Yay! It is so much easier when you are not housing other people's stuff.
Yes, almost all of DD's stuff is gone or going. She hasn't lived here in how many years? If I can get my small filling cabinet emptied she is taking it, and that means all her paper-work will be gone too.
And what is this empty nest syndrome I hear about? Is it when those in the empty nest realize they can now stretch without hitting their kids' stuff?
START THE TIMER!!!!!
Brother has officially moved! (Well, ish. Some of his stuff is still in his old bedroom. It's a start though!)
So far, we have rearranged the bathroom so that we no longer have the over-the-toilet rack or the little squat shelf in the corner. We got rid of the over the toilet one, and we're using the little shelf in the spare room's closet as storage (HA! We have a spare room now).
I will make a more concerted to-do list soon.
Ha, yes! My parents downsized and moved out of state after we all left! I actually just recently sent my mom this article:
http://www.mlive.com/living/index.ssf/2016/04/memo_to_parents_your_adult_kid.html And thanked her for doing the "emotional heavy lifting" of going through all the old family belongings. None of us kids have stabilized enough to take a bunch of stuff, and I'm the youngest at 27! We're all "wanderers".
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Successes so far: Mainly so far we're rearranging, rather than decluttering, but it's turning out that's the biggest need. Moved shoes from front door to back door, thus opening up the "entry", giving more room for the dining room table/aka DH's desk. Brother is supposed to come by today to get most of the rest of his stuff... we will still have some of his furniture in the living room, but it fits there okay, so I'm trying to be content with the spare room opening up for now! Assuming that even happens today ;)
To be done:
Shelves in Laundry room- put more in, declutter what is there, rearrange with food storage space
Outdoor storage- wash everything, move racks into spare room, (decide if one rack will stay outside with car washing, etc gear, or if everything will be inside), reorganize bulk food storage on the racks, consolidate hiking gear from living room built ins and camping gear from back of truck
Kitchen- move "pantry" to opposite side of room, replacing the hutch that Brother's food was in and the microwave was on (get rid of Mircowave? Get rid of hutch?), and put an island/counter/butcher block where the "pantry" was, use up old jars of canned food so those mason jars are available for other use, go through tupperware and mugs
Dining room closet- decluttering should happen here! Go through papers, canning supplies, etc, and rearrange/minimize as needed
Master bedroom- go through jewelry, paperwork, books, desk drawer; move desk and book shelf into spare room; go through seasonal clothing, and replace DH's sad hardworn shirts