I should be going to bed, but I had a few thoughts after work last night.
We moved SO much stuff out of the kitchen area in the M's basement. They are trying so hard to make the progress needed to start the work on the living area. They are giving up a lot of space that they are currently using to store things that they plan to keep. Every time I go and work with them, we just go through so much collected flotsam and jetsam from years of acquiring/storing. This cycle has to eventually catch up with people. If you don't purge and simplify occasionally, you are going to fill every empty space with as much stuff as you can pack into it.

The only way to avoid the trap of acquisition is to train yourself to think before you purchase anything, "Do I really need this? Where will I put it? Do I have one that works well enough and if I do, why am I getting another? Am I willing to give up something else to make room?"
When there are closets full of clothes that have been outdated or outgrown for 10 years, when there are hobbies and collections gathering dust because they are no longer interesting, when there are gifts that were received years ago, that well, just weren't the right thing...
When this stuff has been piling up for twenty years, it's not going to be easy to move it out! It's been gradually encroaching on your space over time, it's hardly noticeable while there are still closets with room left in them.

Why wait until you have filled your home up, literally to the rafters, with stuff you don't want/need? Why let possessions control you instead of the other way around?
Things are weighing us down and we just don't realize how cumbersome they are. We have to provide for them, we have to protect them, we have to insure them, we have to make space for them.
This seems to be a simple problem to solve, and yet I am working several hours a week trying to free people from the clutches of STUFF!
First, they want a professional to tell them how to arrange their space so that they can keep it all. Then when they realize that there is no possible way, short of moving into a bigger home, to store it all in an organized fashion, they begin to take the steps to letting go.

The Ms are very good at letting go. I think they are just totally surprised at all the things they have accumulated over the years. They just plug away at each room and they always send away a van load of donations. Their home is becoming more and more usable.
I am very satisfied at the progress they are making, I just feel bad that they got buried this deep.
I would like to be able to help young people start out right by choosing to keep it simple from the beginning.
Buy as little as you have to. Make the most of it when people ask you what you want for Christmas or birthdays. Yes, babies and children require equipment and supplies, but where ever possible, shop at thrift stores and sales. As soon as you are finished with an item, take it in for consignment and you will have the money you need to buy the next used item you need. Let kids share as much as possible! It's good for them!
Keep your personal items as simple as you can live with.
Make the most of the things you do choose to have around you. Use them! If you find you are not using something, or the kids have outgrown an interest, gift it! Someone else may love the treasure!
Don't hold on to things, hold on to people. Do THAT everyday.