Selling your home is never a stress-free project. There are so many different stages involved, not to mention the expenditure – it’s not free to get your house on the market or to finalize the paperwork after all!
It’s easy to feel powerless during the process of putting a house on the market and enduring so many people walking in and out of the place you call home doesn’t help either.
If you’re considering selling your home in Adelaide or South Australia, then there’s one thing you need to do before you do anything else – start the process of decluttering.
Perhaps your house has already been on the market for a while and you’re not getting any bites? If that’s the case, the following advice still applies to you.
What you want is the maximum price for your home and you want it to happen fast – that’s a given. But how can you control what people are willing to pay for your property? And ensure that they want it in the first place?
Why do I have to declutter?
Buying a house is, whether people admit it or not, an emotional decision. People are looking for something intangible – they’re looking for hope. Hope for a better future, a happier life, a more successful career and a fabulous social life. They’re not just looking for four walls and a roof.
When people purchase a house, it’s largely down to one of two major deciding factors – either they’re growing as a unit or they’ve reached a point in their lives when they want to downsize.
Families with young children are usually growing – they need more space, not less. And for older couples, perhaps looking for a simpler life, lower overheads and less housework, they’re looking for easy to maintain with enough storage.
But don’t forget the issue of beauty – no matter who is buying, the one thing all prospective homeowners have in common is that they want something lovely.
If your home is full of furniture, family mementoes, clutter and so on, then it’s more difficult for your prospects to see themselves in it.
What you need is a blank space with personality
Nobody wants to see something devoid of love or character, but they also don’t want to see your collection of china dogs laid out on the mantlepiece – however cute you think they are!
Be ruthless
It’s no use removing a few photographs and ornaments – you need to seriously empty the house.
That means reducing furniture and removing all but the most innocuous soft furnishings and wall decorations.
Put the bulk of your furniture in storage leaving only the most basic things. By the time you’ve done this, your home should contain only the following
- Lounge and two easy chairs in the sitting room
- One coffee table and no more than two side tables
- White goods in the kitchen
- Dining table and chairs in the dining room
- Bedroom furniture should consist of only beds, wardrobes and drawers plus bedside table for each person
Anything else – extra tables, cabinets, display cabinets etc should be removed and put away.
If you find that you’ve accumulated too much furniture and some of it is worse for wear, skip bin hire can be a great option.
In fact, skips are the perfect companion to any home decluttering project.
Choose a day (or a few days!) where you know you have time to devote to your decluttering and book skip bin hire to coincide with this day. Skips in Adelaide are the best way to manage all the accumulated garbage which most houses have stashed away.
Box up your personal effects – that means all of the following.
- Books
- Toys
- Paperwork
- Files
- Photographs
- Ornaments
- Most china
Keep lamps, plants and neutral paintings so that your house doesn’t appear too cold and uninviting – if you’re not sure what neutral paintings are, they’re generally calm, peaceful scenes such as traditional landscapes or abstracts.
Dressing the rooms
Dress the rooms as though your favorite Aunt were coming to tea. Fresh flowers in each room, some green plants to add atmosphere, lamps lit in windows – which should be sparkling clean by the way!
Additionally, make sure the garden is well-presented without tools or excess plant pots which might be a hazard to those visiting.
Clear out the sheds and all indoor cupboards because people will want to look inside so they can assess storage options.
If potential buyers see that you have them crammed full, they’re going to feel there’s not enough space in your home. If they see them clean and empty, they’ll feel as though they could organize them well and that there’s enough room for their belongings.
Again, using skip bins in Adelaide by Skip Bin Finder are a great option because once you start emptying drawers, cupboards and sheds, you’re going to want to ditch quite a lot of things. More info can be found here.
Mini skips are perfect if you don’t have a lot of larger waste to contend with. Most skip hire companies have the option to book mini skips and mixed waste skips which mean you can put all sorts of waste into one skip bin.
Decluttering helps you to detach
Once you’ve begun the process of decluttering, any residual attachments you feel towards your house will slowly begin to decrease.
As you store, pack and dispose of things, you’ll feel more excitement than anxiety as the house begins to appear more like an empty shell.
People visiting with a view to purchasing your house will feel that they can see themselves in the space more clearly – and you’re far more likely to see a successful sale sooner rather than later.
Decluttering may seem like a big task but once you get started, it’s actually an energizing task and with the assistance of skip bin hire, you’ll soon be glad you decided to do it.
Convenient for Waste
An additional reason to find a good skip bin service is the suitability that comes with such a bin. For instance, you can request a skip bin online, pay for it and have it sent to your home if your chosen prover services that region.
After filling up your skip bin with your unnecessary household items you don’t have to bother about returning it to the skip supplier. They will come back out when it is due for pickup and take the bin. Stress free waste management at its finest!
Nina Smith 
Kim Marks