Emptying an Empty Nest – After the Kids Leave Home

Nothing is better than a life packed with children, but a full nest is difficult to empty when your last one moves out for good. The day they’re born and finally move out is as bittersweet as each other. It’s a transition for everyone when this happens but especially for you as a parent. 

You will have a nest with no more chicks, meaning you must sort out the nest and get it emptied. While you can pay a house clearance company to help you, it can be better to work through your memories yourself and pack meaningful things before putting them elsewhere. You need to think about decluttering and packing the house for various reasons, but here are five reasons you should pack up and put things away.

1. Clutter can be stressful. When trying to ensure that you have a serene life, you need to work on the fact that clutter can interrupt that! A messy house isn’t always a happy one; it can be stressful to be living on top of all the chaos. Chaos is never good and can lead to serious stress if you’re not careful. Decluttering and packing everything up can lead to a lot less stress for you in the end. 
2. You don’t need a shrine. Your children have moved on and out – just as you taught them to do. The last thing you want is to keep a shrine for your kids. Instead, you need to consider that your children will be back to see you! You can take their bedrooms and turn them into other spaces, such as a gym or a hobby room.
3. You aren’t a junkyard. When your kids move out, they need to pack and take everything with them because their bedrooms aren’t junk rooms. They must take it all, and you should ensure you get them involved in decluttering.
4. You’ll make the kids more independent. When the kids aren’t relying on their childhood home to store their things, they have the chance to become more independent. They need to know that they will always have a place in your home, but that doesn’t mean that their stuff has to stay there. Removing this safety net will keep them independent, just like you raised them.
5. You need to downsize. Sometimes, emptying an empty nest is about downsizing and ensuring you can utilize the space better. You can move into a retirement community or just a smaller place to live, and when you do this, you will find that you have shed years of actual baggage!

A truly empty nest means you are ready to shift into your next life stage. You won’t have space for everything all the time, but that’s ok!