Why I'm decluttering now so my kids don't have to

At 46 I’m already aware I have too much stuff, and three recent events pushed me to start decluttering so my kids won’t have to. The first came when I helped my mom downsize from a two-story, 2,000-plus–square-foot townhome into a 900-square-foot rental. She spent months purging, donating, and selling, yet still has boxes of items from her own mother she doesn’t want to discard even though her mom passed over 10 years ago.

My children, however, insisted on keeping Grandma’s little rocking chair, and it now sits in our living room. Decorating for the holidays provided the second nudge. Each year my husband pulls 19 boxes of trees, lights, ceramic villages, and wrapping paper from the crawl space, so I packed a giant box of ornaments, tablecloths, mugs, and decorations we haven’t used in years.

He noticed a few pieces from his mother and we decided to keep them; when I asked our kids what to save, they named stockings, the Advent calendar, and the holiday village — things tied to their memories that won’t go in the donation box.

decluttering, downsizing, heirlooms, sentimental items, holiday decorations, storage, donations, family memories, rocking chair, advent calendar