I've had to toss out/donate a number of inherited antique items (furniture, silver, china). It was sad to see something that once held value to someone no longer be worth anything. However, it does give me some perspective that just because something is old doesn't mean it's valuable or important. Similarly, just because something may have taken a lot of hours of craftsmanship to produce doesn't give it value either--which might be related to my developer mentality.

My parents have decided to unload most of their furniture rather than wait for us kids to inherit it. They don't want to burden us with being attached to a bulky item that doesn't match our lifestyle or tastes. I think I'll do the same for my kids.