Be honest: Are your grown kids using your house as a storage unit? Are you ready to declutter your home of all their extra stuff? If the answers are “Yes” and “Heck yeah!” then keep reading for our best advice on how to clean a home of childhood belongings – especially those that belong to your grown-up kids!
First, get clear on the impact that keeping their items in your home is having on you. Your home shouldn’t be the free storage space for your grown-up kids until the end of time. Just think great it will feel to finally get rid of all that clutter. Maybe you’ve been holding off on converting a childhood bedroom into a guest room, an office, or a gym while you wait for your children to collect their stuff. Or been putting off downsizing because of the sheer amount of childhood items clogging up your feng shui.
Whatever your future plans, if you’ve determined you’re ready to take charge of the chaos, use the following tips for getting your grown kids to stop using your house to store all their childhood stuff – and realize the many, many benefits of having their own storage unit. For you – and for them.
Find Storage Near You!
When kids move out, parental homes often become de facto storage units for all the clothes, photos, and other childhood belongings they leave behind. For grown up kids who’ve long depended on mom and dad (and the places they live!) for everything, it’s a very tough behavior pattern to break out of it. That’s why one of the best solutions is to rent a storage unit as soon as your kids move out. Organize, sort and move all their excess items to the unit together so that they can play a part in decluttering a home – your home. It’s also important to include your grown kids in on the process so that they can weed out the things they no longer want.
You can help your child make the transition by offering to pay a portion of the storage unit cost but be sure to set clear limits. Let them know that you’ll pay for the storage unit only until they graduate or move into their first real apartment. Once that happens, remind them of your agreement and give them a month to get everything out. If they really want that stuff after all, they’ll take the initiative to go collect it and store it in their own home.
Phase Out Old Childhood Items
If you’ve missed the first window to move your kids’ stuff into storage, don’t worry. There are other ways to get rid of the items you don’t want. One of the biggest barriers to getting their childhood belongings out of your house is if the project keeps getting put off again and again. If that happens, it’s likely because this particular home cleaning task can often seem both physically and mentally overwhelming.
The solution is to start small. Simply set things out little by little each time your grown kids come over for a visit. Fill a moving box or two with odds and ends from their collection of stuff. Tell them that they need to sort through the selected items and take what they want. Whatever they leave behind will be donated or dumped in the trash. It might be a little time-consuming to do it this way, but your kids will enjoy it more, and you can spend more time reminiscing over the most interesting finds at each visit.
Make a Surprise Drop-Off
If all else fails, you may just want to be a little sneaky about how to get your grown kids to move their stuff out. In fact, you might decide that you just don’t want to wait on them any longer. In this case, it’s time for a surprise visit to your grown kid’s home.
What you’ll need to do first is box up all of their excess personal and childhood belongings. If the situation has gotten a little out of control, you may even need to rent a moving van (or borrow one for free from your local CubeSmart). Load up everything your child has left behind and set out for their house.
If possible, it’s best to arrive when they are not home. This works well if your kid has given you a key to their home or the access code for their garage. Then, you can leave everything inside with a nice note telling them you thought they’d like to have all their stuff back. This “take no prisoners” home cleaning strategy can still work if your grown kid is at their house, though. Just let them know (gently) that the era of using the house as a storage unit has come and gone so you wanted to bring their belongings to them. While you may be a bit annoyed at having to take things this far, you’ll finally be free of all the items your grown kid wants to keep – just not necessarily at their house.
When it comes to adult kids using your house for storage, there’s only so much you can take — and that’s OK! When you’re ready to begin decluttering a home without kids’ storage, give them a chance to take the initiative, but don’t be afraid to put your foot down if they procrastinate. It’s your home, after all, and if they no longer live there, there’s absolutely no reason you should have to store their childhood items for as long as they like. We wish you the best of luck in your endeavor, and are always here to offer solutions and advice!
