Nick graduated from high school in May of 2000, then left for college in August. After that he came home for summers, and then he lived at home for about eight months after graduation until he found a job. For the most part, he's been gone for more than ten years now. But the problem is, he never completely moved out. Oh sure, he's married and has a house of his own (which is more than twice as big as ours), but he's never really moved all his stuff. It's like he's trying to keep a foothold here in case he ever needs to come back home.
My question is ... do they every really move out? Don't get me wrong ... he's gone, but his stuff is still here. And by stuff, I mean clothing that he hasn't worn in many years, shoes and boots that he occasionally wears when he comes home to go hunting, college textbooks and notes, photos of his high school friends, the suit we bought him for job hunting, a catalog case from his first job that he can't remember the combination to unlock, notes from a basketball camp he went to in 1996, assorted trophies and medals from high school sports, both high school and college letter jackets, a beautiful onyx chess set that has never been taken out of the box, and a variety of other "stuff."
Now, in all fairness to Nick, we also found a bunch of other stuff that we had just been cramming into his closet for the past ten years or so. I had stored pillows, mattress pads, quilts, blankets, picture frames, books, a picnic basket, stacks of magazines, a bunch of clothes that Grandad has outgrown, a briefcase, several overnight bags and suitcases, boxes of memorabilia from the kid's school years, a pair of lamps I want to rewire, and assorted other "stuff."
In short, even though I've been working on it for months, we still have too much "stuff" all over the house. Next up on the clean out list is my craft closet and then the closet in Katy's room. My goal is to get it done this week and have a garage sale within the next couple of weeks. My real goal is not to end up like those people on Hoarders. None of this stuff is coming back into my house. Anything that doesn't sell goes to Goodwill.
"Anyone who has ever cleaned out a closet and taken stuff to Goodwill knows how liberating it is. You feel lighter, your mind feels clearer." - Cecile Andrews
