But while my sweet grandma was staring down the realtor, I was doing something else. I was looking around at all the surfaces (the coffee table, the dining table, the shelves) and thinking about how we stop noticing the stuff or we walk past the piles and think, “I’ll deal with that later.”

Even with all my moving experience, helping her pack up that house rough. But that's the thing. Life is always changing, and our homes have to be flexible.

Maybe you just got married and combining two households worth of stuff has proven more difficult than you thought. Maybe your kids are older now and every room needs to be updated. Maybe a parent needs more help than they used to, and the spare room needs to be cleared out ASAP so they can move in. Maybe you're dealing with all of it at once and while you know you’d feel better if you decluttered, organized, and decorated your home, just the thought of starting that project makes you overwhelmed.

Whatever is going on in your life right now,  having a home that feels like a cozy, peaceful retreat from all the chaos life can toss at you, a place where you can relax and not stare at a home to-do list that’s longer than your old Toys R Us Christmas list... that feeling of relief and contentment is important.