Your adult children probably don't want your stuff.

AARP had an article a few years ago about mistakes parents make with their adult children. At the top of the list was trying to give the adult children our stuff because they really don't want it.

The value of our stuff is not the stuff itself but the memories we have attached to the objects. Our memories are ours and usually are not the same as our adult children and so the objects don't mean the same to them that they mean to us.

Our stuff then isn't really not about the stuff but the memories we have attached to them. The question then is not what to do with the stuff but what to do with the memories and stories that the stuff reminds us of.

The stuff itself could be very valuable to the right person who values antiques, classic, stuff. If the stuff is collectible or one of a kind it could be worth a lot to the right person or people. Finding them can be challenging but perhaps worth it, depending on how much time, energy, and effort you want to expend to find the right match between our stuff and someone who appreciates, not for the memories but for the object itself.