Most sellers getting their home ready for the market have consistently heard one word from their agents: declutter. Why is clutter bad? It obstructs the view for your potential buyers, as well as it diminishes the size of the house. The solution to sell for top dollars and not hear about clutter anymore is outlined in a great and practical book I read recently.

I found many answers to this question by reading New York Times Best Seller The Life-Changing magic of tidying up – the Japanese art of decluterring and organizing.

TOP 10 TIPS TO TIDY UP & DECLUTTER

Here are my favorite top ten tips from Marie Kondo’s book, which I have enjoyed reading and has taught me a lot about cleaning, organizing, and decluttering, which I will apply to my own home.

1. Kondo starts her book by pointing out that changing one’s habits depends upon changing one’s way of thinking.
2. Her statement: “If you tidy up in one shot, rather than little by little, you can dramatically change your mind-set” has come as a revelation, but also as an obstacle to people who really have a lot of stuff.  Kondo adds that by using this method, people are able to keep their space clean afterwards.
3. Storage methods provide superficial answers to the clutter, so get rid of things and don’t focus too much on storing and re-storing.
4. Another new concept to me, was tidying by category and not location/place.
5. If we need to understand clutter and declutter, we need to apply Kondo’s astute remark to our daily lives and activities and really start discarding and disposing of things, instead of worrying that we might need them one day. Kondo says in her book: “Effective tidying involves only two essential actions: discarding and deciding where to store things. However, discarding comes first.”
6. How does discarding work? Kondo believes that every item that does not bring us joy anymore needs to be discarded, unless we really use and need that object. When discarding, clothes are the easiest to deal with and photographs are the hardest. With this in mind, Kondo suggests that the order or sequence to tidying up should be: clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous items, and mementos.
7. Since discarding makes tidying up a smoother process, Kondo says: “to truly cherish the things that are important to you, you must first discard those that have outlived their purpose.” Great lesson to follow!
8. Get rid of “Just because,” Kondo points out, which means that people live surrounded by clutter and things they don’t need out of fear that one day they might need them.
9. When it comes to disposing of sentimental items, Kondo remarks that we cannot live in the past. Instead, the joy and happiness come from living in the NOW moment.
10. And last, but not least, decluttering and tidying up, according to Kondo means to reset your life and settle your accounts so that you can take the next step forward.

As wonderful as this book is, sellers need to know one thing: declutter should not be a dreadful chore, even though it is not easy to tidy up. Instead, declutter should be a  means to attract more joy and  more buyers willing to pay top dollars for a tidy house that will be appealing and attractive.

For more info on running and real estate, whether buying or selling, please e-mail me at carmenmicsa@yahoo.com, or call me at 916-342-2446. Running for real estate with joy!