I am uncluttering, mostly, because of my in-laws. Some of you may have seen me mention it before, but I haven't really gone into much detail. Long post ahead.
At the risk of maybe sharing too much info, here's the story. In a household of four people(mom, dad and brother-in-laws plus BIL's pregnant girlfriend) and two bedrooms, only MIL had a job. FIL is unable to work and is fighting for disability (still!) and the BIL and GF are apparently above working. The result? Being evicted, because four people can't live off of the one paycheck of a bus driver - no matter how much overtime she puts in. We poured money into the family for months to try and keep them afloat, but finally realized that them moving in with us was the best possible option. The BIL and GF (and now baby) are no longer living here and are soon leaving to mooch off of other family members.
So, in our two bedroom, 1,000 sq. ft. apartment are four people, two cats, and most of two apartments' worth of stuff. Additionally, they have a storage unit (one of the things that has been draining their finances) that we've been paying on and trying to clear out. We're hoping to downsize so that we'll have less to pay on it per month before we move into a house later this year.
Anyway, the point of telling you all this is that some days, I feel trapped. I feel suffocated. I feel like I can never find things in my own home - it's bad enough that I'm scatterbrained, but it's 20x worse in this environment. Don't get me wrong, I love my in-laws (how many people say that?) and I'm glad they're with us. Between his mother's difficulty with handling finances (she doesn't have a gambling/drinking/shopping problem - she just has NO clue how to handle money) and his father's declining health, it's better for everyone to stick together. But... the foot of our bed is currently met with boxes, some full, some ready to be filled when we reorganize the storage unit. Our closet is as full of boxes as is safe. Their room is well-organized, but barely has enough room to maneuver around the bed. They have a lot that they don't need - FIL is ready to throw anything that isn't good anymore except for a small amount of memorabilia from his mother and MIL has a hard time just getting rid of ANYTHING. Having all of this stuff, realizing how much we'll have to move when the time comes, has made me reevaluate my own stuff.
So, I've been preparing myself for diving head first into downsizing and organizing the storage unit, as well as keeping myself more sane, by clearing out my own things. The less of our stuff we have to clutter our room, the more manageable life is. Also, the more lessons I learn about how to let go of the unnecessary and how to live free of the bonds of STUFF and the more I pass that on to my husband, the easier it will be for us to help our in-laws to the same.
So that's how I ended up here. You all are helping me keep sane and are helping me have less to move when we have more room. I can only hope that once we have that room, they don't try to fill every corner with more stuff... :)
