URG, now I know why Mom always wanted me to get my stuff out of the family home. Good grief. Matt has taken everything to his house so I have no issues with him. However, Jon moved quickly to a small furnished apartment in NY and left behind so much STUFF, I can't believe it.

We moved Jon's furniture to Matt's room after Matt moved because his room was empty. So this left Jon's room empty of furniture, and full of all his STUFF. I'm talking plastic containers in his closet of Toy Story and GI Joes. Plus everything from his teen years.

SIncw MAtt didn't have a bed to sleep in when he was here for Thanksgiving, we are now making Jon's room another bedroom. We bought furniture and it's being delivered tomorrow! I know what I'll be doing tonight - going through and boxing up Jon's childhood. I enjoy reliving his youth, but not all in one night!

What have you done with your kid's stuff when they moved out?

I remember going through Mom and Dad's house when they moved to an apartment. We found prom dresses, autographed saddle shoes, class projects, you name it. It was all still there. That's not happening around here. At least I hope not.

Dotsie, I can speak from the other side of that...my poor Mom constantly begged us to clean out our stuff, years after we had all moved out. Over the course of many years, I managed to clean out a lot, but because I was moving around so much back then (and no car) it was impossible to take the rest with me, but I couldn't bring myself to toss it either. So I kept it all in two huge boxes in the back of my bedroom closet.

I left home in 1974. When Dad died in 1999 and we had to clean out the house, those two boxes were STILL there. It was fun to go through them and find all of that stuff again. I did toss most of it, but brought the rest of it back with me and now it's sitting in my blue trunk! I don't know why I can't throw it away. I think it's because special people gave the stuff to me and so it has extra special meaning.

Funny, one of the things that I could never bring myself to throw away was a pair of faded blue jean overalls. I had worn them throughout my teen years, to school, to summer camp, I practically lived in those overalls. Even after I had grown out of them, I couldn't bear to toss them. They were still in the box in 1999! And yes, I did finally give them away. Though even today, there's a part of me that's sad that I didn't keep them.

Isn't it strange what silly things become so much a part of us that we can't imagine ourselves without them. I try not to become so attached to material things anymore, but still, the things that mean the most to me tend to be the little things that people have given me over the years.

BTW, some of those toys in your son's room could be worth a lot someday. My Mom gave away all of my Barbies one year - including one with the date stamped on her back "1955"...it wasn't in mint condition, but I think it would still fetch a few dollars...

Eagle, I can totally relate. I have a box or two in the attic that have some of my childhood favorites, namely old diaries. Maybe during a blizzard, I'll climb up there and go through those boxes again.

I'm hoping that when Jon's home for Christmas, he'll go through a couple bins, but I doubt he'll want to take time to do that.

You're right about the toys being worth something. I found a couple Star War figures still in their packaging.

All of my toys were in mint condition and would have brought me in some real bucks today, BUT my kid sister went up into moms attic before mom moved to a condo and she confiscated all my stuff for her kids. Today it's junk, with a capital J. She and I still have hard feeling over that. I watch the Antique Roadshow and see what old toys bring today, ugh!! It makes me ill...