Last week I mentioned that as I’ve aged, I’ve come to prefer a less cluttered home. What I didn’t say was that I used to have a very cluttered home. Not that I was a hoarder, but I now understand that in my youth, it was very important to have everything I loved nearby…and I loved almost everything!

I grew up in a home where we were not allowed to put anything on the walls or to rearrange the furniture. My mother was very much in charge of how our rooms looked, so they looked pretty sparse, although I managed to squirrel away quite a few things in my side of the closet and on my side of the dresser.

Then I grew up and went away to college: freedom! I quickly set up my side of the dorm room with all of my beloved items and then some. By the time I had my own room during junior year, I had accumulated some real furniture, a TV, plants, and other assorted stuff. The walls were covered with many photos, a bulletin board (similarly covered) and several posters, including a 6’ version of my then-favorite actor.

Just before senior year, I got married to someone who kept everything (though he didn’t have as much stuff as I did because guys don’t usually overcollect like women do). We were fortunate that our tiny one-bedroom apartment had a storage closet, which we filled to the brim.

Of course we continued to collect things, as we moved from one apartment to another, and then to our first house. By the time our first child arrived, four years after our marriage, we were well on our way to filling that house. And so it went as each child arrived over the years.

During those years, I could only dream about having a less cluttered home. My attempts at decluttering always fell short because I had so many other things to do. Then we had the big purge after giving up our large family home, and I began to enjoy having more than just the living room uncluttered. Now I have far less clutter than I’ve ever lived with.

Losing clutter as I’ve aged is my own personal history, but I don’t think it’s the norm for people approaching retirement age (like I am). If anything, most of the people I know who are around my age have more stuff than they’ll ever be able to use. I wonder if the decluttering movement has affected more younger people than older ones?