How to declutter before selling your home

When you’re going to sell your home, you need to make sure it looks as good as possible, outside and in. In the latter case, that will typically involve more than a bit of decluttering, because you no doubt have plenty of excess stuff that has been packed into corners, closets and the attic over the years.

Keep in mind: Anyone who is interested in your home will want to give it a thorough inspection, and that means your decluttering effort will have to be even more in-depth. Fortunately, the following tips should help you get your house looking great:

Don’t just hide your problems

The first thing you might want to do when you’re decluttering is just find a little-used corner of your home and start packing your extra stuff into it. RealEstate.com.au noted that this isn’t a good idea for one simple reason: Any buyer who’s really interested in your home will look into every nook and cranny. As such, there’s really no way to hide any clutter in your home, and you actually need a comprehensive plan to deal with it.

Think in terms of categories

With that in mind, you should look at every item cluttering up your home and ask the same question: “Will we bring this with us to our new home, throw it out, or donate it?” If you’re not bringing it along, you can quickly pivot to either trashing or donating. If it’s in good shape and could be useful to someone else, go with the latter course of action.

Don’t let clutter creep back in

One of the big issues people face after they declutter before a sale is that as time goes on, clutter naturally starts to build up again, according to Organise My House. You can take a whole weekend making decisions about selling, trashing or packing up your clutter, and then a week later, there’s even more stuff lying around. As such, you need to be proactive at this time when it comes to making sure everything is in its right place and you’re not buying more items than you need before you move.

Organise the closets

As mentioned, you certainly can’t afford to just pack all your stuff away into a couple of closets and hope no one notices, but you also shouldn’t leave any decluttered closets unorganised. Apartment Therapy advised you to put in some storage — such as shelving or small drawers — and otherwise do a more careful job of arranging things in these spaces so you are showing off exactly how much space you have in every closet in your home.

Keep an eye on kids’ stuff

If you have children of any age, but particularly younger ones, you no doubt understand they can create a whirlwind of messes anywhere they go in your home. While you can certainly talk to them about cleaning up after themselves, you may also need to simply be more proactive about making sure there’s nothing you overlook where their belongings are concerned.

Of course, when it comes to selling a home, making sure it’s fully decluttered and presentable for would-be buyers is only a small part of a much larger and more involved journey. As such, any seller would be wise to make sure they have an experienced, talented real estate professional by their side every step of the way. Get in touch with the pros at Ray White Surfers Paradise today, and make sure you start your journey off on the right foot. We can’t wait to be with you every step of the way.