5 Tips for Decluttering Your Home Before Moving

Selling a home can be an exciting, yet overwhelming journey. One of the crucial steps in preparing your home for sale is decluttering. A clutter-free home not only looks more appealing to potential buyers, but also helps them envision themselves in the space.

Before showing your home to prospective buyers, you need to make sure it’s one they’ll want to live in—a home that is clean, well-organized, and has plenty of storage space. Not only will this improve your home’s chances of selling, but it will also reduce the number of belongings you’ll have to move into your new home. It’s a win-win!

Curious about how to effectively declutter your home to sell? Here are some tips to help you get started. 

1. Create a Plan

Approach the decluttering process room by room. Create a checklist for each room, detailing what needs to be decluttered, organized, or cleaned. This systematic approach will prevent you from feeling overwhelmed.

Related: 5 Ways to Get Your House Ready to Sell

2. View Your Home Through a Buyer’s Eyes

As you begin the decluttering process, it is important to see your home through a potential buyer’s eyes. When you look at your home, you see a collection of memories and items that remind you of your time living there. Potential buyers, however, may see these items as a distraction and won’t be able to focus on the main selling points of your home.

A common reason people decide to look for a new house is for more space. When your home is disorganized, they might assume you don’t have enough storage. You must do what you can to show buyers just how much space your home has to offer—and this begins with decluttering it!

3. Take It One Room at a Time

Rather than trying to declutter your home in one day, limit your projects to one room at a time. This will help you stay focused and avoid feeling overwhelmed by the intimidating task of preparing your house to sell. 

Areas of your home that likely need more of your attention include:

• Pantry: Go through spices, donate extra canned goods, and toss any expired food.

• Kitchen cabinets and drawers: There’s no need to keep every coffee mug you’ve acquired over the years or the small kitchen appliances you rarely use. And don’t forget about your junk drawer! 

• Bedroom closets: Toss any pieces of clothing that are old, torn, outdated, or too small. Be honest with yourself and get rid of anything you haven’t worn recently or simply don’t like anymore. 
• Garage, basement, and attic: It is no secret that these areas of your home tend to accumulate clutter. Whether it be old tools, paint cans, or sports equipment—purge it all.

4. Don’t Let Guilt Affect Your Decisions  

A common factor that prevents people from successfully decluttering their homes is guilt. Perhaps a friend brought you home a tacky souvenir from their vacation last summer. Or maybe a family member gifted you a clothing item you know you’ll never wear, but feel obligated to keep. While these items certainly have memories and emotions tied to them, you shouldn’t feel responsible for keeping everything. 

As soon as you let go of the guilt you have toward getting rid of items, the decluttering process becomes much easier. Plus, you’ll be creating room for new memories! 

5. Organize and Label Your Belongings

One of the best ways to declutter your home is to sort your belongings into different groups. Decide whether you want to keep, donate, recycle, sell, or throw away an item—then proceed accordingly.

If you’re even the slightest bit hesitant about keeping an item, put it in a different pile. With so many online marketplaces and donation sites, it should be easy to find someone else who will appreciate the items you no longer need. 

When deciding whether or not to keep an item, ask yourself the following questions:

• How often do I use this? Do I have a plan to use it again?
• If I were shopping right now, would I buy this? 
• Will this item have a place in my new house? 
• Am I holding onto this for a sentimental reason?
• Do I have multiples of this?
• Am I saving this “just in case”?
• Am I holding onto this broken item to potentially fix one day? Do I have a plan to fix it?
• Is this worth the time and money I would spend cleaning or storing it?

List Your Home on Kiawah Island

It doesn’t matter whether you’re looking to close this chapter of your life or want to find a new property on the Island; selling your Kiawah home starts by working with Kiawah Island Real Estate. Here, our team of more than 50 sales and marketing professionals is exclusively dedicated to listing, marketing, and helping you sell your home efficiently and effectively.

To learn more about how you can partner with our team of experienced professionals and get your home sold, click on the button below.