Great steps with DH and the house

[elizabeth.scalf]

6 months ago MIL passed away unexpectedly. DH took it hard. We didn't have much time to clean out her apt, but it all came to our house. It's all been in the garage and my laundry room since then. He had asked me not to get rid of anything until he'd had a chance to go through it for closure. It's been bothering me constantly having all this stuff but I realized it was far too emotional to push him. This weekend we finally took the couch to Goodwill, along with a few trash bags of stuff we cleaned out. There's still lots of stuff, but it's a great start. Feel so relieved. We even had another conversation about how he likes the house minimalistic style, bare walls, clean lines, no clutter. I got everything out of the kitchen and he commented how much bigger it looks with full bare countertops. We've priced out closet organizer systems, he's on board with redoing our closet, the girls, and the playroom closet.

It really makes me feel like the last 6 months I've spent cleaning out isn't wasted!

There's still so much left to do. But I had a few friends over this morning, and it was so nice to wake up and not have piles and piles of stuff EVERYWHERE to clean up, just a few odds and ends and a quick vacuum. There is light at the end!

[wordbox]

That's great!

[solarbabies]

My grandpa is a horder. Not as extreme as the ones on tv, but about half that. He is going down hill health wise. I am the only family that lives close. I am very close with him (he basically raised me) and so getting rid of a lot of his stuff will be hard . I am not looking forward to just the stuff aspect of him passing away, let alone the emotional part. It is going to be extremely hard!

[elizabeth.scalf]

Yes, that's the same boat my mom is in with her parents. They would be classified as hoarders. There isn't one wall of their basement that's not lined with sutff, and every room is packed and has literally a 2-foot wide path from room to room lined with boxes. Mom has been trying to clean out but unfortunately it would probably take years, and they don't have that many years left to even go through with her. So much of their history will be lost among the mountains of crap that wee just don't know what it is.

Luckily MIL was the opposite of a hoarder, very minimlaist, poor, and sparse, so her stuff fit loosely into one car bay of our garage. It was just a hard weekend for me and DH, but I'm glad we're through the bulk of it.

[TypeAMom]

Originally Posted by elizabeth.scalf This weekend we finally took the couch to Goodwill, along with a few trash bags of stuff we cleaned out. There's still lots of stuff, but it's a great start.

That's awesome! It's ok if it takes a long time, but doesn't it feel good to know it's moving in a forward direction now?! So glad your husband is ready to start weeding through it all and he's motivated by the progress you've made in the rest of the house!

Originally Posted by solarbabies My grandpa is a horder. Not as extreme as the ones on tv, but about half that. He is going down hill health wise. I am the only family that lives close. I am very close with him (he basically raised me) and so getting rid of a lot of his stuff will be hard . I am not looking forward to just the stuff aspect of him passing away, let alone the emotional part. It is going to be extremely hard!

I'm so sorry. Have no advice, just wanted to offer .