Agents: Freemodel is committed to helping your clients understand, embrace, and participate in the remodeling process. We hope you will share this and future articles with your sellers so they can maximize the sale prices of their properties and empower buyers to make informed decisions.

Is your home starting to feel claustrophobic or messy? Or are you planning to sell and need to get started on consolidating the important rooms? Whether you are gearing up to move and looking to prioritize your belongings before packing up, or just trying to get organized within your living space, knowing where to start with decluttering can get overwhelming and mentally defeating when looking at the big picture. According to a Decluttr and The National Association of Professional Organizers study, 54% of Americans are overwhelmed by the amount of clutter they have, but 78% have no idea what to do with their clutter or find it too complicated to deal with so they let it build up.

Thankfully, there are many strategies and tips that can help to compartmentalize the process and keep you focused! Of course, even if you're not selling or moving it’s still helpful to declutter, and these tips are valid for everyone reading this:

1. Schedule Decluttering Maintenance Sessions For Yourself

Setting up a schedule is a great way to get started on working your way through decluttering or consolidating the items in your home. This could be a short daily activity, or longer weekly, monthly, or seasonally timed event. We recommend figuring out a reasonable schedule that you can not only stick to, but one that will accomplish your goals. If you are planning to sell and are on a tight deadline, it might be best to tackle some parts daily or weekly. If you are not in a rush or just generally want to get things in order, a looser monthly or quarterly decluttering schedule might fit best with your lifestyle. Ultimately, the more disciplined you are with your clutter maintenance schedule, the better you will feel about the process!

2. Have a plan of what you’ll be doing with items you want to get rid of

You will encounter many objects as you’re decluttering or packing up, some will be important, some might be broken, some might be recyclable, and some might be unusable. It is good to go into each room with a plan of what category each object will fall under. Here’s an easy breakdown of routes to take with each item:

• Put away: items that are not in their most ideal spot can get a designated storage space
• Fix/Repair: items that need some TLC before they’re put away
• Donate: unwanted items that are still in good condition and might be useful to someone else
• Toss: items that need to be thrown out or recycled

Rachelle’s Freemodel project in San Rafael, CA

3. Take it one room at a time

Thinking about all the spaces that you plan to organize or consolidate can be overwhelming. So plan to take it room by room and work your way through larger needs in a room and move on to drawers, closets, and corners within them. Sometimes it can be helpful to completely empty a room out and repopulate it with what you’d like to keep, or you can just make your way through the room as you desire! According to top agents, the living room (84%), the master bedroom (75%), and the kitchen (66%) are the rooms that are most important to have clean and tidy, especially if you are planning to stage and sell soon. Having these key rooms tidy can help to make the entire home feel more orderly and subsequently make smaller sections of the home feel like less of a chore to keep tidy once the main rooms are in place.

4. Get in the habit of decluttering and cleaning as you go

If you are tackling large-scale organization of entire closets or rooms, it is recommended to get in the habit of decluttering as you go. It’s important to have your own back throughout your organization journey and not only tidy up key areas of the home, but also make sure that the details aren’t falling apart behind you. Some examples of decluttering as you go can include doing the laundry, then folding, then putting it away in one swoop. Or doing a convenience store run, putting your items away neatly, and immediately disposing of packaging or old expired items. Doing a quick clean before bed can also help to make you feel like you are entering each day in a reset space. This could include wiping down bathroom and kitchen surfaces after final use, putting away stray objects that you used that day, dusting dressers and night stands, and maybe taking a quick pass with a Swiffer to collect any dirt from the day.

Lara’s Freemodel project in Oakland, CA

Regardless of the goals of your home decluttering and reorganizing, it is important to go into the process with a timeline, prioritization of rooms, a plan for each object, and solid habits to keep you on track. Consolidating each room before moving and understanding what you really want to keep before packing up can help minimize the stress of relocating. Conversely, tidying up your home that you plan to stay in can also bring a peaceful and neutral atmosphere and improve your overall happiness in your space. We hope that you found these tips helpful, here’s to an organized 2023!