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Who wants your parents' stuff?

<p>Helping your parents clean out the family home or, even worse, taking on the task after they’ve died can be heartbreaking – layers of history to be sorted through; decisions to be made about what should be saved and what to do with the rest.</p> <p>While no one wants to look on the exercise as a money-making venture, taking the time to sell items that have some value not only helps cover the costs involved with moving, but also has the benefit of being more environmentally friendly than sending everything to the tip.</p> <p>The first step is to work out how much time you have. If you and your siblings already have full plates, you can call in an expert team to do the clearance, once you’ve removed items – keepsakes, photographs, documents – you want to keep.</p> <p>Rebecca Mezzino operates Adelaide-based company <a href="http://clearspace.net.au/">Clear Space</a>, which offers downsizing and estate clearances. She works with local dealers and auction houses to sell whatever has value, donates usable goods to charities and disposes of any rubbish. She also has some tips for doing the job yourself.</p> <p>“Most of the services you need are quite separate,” says Rebecca. “So, you can get a second-hand dealer to come and take what they want, you can get a skip to put rubbish in, and you can take things to the Salvo’s, but it’s quite difficult to get it all done in one go.”</p> <p>Of course, the average person won’t know whether a piece of furniture will be worth anything to someone else. Auction houses, advises Rebecca, will look at photos of your goods and tell you whether it’s worth selling them. Second-hand dealers, too, will visit and take away what they think they can sell.</p> <p>“Anything that’s mid-century vintage is in demand,” says Rebecca. “Things like Dad’s old tools that are 50 or 60 years old will sell at auction, too. People will say to me, ‘It’s rusty and it’s old,’ but it should be sent to auction. There are often surprises.”</p> <p>Of course, with all sorts of information at your fingertips, you can use Google to get an idea of what people are paying for certain items. For instance, stamps on the bottom of vintage dinner sets or a silver tea set can help you date them, which is helpful when you’re talking to auction houses. Bids on sites like eBay (“not what sellers are listing them as a Buy Now price,” warns Rebecca) are also a good indication.</p> <p>For anything that isn’t considered a collectable – furniture and working white goods, for example – you can use a website such as Gumtree, where you’ll often get a better price than if you sell it at auction.</p> <p>“At auction houses you’ll get a bargain basement price,” says Rebecca, “but you do need to put effort into Gumtree. We always tell people not to throw anything away because you’d be surprised at what can be sold or what people will collect for free. Free stuff on Gumtree goes really quickly.”</p> <p>If your family has specific types of collections, it’s often worth contacting a specialised dealer. Nicole Jenkins from <a href="http://circavintageclothing.com.au/">Circa Vintage Fashion</a> in Melbourne often assesses collections during house clearances.</p> <p>“Many vintage fashion items are valuable not for their age, but for their quality, uniqueness and how favoured they are by the current market,” she explains. “There are a lot of points to consider, so if you think you’re handling a collection that might have exceptional value, it’s best to call in the experts for advice. It should be remembered that age does not necessarily equate to value, especially if it's in poor condition.”</p> <p>Nicole says couture labels, such as Chanel, Dior and Balenciaga, and garments from the 1960s and 70s – Australian labels such as Tullo, Prue Acton and House of Merivale, as well as Biba, Thea Porter, Pucci and Halston – are particularly sought after at the moment: “As a general rule, if it was expensive when originally purchased and it’s been maintained in excellent condition, then it should retain an element of that value – subject to the vagaries of fashion.”</p> <p>Similar experts can be sought out if you find a number of what could be rare vinyl records, antiquarian books or other well-maintained collections.</p> <p>As for sentiment, Rebecca says you should keep what means something to you and can’t be replaced. “I always say to clients, ‘What emotional need is this meeting?’ then ask how much is enough so they have all their emotional needs met.</p> <p>“Another good idea is to take photos of rooms and everything that leaves the house, then to put together a photo album of memories of the house. A lot of people can have their emotional needs met with just that.”</p> <p><em>Written by Carrie Hutchinson. Republished with permission of </em><a href="https://www.wyza.com.au/articles/lifestyle/wyza-life/who-wants-your-parents-stuff.aspx"><em>Wyza.com.au.</em></a></p>

Caring

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How to keep your memories safe

<p>Before you go on holiday, it’s important to learn about how best to keep your photos safe. There is one main way to ensure that your photos won’t be lost even if you misplace your camera or phone.</p> <p>With the fear of losing our phones/cameras also comes the fear of losing all of the memories we have stored on these devices. But don’t worry, as long as you have internet connection abroad (e.g. wifi or SIM data plan), you should be able to follow the tip below and keep your memories safe.</p> <p>Every cloud has a silver lining. The silver lining of losing your phone is that you have already backed-up your holiday memories in the cloud. The cloud is a term used for a storage place on the internet.</p> <p>First step is to create an account with:</p> <p><a rel="noopener" href="https://onedrive.live.com/about/en-au/" target="_blank">OneDrive</a><span> </span>(5GB free storage)</p> <p><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.dropbox.com/" target="_blank">Dropbox</a><span> </span>(2GB free storage)</p> <p><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.google.com.au/drive/" target="_blank">Google Drive</a><span> </span>(15GB free storage)</p> <p><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.box.com/home" target="_blank">Box<span> </span></a>(10GB free storage)</p> <p><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive" target="_blank">Amazon Cloud Drive</a></p> <p>Once you have an account set up, you may then upload your photos/videos up onto this private virtual storage space. After you upload your memories, they exist now in two places, firstly still on your phone or computer, and secondly online. And since they exist online, you can access them from anywhere you have internet connection.</p> <p>A smart thing to do before you leave for your holiday is to backup all of your photos already existing on your phone or camera onto your computer or your cloud storage account (see above for some service options). That way, when you head out for vacation you not only have more space to take more photos on your phone/camera, but also don’t risk losing those older photos due to loss of device. Remember, you can always access any photos you have stored on the cloud as long as you have internet connection.</p> <p><span><strong>Pro Tip</strong>: </span><span>While you are on holiday, periodically take the time to find internet connection and upload your new holiday memories to the cloud. This way, you will be able to keep as many photos backed up as possible and stress a bit less!</span></p> <p>Many of these services offer smartphone applications available for download from your phone’s app store. If you are travelling without a computer, and plan to take photos with your phone camera, it could be wise to set up the cloud storage service application on your phone for easy access to your cloud account. </p> <p> </p>

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