Empty nester? Call Stacey to help sort you out - Fiona Duff

What with her being the youngest, we are empty nesters and I have to say that I don’t think it has affected us too badly.

I mean, in some ways life is a lot easier. The dishwasher goes on about twice a week and there is always food in the fridge. Best of all they can now pay their own way through life, lunch and train tickets.

What is strange is how quiet our home has become. Not just the constant babble of them either on the phone or telling us what they are planning to do that day, but their friends popping in and out all the time.

We live in quite a central area, so it was a Mecca for getting ready to go out and the ‘pre-s’ that seem an obligatory part of the night before hitting the town or going to a party for the young ‘uns.

Of course, I could never stop myself from commenting as they headed off wearing knicker skimming dresses, if they would like to borrow a cardigan.

Obviously that was a major embarrassment for my daughters, leading to eye rolling and pushing their mates out as quickly as possible.

Needless to say their companions would find this hilarious. Mind you, I couldn’t count the amount of time that they would be sitting around eating toast the following morning complaining about how cold they had been walking home.

The main problem is that although they may have all fled the nest, an awful lot of their belongings have stayed.

I open doors to their bedrooms and it looks as though they will be back any minute – clothes lie around amid childhood collections that they won’t let me take to the charity shops.

I feel I may have given birth to hoarders. I may have to call my guilty pleasure, Stacey Solomon, to sort me out.