I feel like because I don’t make a lot of money compared to some, that my mother in law is more enclined to give our household more things she wishes to part with. This is her love language I think and does not take away how wonderful she is to us but. We make decent money just not chiropractor level income.
Now granted I say yes perhaps more then I should because I feel I can use the items but when I do say no there it the “ but it’s good stuff!”. We are not a low income household just less then what she feels is comfortable. I am very lucky when it comes to inlaws otherwise.
Haha, this was me with my older sister's clothes for years. I KonMari-ed a TON of stuff she had given me over the years and ended up giving her a few things back. She hadn't even remembered (or cared) that I had them. It was nice of her to share with me, and I found a few genuinely joyful pieces, but mostly I think it was her way of assuaging the "it's perfectly good" guilt from our poor childhood. Now if she or anyone gives me hand-me-downs I smile, thank them warmly, and donate anything that I don't want without guilt. Receiving the gift brings me joy, but possessing it does not.
Marie actually writes about doing this same thing with her own younger sister. Early in her career, she would allow 20-something clients living in small urban apartments to send boxes of possessions to their parents' homes in the country to store. After realizing the boxes just clutter the parents' home and are never looked at again, she made some changes in her consulting style to prevent it.
There's a lot more hidden in the book than just the cleaning and organizing, but a lot of people aren't interested in her anecdotes. I learned a lot from them and had a chance to work through the situation with my sister's clothes because of them.