How do we learn here? By doing — and occasionally by panicking. So when someone called to say they wanted to see our house in an hour, we had a brief moment of panic. It lasted five to ten minutes. After that, we spent the remaining time on a focused, practical tidy-up to make the house presentable. The place was already fairly clean because we expected to show it eventually, but decluttering cabinets and closets makes spaces look larger and more appealing. Here’s the straightforward approach we used:
- Step 1: Grab two large plastic bags — big black lawn-and-leaf bags work better than small white kitchen trash bags.
- Step 2: Label one bag for donate/toss and the other as a store-out-of-sight bag.
- Step 3: Move through the house methodically — every closet, shelf and nook — and put anything you can part with permanently into the donate/toss bag.
- Step 4: Keep in mind that if you don’t want an item in this house, you probably won’t want it in your next one.
- Step 5: Remember the bags won’t be emptied immediately, so when in doubt it’s fine to toss items in and sort them later.
- Step 6: If you see things you want to keep but won’t need while selling the house, place them in the store-out-of-sight bag to reduce clutter and help the home look more spacious.
- Step 7: Think of the store-out-of-sight bag like a temporary storage pod — a short-term solution, not a permanent one.
- Step 8: Put both bags in your car trunk to sort later into donate, trash, and an open-house essentials bag.
One practical tip: most visitors will open cabinets and closets, but few will check a laundry hamper. In a last-minute scramble, the hamper can hide a couple of stray items you didn’t have time to sort properly. We admit we tucked a few books and magazines in there right before the doorbell rang. It isn’t glamorous, but it works — especially when you need to make a quick, tidy impression.