My husband and I moved into a house with our first baby almost 30 years ago. We moved from a small apartment to a house. The house seemed so big when we first moved in. There were more rooms and closets and shelves and cabinets than we had in our small apartment before.
It felt empty. How could we ever use this much space? We didn't have so many things for just the 3 of us.
Over the following years, we had 2 more children. And dogs and cats and birds and fish and hamsters. Our house became filled with many things. All the closets and cabinets and shelves were spilling over with stuff (物で溢れている）.
It was very messy (散らかってる), and sometimes I tried to do a big clean up. I threw out many, many things through the years. But some things I could never throw out.
The maternity clothes I wore when I was pregnant (妊娠) with my children.
My babies' clothes.
My children's school backpacks and artwork.
So many things hold memories of these years that have passed.
Decluttering can be a very emotional process, as many things hold sentimental value.
All my children are grown now, but all the rooms in our house are full of stuff!
I guess it's about time (そろそろ）to declutter.