Honestly, being played with by Marks kids probably increased their value more than original packaging.

I fucking love that guy

I think that those things are only meaningless because the parents/grandparents didn’t or couldn’t engage with the next generation about it. Heirlooms, trinkets, and tchotchkes have to be imbued with stories and sentiment otherwise they’re just junk.

20th century hyper-consumerism sold the idea that you could buy sentimentality and proceeded to replace things that were valuable because of their unique stories with things that were valuable because of “the collectible market.” There’s a big difference between “this Coke sign was in your great-great-grandpa’s soda fountain” and “this Coke sign is valued at $100.” Likewise, a box of old family photos fails to have value when you can’t identify the people in the photos and the relative you inherited them from didn’t bother taking the time.

My ex’s parents almost donated a little crystal bowl thing. If they did, someone at the thrift shop would have found a nice little crystal bowl thing.

The reality? Her mom’s family was living in Europe because her grandfather’s job and while they were there they met some people who escaped the USSR. Long story short, since they were allowed, her family ended up crossing into the USSR with a bundle of photos and letters to give to the family of the people they had met. The family still behind the iron curtain was so grateful they gave them the crystal bowl. That bowl would have been very valuable to them, but the information about their family in France was worth so much more.

I took the bowl instead. Its little story, and that family’s gratitude, is not forgotten and now it holds some candy on my bookshelf.

Moving my mom into a home next month and dealing with the lifetime of Meaningful Things she has piled up everywhere.

Meanwhile I live in a studio apartment and whenever I clean, if I haven't looked at it or used it in a year I give it away/throw it out.

When I die only my writing will be left, and that will probably fade from cultural memory more quickly than I'd like.

There's probably a happy medium to be found somewhere. Maybe I'll start carving my name on trees or deface priceless artwork.

We go to a lot of estate sales and its really wild sometimes just like, being in the homes of often dead people, just sort of, seeing their stuff and their life.

Plus as you said, all the stuff that was probably very enjoyed by those people just sort of, scavenged, but also how much is basically ignored and discarded. Sometimes it makes me a little sad.

A friend of mine's house is mostly decorated with paintings by his grandmother, who was a very accomplished artist in her day. I always thought that was cool as hell

No! Use Up the Photographs!!

my wife inherited China from her parents

I'm assuming china rather than China, unless she's the new empress and this is the most incredible humble brag!

Did it actually expire, or was it just past the date? Plenty things have expiration dates but are still just fine to use for months afterward

Why? What did you think happened to it? It's not clear what you are describing, flavored dry coffee beans, flavored ground beans in sealed bags, a drink in a can?

They might be referencing some specific HEB coffee. My wife gets it from a friend sometimes when the friend brings it back, and she says it’s really good.

If it’s fresh from a specialty roaster, most of its volatile aromatics are gone about 6 weeks after their roast date, which is what makes expensive coffee so interesting. Coffee stales really really quickly but has an incredibly long shelf life, so while it’s perfectly safe to drink coffee that’s been around for a long time (James Hoffmann famously drank coffee that was roasted over 80 years ago) you’re not going to be able to enjoy it as much anymore. So absolutely don’t slowly ration it out, wait maybe 5-7 days after roast for some CO2 to escape but then make sure you drink it all within the 1-6 week window or you’ll lose what makes it expensive and fancy and it’ll just start to taste like normal cheap coffee. Unless you don’t care that much about coffee, in which case just drink it whenever, it’s not going to go bad on you.

Trump is taxing Europe because we wouldn't buy coffee from Texas, so maybe it is.

It comes from the poop of cows or something, I think.

Go to a college campus and hand sheets out at parties

More importantly, the special day happens when you decide. Simply make today special by using it

Source: bought the $50 soy sauce and it was ABSOLUTELY worth every drop

But if you never use them, and just hoard them, they become nothing.

Never using also makes them nothing.

The real answer is moderation in all things, especially moderation itself

You got it wrong, an antiquarian is someone who hates quars