One thing our cross-country move last year taught me is to let go. Of things - yes, but also of shame/embarrassment/guilt too. We had lived in our home for 14 years and about 2 years into that time, Erik was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Things dramatically changed.

I work fulltime and with raising our son and dealing with Erik's illness, there wasn't a lot of time (or motivation, honestly) to keep up with everything. Things that should have been donated or thrown away were put in the basement for 'later'. Maintenance and upgrades to the house didn't always happen so when it came time to sell our house, we had our hands (and house) full!

We interviewed Realtors and we picked a team that was nonjudgmental and honest in what we needed to do to get it ready to sell. They even staged the house as part of their 3% fee. They had a handyman they recommended that we decided to hire. He was originally from Israel and the nicest man! He brought us fresh fruit every morning of the 2 weeks he came over to do various painting and installation jobs.

Erik and I spent our time purging the years of deferred decisions. It was hard work, physically and emotionally. We let a LOT go. I cried in the basement. Erik sold all the parts and tools in the garage from when he could still work on hot rods before he got sick.

I learned a lot through it all - but mostly just to 'let it go' when it comes to clutter and bad feelings.

-Supergirl