“What are you doing out there?,” my mom called out.
“Nothing. Take your pain pill and go back to bed,” I quipped.
We were back in my mom’s house after only one night in the hospital following her surgery to remove a peach-sized brain tumor earlier this month.
Having made great strides in her recovery, I felt emboldened to ask if I could start cleaning out her kitchen.
I’m not gonna lie. My mom’s house is pretty overwhelming with the “stuff” she has accumulated over the decades. She is retiring next month and plans to move to Pensacola so I figured the timing might be right for her to allow me to start clearing out her clutter.
God bless her, Mom was a good sport. Not that she actually saw exactly what I was doing since she slept a lot the first few days at home.
Decluttering my mom's kitchen: Before & After
Four trips to Goodwill and 18 boxes later, I could actually see counter space again in the kitchen.
My mom made an interesting observation about her hesitation to let go of her things. Albeit irrationally, she says it sometimes feels like she’d be divesting herself of her things just so she can die someday.
But, she also recognizes that she’ll never be able to move out of her house if she doesn’t clean it out first. And after retirement, there’s nothing and no one to keep her in Virginia anymore.
So, my mom willingly turned a blind eye, lent me her car keys, and off I went back and forth to Goodwill.
And, begrudgingly, my mom acknowledged that her kitchen does look great. Well, at least I cleared off enough counter space to batch cook some recipes for her freezer before returning home to Pensacola.
Before I left, I told my mom that my Christmas gift to her this year was the gift of cleaning out her “stuff.”
“And my birthday gift to YOU is ALLOWING you to declutter for me.”
I’m actually back in Virginia this week for a visit. But this time, my mom made me pinky promise I would not sneak anything out of the house.
She says she’ll develop PTSD if she hears the ripping of packing tape anytime soon.
Kristen “Daughter on a Decluttering Mission [But Not This Week]” Marks
P.S. Decluttering is just one of the amazing gifts you can leave your family when you’re gone. The other is having a well-organized documented Legacy Estate Plan. My decluttering skills are not for hire but my organized Legacy Estate Planning services are. You can book your estate planning consultation with our office online here or by clicking on the button below and knock out your New Year’s resolution in January.
