Deep cleaning and decluttering a home is a daunting task, especially for empty nesters. After spending a lifetime creating memories and living together under one roof, doing a big declutter can take an emotional toll.

It’s a milestone that many empty nesters know the sting of. And in a cleaning community on Reddit, a 51-year-old mom and recent empty nester shared her experience cleaning and decluttering her home after entering this new phase of life.

“In my entire life, my house has always been messy. I mean, I didn’t have a disaster-level situation going on, but if someone dropped by unannounced, it would’ve been super embarrassing,” she shared. “When my kids were younger, we had a housekeeper because I just couldn’t keep up. Now that we’re empty nesters, I realized I never really learned how to keep house.”

Where her decluttering journey began

She explained that the book Unf*ck Your Habitat: You’re Better Than Your Mess played an integral part in helping her declutter, and offered eight helpful tips to fellow empty nesters looking to organize their new lives.

1. Put stuff away, not down

Her first tip is........

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