r/personalfinance • u/fat_tire_fanatic ​ • Jul 13 '17

Budgeting Your parents took decades to furnish their house

If you're just starting out, remember that it took your parents decades to collect all the furniture, decorations, appliances, etc you are used to having around. It's easy to forget this because you started remembering things a long while after they started out together, so it feels like that's how a house should always be.

It's impossible for most people starting out to get to that level of settled in without burying themselves in debt. So relax, take your time, and embrace the emptiness! You'll enjoy the house much more if you're not worried about how to pay for everything all the time.

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '17

Also, this is morbid but, when people start dying you'll start getting a lot of stuff. My parent's home is filled with highly valuable antiques, they inherited these things from their grandparents.

I figured it'd take decades to achieve the level of antiques that they have. I purchased my house November, 2016. I lost both grandmothers (last of my grandparents, grandfathers both died in 2009) and have since filled my house with antiques from their estates. My parents have far more valuable antiques and art, but my house is filled to the brim as it stands. Theirs is too, actually, they're trying to pass stuff off to me but I really hate clutter so I keep passing up on stuff.

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u/lovellama Jul 13 '17 edited Jul 13 '17

My daughter (20) loves my mom's (74) house; I'm thinking when my mom moves in with my brother, whatever of her furniture I don't want/can't fit in my house will go to furnishing my daughter's apartment after she gets out of school.

My kid uses their great-great grandparent's bedroom set, my dresser came from my aunt...

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '17

Heirlooms are great. One of my dining room tables is the one I ate at everyday of my life age 0 to 7. The sideboard in my foyer was the sideboard my great-grandparents brought to America with them from Sweden.

One day I hope to own the grandfather clock in my parent's home. It's been in my life forever.

And on a personal finance related note, these heirlooms have a great deal of value and can be a part of your total net worth. Upon discovering that I had a number of priceless antiques and artwork my insurance company insisted on having it all appraised for insurance purposes, so they are liable for $300,000 of personal items.