Decluttering Your Home Before You Put It on the Market
December 27th, 2009 by adminPutting your home on the market can be a pretty big project, particularly when it’s done right; there are repairs to make, painting, cleaning, packing, and staging to do all before prospective buyers come through your home. The less amount of stuff you have in your home, the easier it will be for you to make repairs to your home and the easier it will be for you to pack and stage your home.
The best way to declutter your home and get things organized is to go about the project in a systematic way; divide up the work by room so that you have one area to work on at a time to avoid the project overwhelming you. Plan a half-day at a time to devote to organizing your home so that you aren’t swamped with work.
In each room you will need to haul out all of your stuff and decide what parts are necessary and which are only taking up valuable space. You will want to keep everything that is necessary, practical, and meaningful. Consider selling or giving away anything that you have that just sits in a box in storage; if it’s meaningful then display it. If you have items that have sentimental value that don’t lend themselves well to display, like baby items, then allow yourself to keep one box of the most treasured items.
For the kitchen, it’s a good idea to take everything out of the cupboards and throw anything away that’s passed its best before date; also throw away anything that you don’t remember buying. Go through all your storage containers and get rid of anything that is missing a lid. Also toss out any gadgets that you don’t use; most of us have a varied collection of kitchen gadgets that just take up space in a drawer.
While you sort through your belongings, take the time to pack away any seasonal items that you won’t reasonably need while you’re home is on the market. The less stuff that you have stored in boxes in your home, the bigger your storage areas will look.
Remember that the less stuff there is in your home when you start painting and staging it, the less hassle there will be in working around it and the cleaner and more spacious your home will appear and feel to be. Probably the best result of this pre-cleaning and organizing of your possessions though is that once your home sells, there will be less packing time and costs to endure when you move. Start decluttering your home now and get a head start!
