3 Decluttering Tricks From the Pros

When you’re selling your home in Lakewood, Long Beach or elsewhere, your Realtor® will most likely tell you to declutter it as much as you can – but there’s a right way to declutter.

Here’s what you need to know.

3 Decluttering Tricks From the Pros

To declutter your home properly, you need to:

• Start with a plan

• sk two questions: “Do I love this?” and “Is this useful?”

• Don’t buy organizing supplies until you need them

Start With a Plan

You can’t go on a whirlwind decluttering binge and expect to make the best decisions – or expect your new, clutter-free environment to last.

Start with a room-by-room plan, and don’t rush yourself (unless you’re putting your home on the market next week and it needs to be done on a deadline). For some people, starting in the room that collects the most clutter – usually the kitchen – is best. But for others, it’s best to start small, like in bathrooms or the dining room, where you’ll mainly have to deal with only a few cabinets and cupboards.

Ask Two Questions

Experts used to say that you should only keep things that “spark joy” in your life, but that’s not true at all – after all, your George Foreman grill probably doesn’t make you feel thrilled that you have it, but it’s a necessity that makes it easier to whip up healthy on-the-fly dinners.

Ask yourself two questions: “Do I love this?” and “Is this useful?”

If you answer no to both, the solution is to donate, sell or trash the item. If you’re not sure, though – like when you have an item you use only occasionally (or that you intend to eventually use) – put it in a box, date it and put it in storage until you move to your next home. If you haven’t opened the box in a year, it’s not likely that you need to keep the item inside.

Don’t Buy Organizing Supplies Until You Need Them

The purpose of decluttering is to have less “stuff,” right? Go through everything you own and see what’s left after the purge. Here’s a simple trick to use: Group like items together, and see if you have things that are so similar that you just don’t need one of them any longer. Test it out with your clothes closet – put all the jeans in a pile and pick out those that don’t fit you or that you don’t like. Then, see how similar the remaining pairs of jeans are. Get rid of the excess that way.

Once that’s done, you may not need organizing supplies. After all, empty organizing baskets and bins will only encourage you to get more “stuff” to put in them.

 Are You Selling a Home in Lakewood or Long Beach?

If you’re selling a home in Lakewood or Long Beach, we can help. Call us at 562-882-1581 to find out how we’ll market your house to all the right buyers so you can sell it quickly and at the right price.