Dining room sets that cost thousands of dollars new can be picked up for a few hundred dollars (or less) on Kijiji or Craigslist. Here's a quote from typical ad: "Solid wood in Excellent condition. Rarely used. I am moving to a smaller house and it needs to go. Price is negotiable."
It's part of a larger trend. While the price of household furnishings and equipment has doubled over the past 45 years, the price of shelter has quadrupled - and that's just average shelter costs. These numbers do not not take into account the difference between the shelter costs faced by people entering the housing market now and those faced by people who bought houses back in the 1970s, 80s or 90s.
So - a plea to my fellow baby boomers... Your kids might admire your wooden salad bowls. They might appreciate the fact that you carefully preserved the diorama they created in first grade. But they don't want your stuff. They can't afford to buy a home with space to store it in. And if they want dining tables or tchotchkes, they can pick them up for next to nothing elsewhere.
As the kids would say: let it go.
Comments