In order to produce the podcast and keep content up free for you, I work with partners so this post may contain affiliate links. Please read my full disclosure for more info.
We've been talking over the summer about selling the house, but since there were still some new homes being built it didn't seem like the right time.
It's kind of hard to persuade potential buyers to go for your house when they can get a brand new place for around the same price.
Well, things have recently changed. The last dozen or so townhouses are being built, so my husband and I are looking at getting our place ready to sell once they're all sold. No real rush, but we'd like to have a deadline to work with.
Want to Sell Your House? Declutter
One of the biggest things we've been told and we've read is how getting rid of all the junk and clutter can help you sell your home faster. Besides being physically unattractive to potential buyers, it makes a fairly comfortably sized house seem much smaller.
Right now we are in the middle of the project, going room by room.
Learning to Let Go of Your Junk and Keep the Treasures
I really don't consider us hoarders, but after going through the house room by room, I feel like we've collected quite a bit of junk. When sorting through some of the stuff around our house, I found some common threads as to why we have as much as we do:
- Collectibles: My husband and I collected things growing up. He has some great football cards that he's had for years. However, he hardly checks them. In fact, we really only see them whenever we move things around the house.
- Sentimental: Two pieces of furniture that have been taking up space and weren't being utilized like they should were the baby swing and the high chair. Our toddler is way too big for her swing and she's been using her booster chair to sit at the table with us.
- Laziness: Finally there's the stuff we hadn't gotten rid of simply because we've been lazy. We either didn't know where to throw it away (old computers) or we haven't gotten a truck to haul it away.
Fortunately we have found ways around the sentimental items. My mom picked up the high chair which converts to a toddler seat. Now when we visit her, our little one has a seat just for her. As for the baby swing, I cleaned it up and placed it up for sale this week. I hope that it goes to a good home where another baby can enjoy it.
Finding Ways to Clear the Space
What I personally found helpful with getting the rooms cleared is have a few boxes in the room as a way to sort through everything.
- Move: Some things we definitely wanted to keep, but they were in the wrong room. Reorganizing things a bit really helped with opening up spaces.
- Sell: With getting furniture more suited for how we live, we have a handful of items that we are selling. I placed a couple ads on Craigslist for things like baby gear and small tables.
- Donate: even though I've shared clothes that our daughter has grown out of, we still had eight bags of more baby outfits around the house. I donated them so other families can use the clothes.
- Dump: I've surprised myself with how many broken or unusable items we had laying around. Good news to our electronic junk – it turns out that about 5 minutes from our house is the city recycle and dump sites. I took over a load to them the other week.
As we clear everything out, I'm noticing more and more space opening up. It feels good and having less junk around means we have less to clean and maintain – a double win in my book.
Thoughts on Removing Clutter
Do you have junk in the house that you could sell, donate, or dump? If you’ve sold clutter and have simplified your life, what tips do you have on making it easier?