Home Staging Tips: Learn how to Declutter

When people try to sell their home for the first time, decluttering and cleaning up everything to make sure that everything is presentable might feel overwhelming and intimidating. Maybe that’s why services such as home staging came up, to relieve and help home sellers and make everything more convenient. Although some would rather save a hefty sum than hire someone to sort through all their junk. It’s also a personal sort of thing to go through all your things, categorize everything and file away which you’d keep, which would go to storage and which you’d throw away. If you have the help of a home stager, maybe strive for the balance by being present and having a major say in the decluttering process. As a homeowner who is selling, it also helps you emotionally and gets you in that mindset of truly selling your home.

When decluttering in the home staging process, it’s only logical that you’d want everything squeaky clean – when showing off something to a guest, wouldn’t you want to present the best possible version of that something, much less your home for sale?

Here are a few home staging tips on decluttering:

Follow the 6-month rule

The biggest rule would be, if you haven’t used it for the past 6 months, chances are you don’t really need it. Learn to let go and make good use of your space. Because simply put, space sells.

Declutter room by room

Start in the outer most room (which can be the easiest) like the foyer and work yourself in. Don’t start with another room until you’ve finished the last one.

Get rid of the small stuff

Clear counter tops and table spaces of small items like knickknacks, your mom’s chinaware and small appliances. Invest in organizers for smaller items. They make your life a whole lot easier and your space a whole lot cleaner and stylish to boot, like cute wicker baskets. Think of all the time you’ll save from dusting everything.

Refresh the bathroom

For the bathroom, refresh the toiletries, perfumes and other tabletop paraphernalia. These are only for decoration; keep your own personal toiletries stored away so that everything looks clean. Pack away all but two to three changes of linen and towels so that your closets (which can also be inspected) look airy and aren’t packed too tightly and aren’t seen in disarray. The same applies for your closet.

A place for everything

Make sure that each item in each room is suitable for it. Don’t place a TV in the bedroom because it is supposed to be a place for relaxation. Don’t leave school textbooks lying around in the dining room rather than the study room. Be mindful of the purpose of each room.

Photo credits:  Wicker Paradise via Flickr.com