14 Organization Tips for a Successful Home Showing

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If you’re thinking about selling your home, there might be a lot going through your mind right now. You’re probably already aware of the way many moving processes work together — like organizing, packing, showing, and eventually selling your home. These processes can intermix with one another, and you might notice that you’re doing many of them at once. But you can take control and make the process of moving easy and organized. Whether you’ve shown your home before and are trying for better luck or you’re prepping for your first showing, you can knock out organization, a bit of packing, and maybe even some decorating in the process. Every home and family is different — you can do things your own way and see what’s right for you! But if you’re looking for organizing and decluttering tips for showing your home, here are a few you can try out.

1. Go Room by Room

One of the easiest ways to get your organization done quickly and efficiently is to go room by room. This can help the process not feel so overwhelming, as completing each room can lead to starting the next.

2. Take Inventory of Your Things

In order to organize what you have, you need to know what you have first. Taking inventory of everything you have allows you to know if you have multiples of any items in your home, reorganize everything better, and find things you didn’t even remember you had.

3. Label Everything

If you’re planning to move right after you sell, labeling everything from bins to baskets can help you organize for your own purposes, which can make the moving process much easier. This can help you remember where everything goes in your home and remind you when you move things to your new home.

4. Don’t Fill Closets to the Brim

While it can be tempting to stash everything in the closets to keep your home looking tidy for the showing, this might not be the best idea when you’re planning to show potential buyers your home. More likely than not, they’ll be curious about storage options, meaning they’ll want to see the closets in their empty state.

5. Put Similar Things Together

Sorting things into categories and putting like items together can help keep your home much more organized and bring a sense of care to everything. Especially with spaces that can tend to get dirty, like garages, putting tools and bikes together can make a difference.

6. Have a Space for Important Documents

When you’re embarking on the moving process, having a special folder or drawer for a mortgage, loan, and real estate paperwork can save you lots of time and stress, especially if you tend to lose things easily.

7. Utilize Storage If You Have To

Putting a few things into temporary storage is nothing to be ashamed of! In fact, it can clear out the space so you can show your home and pack on your own time.

8. Make the Time

One of the biggest mistakes people make when decluttering and organizing is assuming it can get done in less than a day. While you can fit cleaning into smaller moments, for bigger tasks like this, set aside the time you know you’ll need for the job.

9. Don’t Go on a Cleaning Frenzy

Another common mistake for those who love the minimalist lifestyle is going on a cleaning and decluttering frenzy. Going minimal is a great idea, especially if you’re moving. However, don’t throw out your winter sweaters just because you don’t need them in the summer, or toss the food processor you love just because you haven’t used it this week. It’s all about balance.

10. One In, One Out

For many people, the one in, one out rule is a great way to practice organization. Every time you introduce a new item into your home, another item of the same purpose must go in order to avoid clutter.

11. Go Up With Storage

If you don’t have the right floor space or pantry space for everything you need to store, why not go vertical? This can be a great way to keep everything organized without having to take up valuable walking space, which is vital for showing your house.

12. Don’t Forget the Kitchen

The kitchen can sometimes get forgotten when you’re in the organizing and decluttering process. While you don’t always need to do quite as much cleaning in the kitchen, you should devote a little time to cleaning out the fridge, wiping down any surfaces, and clearing out trash or recycling that needs to go.

13. Make Lists

An entire home is a lot to keep straight in your head, especially if you’re house hunting yourself. By making to-do lists, you can take some of the pressure off yourself and focus on the actual organization tasks in front of you.

14. Not Everything Needs to Spark Joy

Marie Kondo’s rule for organizing is that you should get rid of anything that doesn’t spark joy. When you’re preparing to move your whole life, it’s good to have a reminder. Not everything needs to spark joy. Your laptop charger, your work blazer, your can opener, and your coffee maker might not spark joy, but they are all still necessary to keep. Well — maybe the coffee maker does spark a little joy.

Showing Your Organized Home

Organizing your home can sometimes be stressful, especially if you’re thinking about moving and decluttering all at once. No matter how you get started — whether you go room by room or make a to-do list — there are many ways you can organize your place for the perfect showing so you can move on to your next amazing home. by: Rose Morrison Rose Morrison is a real estate and home improvement writer and the managing editor of Renovated. Check out her Twitter to see more of her work.