It’s strange how we get to a point in our lives (around the ’50 somethings’) and, for most of us the household shrinks as the kids leave the nest… BUT somehow we don’t manage to reclaim the ‘space’.
Not only do they leave behind all the things they WANT (but don’t want to take with them)… but we also find ourselves playing home to the belongings of our aging parents, who are downsizing into more manageable homes, aged care facilities …. OR making the more permanent move to greener pastures. 
Suddenly home becomes a storage facility ( well the sheds at least …). No-one can bring themselves to ‘getting rid of granny’s goodies’ especially if she hasn’t quite ‘moved on’…. and you never know when you might need a spare lounge (or three)…or a 3 tiered planter stand and pots full of artificial plants…, or a 1970’s microwave. Just as you never know when your kids might be looking for that trumpet they played in year 7… or the year 10 formal dress that’s been hanging in the spare room for 11 years.
Funny though …as I write this I can actually hear my father asking me whether I plan to take the rest of my stuff when they finally sold the family home in 1999…(and I was a ’40 something’) ….so I guess nothing really changes.
Wonder Years 