How to Clean Out Your House to Sell and Boost Its Value

Ground zero: getting started when you don’t know where to start

For the first Apollo missions that used the Saturn V rockets, it took about 55% of the total fuel for the entire mission to travel the first 0.03% of the journey. The remaining 45% of the fuel propelled the spacecraft over 230,000 miles (over 99% of the total distance) to safely land on the moon.

Literally, getting started was more than half the battle.

When you’re approaching a house full of stuff, the prospect of getting it to a clean, list-ready state may seem as unapproachable as reaching the moon. Before you embark on your decluttering journey, follow this prelaunch checklist:

1. Get clear on your timeframe

The first forward step is to identify the timeframe that you have to sell the home in order to work backward and set appropriate, manageable goals to tackle the work.

According to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the average home is listed on the market for about 47 days before going under contract. Using this data for an example timeframe, and considering that it takes an average of 43 days to close on a home purchase loan, if your goal is to sell the home in 90 days, you may only have two or three weeks to prepare your home for sale to meet this deadline.

2. Break the work into small, attainable chunks

Instead of approaching the task as a single, huge project to declutter the entire house, approach it as dozens of smaller, attainable tasks. Metten suggests, “If you’re feeling overwhelmed, focus on one room at a time, or even one space at a time. For example, in the master bathroom, start with just the walk-in closet and focus on that. Take it a small chunk at a time, instead of walking around the whole house and thinking it’s never going to get done.”

For example, a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house could be broken down into 20 bite-sized chunks:

• 3 bedroom closets
• 3 bedrooms
• 2 bathrooms
• 1 linen closet
• 1 kitchen (pantry and drawers)
• 1 kitchen (cupboards and surfaces)
• 1 dining room
• 1 entry/coat closet
• 1 living room
• 1 family room
• 1 laundry area
• 1 utility closet
• 1 under-the-stairs storage closet
• 1 garage (storage areas)
• 1 garage (main area)

3. Write out a checklist that you can cross off

Now that you know your timeframe and you’ve broken the task into bite-sized chunks, you can create a time-bound checklist to guide you and keep you on track. For example, if you have 20 days to declutter the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house in the example above, you can write out each of the 20 areas next to each day and accomplish one a day.

Multiple studies show that the act of writing out and checking off goals can significantly increase productivity. Additionally, regularly and consistently checking off short-term goals has been shown to release dopamine, which increases the desire to keep going to check off more items on the list.

4. Manage your expectations: the home should be presentable, not perfect

Now that you’ve got a checklist and you’re ready to get to work, pause and take a quick breath. At this stage, too many eager sellers dive in with the hopes of getting the house to a like-new state. According to Nash, the goal is to “make the home presentable, first for photos, and then for showings.”

Similarly, Metten stresses that “buyers want to see a home that is comfortable and lived in, as opposed to being too empty or sterile.” Ultimately, this is good news that can help you stay focused on the goal.