51-year-old empty nester who struggled to declutter her house shares 8 tips that finally worked

"Shoes are put away immediately upon walking in the house."

By Emily Shiffer

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 an 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."

😊 People are sharing the 'biggest problem' in their lives right now and it's oddly comforting

It's not just you that's struggling.

By Evan Porter

If it feels like right now is a tough time to be alive, you're not alone.

Modern conveniences have made basic survival easier for many of us, but the complexity and fast pace of modern life has a lot of people feeling down. The data scientists at Human Progress say we're "richer, healthier, better fed, better educated, and even more humane than ever before," according to their research—but the overall picture of happiness is a lot more murky in more economically developed areas like America and Western Europe.

A recent report about the falling happiness scores of young people "does not reveal the causes of the changes, but they come amid increasing concern at the impact of rising social media use, income inequalities, the housing crisis, and fears about war and climate change on the happiness of children and young people," according to The Guardian.

Give yourself a hug today. ❤️

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Give yourself a hug today. ❤️ @Conor Murphy

Joe grew up without stability. Now, he’s giving 10 adopted sons the home he never had.

By Sarah Watts

“Statistically, I should be in jail, or I could be dead,” Joe said. “But that’s not my destiny.” Today, Joe is determined to change the trajectory for young people lingering in foster care … as an adoptive parent and as an advocate, raising awareness along with organizations like the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.

💡 Expert on high-intelligence shares 9 'unspoken' signs someone might be a genius

"These are not flaws. These are just clues into how your mind actually works."

By Cecily Knobler

To quote the great poet Bret Michaels of the glam band Poison, "Every rose has its thorn." In other words, for those who don't speak '80s hair-metal, there are downsides to even the most obviously positive situations and/or personality traits.

Being intelligent is often regarded as one of the most important characteristics a person can have. After all, one might imagine that the smarter you are, the easier life will be. This isn't always the case. Much like how having a sense of humor often carries a sadness with it, being highly intelligent has its downsides. But once one recognizes those potential roadblocks, they can often be overcome.

Katarina Esko, a "coach" for the "highly intelligent," has quite the following on social media regarding how one can recognize and manage their intelligence. In a two-part series on subtle signs of highly intelligent people, she breaks down nine traits an ultra-intelligent person might have.