-estate-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/03\/generations.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/337693"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10875"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10955,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10875\/revisions\/10955"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theamericangenius.com\/housing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}