u/temota

Turns out, I kind of like the "For You" feed after trying it a bit. Unfortunately for me, it seems to have disappeared overnight

I'm grateful to be at a good place in my decluttered journey after two decades of it. Everything I own is either useful to me and/or an honored treasure to me, and I've even managed to get my husband and kids aboard the lifestyle, though maybe not as obsessive about it as I can be.

Still, we're not minimalists by any means. Our house is tidy, everything is in its place, and storage is organized and has room to breath, but when I take a step back... We still own A LOT.

I've been pondering what it will be like for our kids someday if they had to clear out a house like ours. Because we're "decluttered", I'd like to think there's minimal in the "low hanging fruit" category of obvious trash or crap, but that the "mental effort per item" might be higher.

When everything in the house has gone through so many filters to be chosen for keeping, and all the remaining items have a meaningful story, will that make it difficult to clear it all out?

Maybe I'm just deluding myself on both counts, and my kids will be rolling their eyes about mom's stuff that she kept.

Now, to be clear, I'm still young (mid 30s), so I'm planning for many rounds of downsizing when we get to that season, and I'm pretty sure I know what y'all will say, but I'm curious what thoughts other might have or if others have had experiences with this kind of situation.

After two decades in this game, I am at peace where I'm at with decluttering. I'm no minimalist, but everything in my life is intentional. My house is generally tidied, sentimental items are treasured, and curated storage has room to breath and grow. Mid-30s with a husband and two grade school kids. Living the dream, as one might say.

1. My SIL, God bless her, struggles with clutter... Just utterly buried. When she visits us, she's always very much "you're so lucky that you don't have to spend any time decluttering or mental energy dealing with stuff".

And I'm just like "yo girl, this ain't an accident. This happens because I'm OBSESSIVE about EVERYTHING that comes and stays in my life! I'm decluttering CONSTANTLY!" Naturally, she ain't interested in actually doing the work for decluttering, and she rejects any of my advice or offers to help, but the pity party I get from her and my MIL about it get tiresome.

2. I've pondered some about what will happen when I'm gone. Yes, I can take pride that I'm not passing an overstuffed house of clutter and trash for my kids to deal with, but there's also an element that Every. Single. Item. in my life has passed through so many filters. Anything not directly useful has a story behind it.

So yeah, it still would be a large project for them as there won't be the low hanging fruit layer of trash and sheer crap.

Guess I'll need to make sure they know that just because it's my treasure and I have a story for it, doesn't mean they have to inherit the story or the burden of keeping 'my' treasures when I'm gone... And declutter more when I get to that age.