Re: stuff left at parents' houses
We did our big move to the Lower 48, and are now temporarily back with my parents until we get jobs and housing organized. My in-laws helped us, but gave us a few extra boxes of things my husband had left at their house. Thankfully, his mom and I had him go through all the other boxes, 99% of which he didn't want anymore. One of the kept boxes is filled with old trading cards that my husband is going to try to sell. Might not be worth much individually, but in bulk (it's an old paper box) we might get a few bucks?
We did also give them back a few boxes, though, because my MIL seemed to think that our child should have all of my husband's old baby items. Why?! Baby quilts with his name on them? She got tons of quilts and baby blankets made just for her, thanks. So many that we donated a bunch to a charity. So we came to grips with the fact that we might hurt her by giving back the mementos and just did it. If she doesn't want to keep them, she can deal with them. I hope we finally got the message across that our place is not a dumping ground for her excess. (They're trying to downsize.) I'm going to be much firmer in the future about saying no if she tries to bring any of their old stuff to us "because I thought you might like it."
Now, since we're with my parents, we're in my old bedroom, which is still filled with crap which I left, and crap which my family moved in there because they didn't know where else to put it. One of the first things I did was go around and box up the things we don't want or need, which is pretty much everything except the books. (I'm re-reading some of the books now, and these were the ones which survived many purges before I moved away, so definitely keepers. Well worn and read.) Wow, did I leave a lot of junk here, mostly things which were given to me as a child which I never liked, but kept anyway out of "obligation". I still need to go through the closet.
At least the dresser was empty. Trying to fit myself and my spouse into my old bedroom is actually harder than I expected. Having BabyX next door is also tricky because of stuff my parents have. The closet in there is stuffed, the dresser is full of my moved-out sibling's clothes, etc. Thankfully toddler clothes are small and we don't have tons in each size, so the current size all fits tidily into the drawers of the desk in there.
Will need to take the stuff I cleared out of my room (or rather, into boxes, still in my room) to the charity shops, and hope soon to start helping my parents to declutter their stuff. (Don't worry, they're honestly thrilled to have the help.) In fact, I already facilitated getting one desk out of the house by finding someone who was happy to take it. Not much, but it's a start.