5 Signs It’s Time to Declutter [Plus, How to Stop It From Happening Again!]

Have you ever felt disorganized, unaccomplished or even stressed about life and not sure why you feel this way? It could be the clutter building up around you at home. Take a look around you, are you feeling cramped at home?

We collect things for a number of reasons–maybe you think you’ll need to use it later, it has sentimental value, or you have to keep the item because it’s expensive. We all know we have to declutter, but we’re allowing ourselves for items to build-up, take up space and cause anxiety.

Decluttering is one of the biggest returns on investment you can do to showcase your property and make the space more appealing for home buyers while on the real estate market. If you’re planning on selling your property and still aren’t sure it’s time to declutter, see if these signs apply to you:

Stressed Coming Home

If you feel anxious coming home every day chances are, the clutter you consciously continue to ignore at home is subconscious messing with your head — making your mind feel cluttered too! By handling this problem at home you will ultimately feel more relaxed in other areas of your life as well. Not to mention relief the stress buyers may feel as they enter your home.

Behind Closed Doors

Maybe you’re a closet clutterer? This is where you have an overflow of items behind closed doors, cabinets, and drawers. Out of sight out of mind, right? Wrong. If the doors holding storage space in your home are not closing properly then it may be time to declutter. Even in these spaces, you should have an organizing process to keep items stored neatly, while also having enough room to get to the item without a struggle. You should go through these areas of your home at least twice a year and ask yourself if you’ve used the item in the past six months, if not then it’s time to part ways.

Hiding In Plain Sight

What if your clutter was right in front of you, would you notice it? As home stagers, we do this exercise often with home sellers, where we ask them to go through their home as a home buyer would critiquing everything in plain sight. Often times, home sellers have gotten so used to their surroundings that they essentially have blinders on — not being able to see anything negative in the home anymore, including clutter. If this sounds like you, ask a home stager, real estate agent or judgmental friend for some honest feedback.

Trouble Finding Things

Are you constantly misplacing items in your home, spending more time than you have hunting for the item you may need? This is a definite sign it’s time to declutter! Rather than rummage through drawers, closets and countertop surfaces daily start finding permanent homes for the items you have. Start by taking one area of the property and rummage through what you have following the rules below.

Now, that you recognize you have a clutter problem here are four ways to stop clutter in its tracks:

Start With One Area

Organizing your home is an evolving process that changes with the homeowner’s needs. If you’re feeling overwhelmed then you want to start small. Choose one room, one closet or one corner. The important thing is to start somewhere, but make it count, tackle the first cluttered area a home buyer would see as they walk into the home.

Make a Schedule

Are you a homeowner who has been using time constraints as an excuse to not declutter? If so, schedule blocks of time (2-4 hours) or even just 15 minutes a day depending on what needs to be organized to make your goal (of getting your home organized) a reality.

Everything Has a Home

Create a place for each item in your home is a crucial part of the home organizing process. Here you want to group like items together and store items that correlate with one another together. For example, store coats in the front closet next to the door or place dinnerware near the sink or dishware for easy convenience. Of course, keeping the space in order only happens when you return an item back to it’s home after use.

Adopt “Good Habits” 

By always returning an item home, you’re building in a maintenance system in your organizing process. Another good habit to adopt is to take 5-10 minutes every night and put items away. This way when you wake up in the morning, the house is ready to show off.

Need help staging a home? Contact us today! We’d be more than happy to assist you with your home staging needs.