Organize + Energize: 5 Things to Do Before You List Your Home to Sell
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
If you are getting ready to sell your home, this is a must read! Just thinking about packing up everything you own will send you into a tailspin. Selling your home can be an overwhelming and stressful process, but it doesn’t have to be if you plan and prepare ahead of time.
Before you get your home ready to sell,
1. Make a plan and organize your thoughts. Sit and take a moment with a pad and pen to write down your thoughts. Moving is a process and like any other process, you have to break your project down into small manageable tasks. The minute you start to think about the entire process on a whole, you will get overwhelmed and shut down. Start making a list of everything you need to do. Don’t worry about the order of which you are jotting things down. Just unload your mind and then categorize later. It will feel good to put everything onto paper.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST2. Gather a team. Start making a list of all the people you need to recruit to make your move a smooth transition. Do you need a moving company, boxes, packing material, markers and tape? Do you need to bring in a cleaning crew when you are done packing? If the process is too overwhelming, enlist a professional organizer who can help you keep this all together and even help you pack to make your move seamless.
3. Declutter. Sell, toss, or keep. Make your piles. Take inventory of everything you own. Yes, everything! Moving is one of the times where you actually have to go through every item in your home. Now is the time to declutter. Don’t take anything with you to your new home that you know you will not be using. It will be a waste of time for you to pack items you will never use again. The transition of moving will go much smoother if just take with you the items you need.
4. Manage your paper. Now is the time to get control of all the paper clutter in your home. Develop a filing system so you just aren’t throwing piles of disorganized paper into boxes. Trust me, if you throw papers into a box, you will never go through them once you move into your new home. The boxes will end up getting tossed in the basement or attic. The project will be too overwhelming and it will never get done. Control the paper clutter now.
5. Pack. Downsize.This process will only become overwhelming if you allow it to be. Do you really need everything you own? When was the last time you used these items. Pack what you can before you move. If it’s holiday décor and it’s not the holiday season, go through these items, label and pack them up now. Anything else you can pack and take care of, do it now. It’s one less thing you have to worry about. Don’t forget to pack in an organized fashion. Don’t just throw random items into boxes. Categorize and itemize your boxes. Once you get to your new home you can unpack and set up your organized systems, making the transition a breeze
You have enough to worry about when selling your home. Think about alleviating the stress of going through everything you own by planning and preparing ahead of time. Put an organized plan into motion!
Kristin Carcieri-MacRae, the founder and owner of Organizing in RI, has always enjoyed finding creative ways to streamline the environment around her. She has appeared on air on Patricia Raskin's Positive Business Radio and her articles have been published in the Rhode Island Small Business Journal and New England Home Life. Kristin's CD, Organizing Basics, is a 1-hour guide for the person who wants to get organized but doesn't know where to start. She is also available for organizing workshops. Tune into her weekly radio show, Organize, Energize! on Mondays at 8:30am on http://www.talkstreamradio.com.
Related Slideshow: 5 Organizing Blunders
Avoid these mistakes and your project will take less time than you expected. You won’t be as stressed or as overwhelmed as you anticipated. You will be amazed at what you have accomplished. You will be motivated and energized to tackle another project.
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