Downsizing My Not Yet Empty Nest

I am not an empty nester.  Not yet, anyway.  While I do have one college kid, she is staying local and living at home for now.  Our other kid is still in high school.  As I realize that the empty nest days are quickly approaching, I think about downsizing more, and more.  I want to start my downsizing my not yet empty nest now, rather than later.  

As I have grown up, and into middle age, I have learned that I dislike stuff!  I buy less stuff because I don’t want more stuff taking up space in my house.  I LIKE and WANT some empty space.  I’m not a total minimalist, but I do enjoy a more minimal-ish lifestyle.  I don’t need or want a whole ton of decor items collecting dust, and I’m not a big collector of things.  

However, I do have a small collection of bobbleheads for my beloved Baltimore Oriole’s but they are only on display from April through September (or October depending on the season, and this year they will be getting packed up in a week or so since there won’t be any October ball in Baltimore, sadly)

My bobblehead collection that will, sadly, be packed up soon since there will be no October baseball in Baltimore ;(

Every year, when I decorate for the holidays, I re-evaluate the items I have and last Christmas, I actually got rid of a few items.  While I love Christmas, and decorations, I also don’t want my house to look like Christmas threw up everywhere.  I LOVE Christmas ornaments also, I had to part ways with a few.  I like the tree ornaments to have some special meaning, and sometimes when I am gifted just some random ornaments, I will hang them up that year but then I have to part ways simply because I have more ornaments that can physically fit on my tree, and I need room for the special ones.  

Small amount of Christmas decor I decided it's time to part with.

Over the years, I have kept certain things that I thought were nice reminders of when my kids were little.  While I have those papers and things tucked away in relatively small bins, and they don’t get in my way, I often wonder why I holding on to them.  Yes, they are reminders of my kids younger years, but am I really going to pull those boxes out and look through the stuff in the future?  Right now I only look at that stuff once a year when I add things from the current school year and/or sports season. So I wonder if I will look at it ever once the kids are finished with school and sports.  

I have also saved t-shirts for each of my kids since they were in Kindergarten.  They are all the school shirts, class shirts, event shirts, sports shirts etc.  My plan was to make a t-shirt quilt when they graduate from high school.  Except, one child has graduated and I have made no effort to make the quilt.  I don’t even know how to make a t-shirt quilt.  I don’t even know if my daughter even wants that quilt if it was made.  Maybe it will be for when college graduation rolls around.  Maybe? 

I mean here’s the thing, I was once the age my kids are now, and I don’t have a lot of stuff from my school years, and that does not make me sad or feel like I’m missing something.  I have some photos from those days, and my school yearbooks still…even though I have considered tossing the yearbooks, I haven’t been able to actually do it.  So will my kids even want the stuff I have saved?  If I’m being honest I don’t think they will.  Well, Delaina probably won’t, but Keira might.  But I feel like now is the time to start asking them that question.  

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So while I am not quite an empty nester, I am choosing to downsize now rather than wait.  I want to do it now while I am physically capable of it, and have the energy to do it.  I have chosen to start asking my kids if they actually want the stuff I have saved.  If they don’t then it’s gonna go away.  If they do, then it’s gonna get packed in a box already for them when they move out.  I have also decided I don’t want my house to be my kids storage unit when they move out.  As a professional organizer, I have seen how that works, and it doesn’t!  Parents hold onto things for their kids because the kids apartment is too small, but even when the kids upsize, the stuff never makes it’s way to them.  It just always lives at “Mom&Dad Mini Storage”, and that’s what I want to prevent in my house.  During the college years, I say go ahead and hold on to it.  I know there is literally no storage in dorm life, and that is simply temporary living.  But once they really move out, ALL their stuff goes with them.  It is their stuff after all, not mine, and stuff that doesn’t belong to me doesn’t belong in my house.  

Storage area in the basement.  What doesn’t fit on these shelves won’t stay in the house