Different clutter-clearing idea.

[Kay/NC]

Lisa, I have thought about the same thing with my kids, but have never taken up the action.  It may work, but if any of the clutter is emotional I wonder if doing it with a family member is the best choice of companion. 

It is sometimes that a mom will clear her space by "passing on" treasures to her children. 

things gien with strings attached is a lead weight around a kid's neck.   That is just clutter that has been given a new address.  The kids feel even worse if they get rid of it, can even be guilted by their parents or grandparents if they divest. 

I've seen it happen, and it's happened to me.  As you have noticed, even your boys can more easily give up things they have outgrown than you can.  It is hard for a mother to do....

We have one kid anticipating a move later on this year, and it really needs to happen, for her to move forward in life..  I've told her to get boxes, but be brutal.,,try to fill more trash bags.   

She's got several pieces of furniture I lent to her for that house.  I am sentimental about most of them, so they will be stored.   I have wanted a second home - to spend a night or so a week in - for a long time now.  If I can get Mike to agree to that, most of it can stay where she's living right now, and we can flake out up there.  Then again, it could be rented for our retirement nestegg. 

It is a hard decision to make in a lot of ways, but I do not want her to feel obligated to keep up with my old stuff, or even to keep stuff we've bought just for her.  I think I will ask her to leave what she doesn't want behind, and we will deal with it as best we can. 

Good luck with your cleanout.  Let me know hwo it goes...just do NOT haul a load of stuff home from your Mom's!

[Lisa Prater]

Ha, that is so true! One reason I'm really happy about my parents' move to declutter is that I don't really know what's what in their house. I don't know which glass dish belonged to my great-grandmother, and which came from an antique shop. I don't know which of my dad's guns came from his father, or which he just picked up at some point in his life. These are things that I want to know, and as they're going through things, I've asked them to label things or make a list so, God forbid, if something happens to them, I don't send my family heirlooms to the DAV. I know my dad wants my sons to have his family heirloom guns when they're grown, and I want a few pieces of my grandma's glassware. I'd be more than willing to get rid of some of my own things to make room for this stuff.

I'm sitting on the couch typing while "Clean House" is on ... I always joke that if I spent as much time decluttering as watching people declutter on TV, my house would be in order, LOL! Think I'll log off and spend a few hours doing just that before the boys get home!

[chick06]

I don't think I have much clutter but my Mom and Dad on the other hand have so much. My father was a mechanic and he still has his garage which is full of tools that one day we will have to do something with. Their home is full of antiques and stuff, I really don't know what will happen to all of it. It is really sad to see how we work for material things and then when we are gone someone has to bother with it. I know I am blessed with the things I have, I just hope my  children hold to the land, everything else they can sell to the highest bidder.