Photo Attribute: @marn123424 via Twenty20

The process of selling your home can be rather overwhelming. There are so many things to do to get your home ready including decluttering. If you have the time, you should take it and declutter your home properly.

Sometimes, you don’t have enough time to do this properly. Maybe you have to sell fast because you already had an offer accepted on another property. Maybe you’re relocating and have a tight deadline.

While your situation will dictate how much decluttering you can do, it’s always a good idea. Let’s look at some of the ways you can declutter and how it will pay off.

5 Tips for Decluttering Before You Sell

1. Scrutinize Everything

Go room-to-room and scrutinize everything you own. There are several excellent decluttering guides you can find online to help. When you look at every item you own, think about whether it is something you really need or want.

2. Create Four Categories

As you declutter, you will start to move things out of your home. Just because it’s leaving your home doesn’t mean you have to get rid of it, however. You can create categories for your items, such as donate, trash, sell, and keep.

The donate category can be things you want to get rid of that are still in good condition. The trash category can be for things that are broken or not in good condition. If you plan to sell things, you can have a sell category for things you want to sell. Of course, the keep category can be things you plan to take with you to your next home.

In some cases, you might only have sell, trash, and keep categories. Then, anything you were unable to sell can be donated.

3. Rent a Storage Unit

If you have lots of things, you might want to rent a storage unit. This can also be helpful with decluttering furniture. It’s not uncommon for homeowners to have more furniture in a room than necessary. When decluttering to sell your home, you might want to eliminate some of the furniture from your home.

A storage unit gives you a place to take the items while you’re showing your home. Once you’ve sold your home and you’re ready to move, you can pull the items out of storage and take them to your next house. You might also realize, as they sit in storage, that there are furniture pieces you don’t really want anymore.

4. Hold a Garage/Moving Sale

Once you have all the items you plan to sell gathered up, hold a garage/moving sale. Not only can this help get rid of things you don’t want, but it can also raise some money for you.

You can sell anything in this format from furniture to silverware to household items. If you don’t want it and it’s still in decent condition, sell it.

5. Personal Items Must Go

The final tip to keep in mind when it comes to decluttering your home to sell it, make sure you remove personal items. Showing a home with family pictures and your personal collection of teapots or beer steins isn’t the best idea. It’s best to box these things up and put them in storage.

How Decluttering Will Pay Off When You Sell

There are several ways decluttering your home can pay off. When you go through the process and you declutter, you will end up with better listing pictures and a better-looking home for showings. This, alone, can benefit you big time when it comes to selling your home.

You will also gain an advantage when it comes time to move. If you were able to get rid of items during the decluttering, you’ll have less to move. This can save you time and money when it’s time to move.

You can gain plenty of benefits from decluttering your home before selling. If you sell some of the things you don’t want, you can also raise plenty of cash. This is especially true if you’re downsizing to a smaller home.

Before you list your home for sale, work with your real estate agent to declutter your home. They can help you choose which items to keep in the home and which ones to put in storage or get rid of.