Today I am answering the reader’s question – How do you combine households in an organized way?
So let’s break this down into combining households WITH kids and WITHOUT kids.
Combining 2 adult households WITHOUT kids.
- Pretend you’re moving – even if you aren’t.
Are you buying a NEW home or is one person moving into another’s home? The key here is for BOTH people to pretend they are moving and touch EVERY SINGLE ITEM and decide what to keep.
Go through your possessions without your significant other present so you keep what you want and get rid of what you don’t.
REMEMBER – Take EVERYTHING out of the space and put what you want to keep back in. Looking at items outside of the space they live in really helps you make better decisions.
- Get rid of duplicates.
I know it’s hard, but sell or donate doubles. Or get a storage unit to keep them outside of the house. 🙂
Do ONE area at a time. Go through them as a couple and make decisions one space at a time.
Combining 2 adult households WITH kids.
- Recognize the need for storing adult children’s items and your kid’s wanting to save items – because it reminds them of their past.
- Have a professional organizer or family friend go through your child’s items with them. It takes some of the emotional tension out of moving.
- Again a storage unit is a viable option for an off-site type storage space without tripping over items you are saving, but not using daily.
So what advice do you have? Share with us in the comments below!
