What if? What now?

I dawdle when it comes to putting away decorations after a holiday.I never seem to unpack my suitcase immediately when I get home from a vacation. It's not laziness. It is just hard for me to let go of the happy snippets of time associated with traditions and trips. When the day-to-day routine incorporates a lot of stress, I hold on to escapist behavior just a little longer. I'm also a pack rat. I have boxes and bins in my basement that contain sentimental items of my parents and from when my children were really young. Al would like to get rid of the "stuff"; I can't or won't it seems. What if my kids want this stuff when they are older? I am extremely nostalgic; it's good that I have storage space. Nevertheless, we would like to downsize to a 55+ community or something like that, a smaller, ranch style home with no outside maintenance. We're looking at 3-5 years, our last move( maybe even out of state). I will be paring down, because I must, but I resist doing it right now.I realize that I have control over decorations and trips and keepsakes, and maybe that management is partly why I am the way I am, because it seems I have had to relinquish control over so many things in my life,and retaining these small dictates gives me some satisfaction, since messy relationships aren't easy for control freaks.