@sueinmn This weekend a friend here in town is dealing with just that. "In spades" as they say. In May her mother-in-law passed after a long decline in health. They live four doors down the street. Since then, Kelly and her family [husband and grown daughter] have decided to follow her son in moving from Oregon to Missouri to daughter-in-law's family stomping grounds. This weekend was the estate sale for mother-in-law, which was bittersweet for her husband. I had the chance to speak to him and how it is affecting him emotionally. All the while they are readying their houses for sale and selling, downsizing, telling stories to buyers of old crystal, cookware, momentos, etc.

When my folks moved in 1986, from one end of California to the other end, the only things they didn't take was a 25 year collection of Scientific American magazines, same with National Geographic magazines, and a couple out-dated computers. By 1996 when my mother passed, they had moved twice more, down-sizing a bit more. By 2012 when my dad passed, he had moved at least four move times, the last time into a one bedroom apartment in a 55+ complex, with a walk-in closet he stuffed full! Each child got at least one item that he hand-picked and gifted personally to them. A couple more things were delineated in his will. My older sister took on the task [alone, although each of us offered to help!] of sorting/cataloguing all the remaining items that we all were given lists of, and items not moved to children were sold/gifted away.

It's not an easy task to downsize. I am at the point where I do not gather more things.
Ginger