I got divorced this May, and for the past 2 years have been getting rid of "stuff". Most of the stuff is not valuable, just things collected over a lifetime. It has been was really emotional "work" going through the things, and deciding what to keep, what could be thrown away, what to set aside for him, what to donate. Yes, there was definite resentment living with someone who was a packrat, could never throw anything away, who then leaves without taking or organizing anything. Being put in this position of being his permanent storage repository for all the things he might be attached to but didn't want to deal with. Including two elderly pets, and moving to a place that doesn't allow pets. Heck, the first year he lived somewhere he couldn't have his kids stay over.
After dropping multiple loads off to the local non profit as well other decluttering, most of the excess stuff from the first floor has been gone through. Though I still find stuff like his clothes in his closet, sunglasses in a drawer, a cozi from a wedding we went to. Socks that still need to be sorted.
And there's the attic. The attic is completely filled with things he collected over 20 years. It was his escape hatch, his hideaway. Things he said he threw away, I have been finding up here, like 15 year old broken computers, lamps that just need rewiring, his deceased grandfather's clothes that do not fit him, all his artwork from HS on up including many many canvases. Not to mention old electronics, video cassettes, books, magazines, newspapers, etc. There are 8? bookshelves worth of stuff, and layers of stuff behind it. I gave him 6 months to get his things out. The timeline has passed.
I know everyone says just chuck it, but it's too overwhelming to do this by myself. Plus there is probably a small amount of things I would like to keep lost up there (correspondence and zines from people I exchanged with). So while I hope it is gone through in a thoughtful manner and he gets a storage unit for the rest, most like it will all get chucked at some point, years from now, without being gone through.