A parent’s death is devastating for a child, even if they are grown up. Most people think that the worst is over when they lay their parents to rest. However, taking care of the assets and other mementos they left is a tough job. Is it worth upcycling your parents’ old things?
As a child of a deceased, you get stuck with deciding whether to sell or keep the items. Consider upcycling old and worn-out items, honoring your parents’ memory by transforming them in functional and beautiful ways.
Upcycling can be challenging as you’d have to distort your parent’s beloved things, such as jewelry and furniture, into new items. And that’s why some people give up before they start. Let’s look at the challenges you will face.
1. The Emotional Roller-Coaster of Upcycling Your Parent’s Old Things
Items like furniture, jewelry, and wedding dresses are at the top list for upcycling. As you upcycle things dear to your parents, you will undoubtedly be reminded of the time spent with them.
Apart from the actual upcycle, it is also emotionally challenging to throw away things of emotional value to your parents but not as much to you. You will undoubtedly feel guilty for wanting to throw such memories. However, it is important to note that the memories are not yours. Therefore, you can let them go. If you should keep and repurpose them, then do so. The choice will be yours to make.
2. Family Dynamics
Upcycling may not always be easy, especially when trying to agree with your fellow siblings. This happens when a parent doesn’t leave a will specifying who gets what. And since the assets hold different memories for each child, there may be a tug of war on whether or how certain things can be repurposed to keep their parents’ memory alive.
And this might turn the upcycling into a bitter family feud. To solve this problem, siblings need to openly discuss assets belonging to their parents and divide them equally.
3. Sorting the Junk
Even as you look through your parents’ things for things to upcycle, it may get overwhelming when sorting the valuable stuff from the junk. Managing estate clean-outs can be challenging when a loved one passes away. As such, it’s always best to take your time when sorting so that you are keen to make sure everything is correctly sorted. Enlist the help of your relatives and friends to make work easier for you. If you can, enlist an estate clean-out company to help you with the process.
4. More Junk
As you continue upcycling, there is a risk of creating more clutter. For instance, you will need to make room for your late parents’ piano, which may not be the best decision. There might be less room for you to walk around and you will have to move some furniture to storage to get the space right again. You should be ready to get rid of some things, irrespective of how much memory they hold, to avoid overfilling your house.
5. Watering-Down the Value of Items
It is important to note that sometimes upcycling may decrease the value of an asset. Often, the deceased’s children may not understand an asset’s emotional and monetary value. Although it is a typical get-rich story plot when a child or grandchild becomes rich after discovering their parents’ painting is worth a lot, these things do happen in real life.
You may not become a multi-billionaire overnight, but you could be on to some good money if you keep the original piece and decide to sell it later. It may not be a painting but a piece of furniture made of excellent material, jewelry, a book, a vintage musical instrument, or clothing. As such, people who inherit their relatives’ assets are encouraged to have the assets valued by an estate valuer before making any decision.
6. Finding an Upcycling Professional
Finding an upcycling professional who understands your vision is one of the tricky obstacles you can face when meaning to upcycle. Upcycling professionals are pretty hard to find, which is why most people do upcycling tasks themselves.
A professional will, however, use their skillful art to make something out of old things. For instance, you could use your parents’ precious silverware to make jewelry for yourself and your siblings. You could also make art out of your parents’ tablecloths.
7. Time-Consuming
An upcycling task will require you to spend a lot of time on the project to ensure everything is done meticulously. If you are a newbie at it, you must do a lot of research on the item you wish to upcycle and various skills you could use.
It is also likely that it will not turn out as you expected, even after spending so much time upcycling your parents’ item. Thus, you need to look for a professional to make your work easier and save you time and disappointment.
8. Upcycling May be Expensive
As you upcycle your parents’ things, you may need to buy more materials to finish your product. It may take an unexpected turn if materials specific to that item are expensive. You will have to indefinitely stop your upcycle project to look for funds. Hiring a professional to upcycle old family items can also be quite expensive. It is, therefore, wise to make an upcycling budget before you begin your project.
Final Thoughts
Keeping your parent’s memory alive is a very crucial thing to do. Upcycling your parents’ old things is one of the best ways. It may have its challenges, but it’s worth it to preserve the memories.
