Childhood bedrooms filled with old possessions; basements, attics, or garages filled with college memorabilia, musical instruments, and old clothes that are past their prime–does this sound familiar?
In today’s blog, let’s discuss sorting through our grown kids’ stuff and what to do with it…
Tip #1: Choose Your Approach
At some point, a parent might choose to part with a grown kids’ belongings to downsize or repurpose the space for your needs now, and this is okay. Simply decluttering and having less to manage can decrease stress and give you more room to breathe and use your space well. Think through your reasoning and feel good about reclaiming this space for you.
Tip #2: Create a Plan Together
Be confident in your reasoning, but consider that this might be a sensitive subject or even overwhelming to some children. We recommend having the conversation before items get moved and creating a plan together for what will happen with the items. Approaching the conversation with love and patience is great, but also set boundaries and clarify what needs to happen to meet the ultimate goals.
Tip #3: Manage Your Mindset
Leave your own emotions out of it and focus on the goal at hand. The kids get to keep their belongings they want, and this will open up your space for more opportunities ahead. Let the adult children decide what they want and what they don’t. Don’t get upset if they don’t want to keep something.
Tip #4: Set Goals & a Date
Engage with your adult children when going through items and during the decision-making stage to avoid conflict. Set goals and a completion date so everyone is on the same page. Without a final date, it is easy to procrastinate for one or all parties involved. Offer help and encouragement where needed.
Tip #5: Preserve Your Memories
Our hope is that memories can be maintained, mementos kept, and a new space opened up for the best future for the whole family moving forward. Enjoy the walk down memory lane and the process of going through the items with your children. Then, get excited about the future stage of life ahead.
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See you soon,
Audra
