Ideas to Declutter Your Home

How often do you walk past items that are stacked in a corner or piled up on a table? If you are like most people with busy lifestyles, it is almost a given. We get so busy with work, school, children, and home life that we start to ignore those messy spots and even program ourselves to walk past them.

Fortunately, winter is the perfect time to declutter and purge unneeded household items. Just by decluttering one room per week or month, you will be surprised at how much better you feel and how nice and tidy the house looks! Our easy tips and tricks are listed below for creating a better work/home balancing act just by decluttering. Let’s take a look!

The Bathroom

Start in the bathroom using a 40-gallon heavy-duty yard bag and begin cleaning underneath your cabinets and inside of your drawers. You will want to remove all old and unused bottles as well as expired beauty and bath products. Of course, with expired medicines, remove or mark out the identifying information. For the eco-friendly person, simply drain the remaining contents of plastic bottles and containers, rinse with water, and place it in your recycle bin. Just be sure to safety dispose of all old medicines.

The Kitchen

Next, head to the kitchen. We know the kitchen will take some extra time, especially if you declutter well. Begin in the fridge and check all the bottled and packaged items’ expiration dates on the labels. Next, move on to the freezer and do the same thing. Again, use a large yard bag or take the time for the environment and recycle the bottles and plastic containers, etc.

The Home Office

The unwanted paper around the house like junk mail, advertising flyers, old homework, and expired newspapers should be removed next. Again, place in a large yard bag or recycling bin, but make sure you use a shredder for anything that has personal confidential information.

The Playroom

Old, broken toys and sports equipment are always a given and should be discarded for safety purposes. Many of these items are large and take up a lot of room. Also, many of these are covered in dirt, and other things we do not want to think about that will most definitely contain bacteria. If there are items that are still in good shape, donate them, sell at a consignment store, or sell them online.

As always, please let us know how your task turned out, and please share your thoughts and ideas below in the comment section. Happy decluttering!

Selling your Old House – Clutter

9831625_MWhen you’re ready to buy a new Fulton Home, if you’re already a homeowner, part of the process is selling your current home. You may want to check into the Fulton Homes Trade In Program. Many buyers of new Fulton Homes will qualify for the program, which offers three options for handling your current house. Visit our Trade-In Program website for information on your choices.

Even with help from Fulton Homes, you still will benefit from preparing your home properly for sale. The first step is clearing out any clutter. You’ll hear this from realtors all the time, but they may not tell you why this is so important. Here are three key reasons why eliminating clutter will help sell your home for top dollar.

Clutter makes your Home look smaller: Subconsciously, potential buyers who see a cluttered home think that the home doesn’t have enough closet or storage space. Clutter also makes a room feel smaller than it is. Many people want to buy a home to give them more space, and your clutter says they won’t find the space they want in your house.

Clutter makes your home feel too personal: People want to imagine the home as theirs. Your clutter makes it clear that the home is yours, so that they can’t picture themselves in the space. This is also the reason to eliminate any family photos, drawings and notes on the refrigerator, and anything else that makes your home obviously yours. People need that extra space to picture their own furniture and accessories.

Clutter distracts: Too much clutter can keep potential buyers from noticing the special features of your home. A fireplace that’s blocked by toys or magazines isn’t a focal point for a room anymore. Beautiful bow windows can be hidden by a room with too much furniture. Most people can’t visualize your home without all your things in it.

If you just have too much stuff to clear your home easily, rent a storage unit for a few months. And don’t dump it all in the garage – you’ll just make the garage look too small. First clear out all the extras, then eliminate at least some of the furniture – just keep saying “less is more” to yourself, and ask your realtor for advice as to when you’ve cleared enough to make your home totally sellable.