How to Stop Storing Items for Your Grown Kids
Perhaps you’ve decided to make a lifestyle choice and ‘rightsize’ to a home that offers you less stress and a lot more freedom. You’re excited about this next chapter and are ready to tackle the excess items in your home. But what to do with the boxes of stuff that you’ve been keeping for your kids?
Often people assume, perhaps for many years, that they were saving their children’s ‘things’, only to find that their children wanted none of it. Such items typically include year books, old textbooks, trophies and awards, school photos, collections of various sorts, sports equipment, and the list goes on and on.
We’ve seen time and time again clients in their 60s or 70s who are still storing items that belong to their children, who are now grown and have homes of their own. But you’re now on a mission to live a simpler life and have decided that it’s time to stop storing items for your grown children.
The simplest and best way to tackle this is to set a firm date for them to retrieve their items and if the items are still there on that set date, then the parents are to assume that the child has no intention of keeping them.
You’ll find that once you put a deadline in place for removal AND STICK TO IT, your kids become really clear about what it is they want to keep versus what they don’t.
Once your son or daughter reaches the age of 30 (or even 25), they should be responsible for storing any childhood items or memorabilia they wish to keep. Whether they have room in their own homes for these items or need to shell out money to rent a storage unit, that burden is one that should no longer be on the parents.
On the flipside, if you are an adult child of a parent who is purging their unwanted belongings while rightsizing, you don’t need to feel guilty about not wanting to take things, even if they are things that were very important to you at some point in your life or are very important to your parents.
On the other hand, don’t make them feel guilty for getting rid of your “treasures” that they simply will not have room for. Just as they are doing, you need to let things go by selling them, donating them, or putting them into recycling or trash.
Remember, there are five basic steps to any rightsizing journey. These steps are just a list of priorities that must be determined in order to rightsize your belongings efficiently. Make note of these five steps and conduct them IN ORDER if you want your rightsizing process to be as smooth as possible.
The Five Steps to Any Rightsizing Project:
- Decide what you want to keep
- Decide what you will give to family and friends
- Sell what you can
- Donate the rest
- Remove trash and recycling
Good luck! And if you need any help, get in touch. Helping people find the perfect home, rightsize their belongings and get maximum profit for their home sale is our specialty!
You may also like to read: Decluttering? Where to Take Your Things