Selling your Waterloo Region home soon? Get ready to declutter! It's more than just making your home look tidy before showings begin– it's about unlocking its full potential and attracting top offers.
Think of it like a strategic edit. You're not getting rid of everything you love, but curating your belongings to showcase the star of the show: your home itself. Clutter shrinks rooms, hides great features, and distracts buyers from seeing themselves in the space.
Buyers worry a jam-packed closet means hidden problems, or a crammed living room makes it hard to envision how their furniture would fit. By decluttering strategically, you reassure buyers, make your home feel more spacious, and command a higher sale price.
Ready to transform your home from lived-in to listing-ready? Here are 25+ must-declutter areas before putting your Waterloo Region home on the market.
Decluttering the Hallway
Hallways are often quite narrow and so can easily get overwhelmed by stuff. As the entrance to your home, they are one of the first areas to make an impression. Decluttering your hallway will ensure your does just that – and it will make that narrow space look wider.
Declutter the 'gear': Sort through coats, accessories, and shoes that are usually kept here and let go of any you no longer need or want. Consider keeping seasonal clothes in vacuum pack bags and seasonal shoes in plastic boxes under beds or in another space; they don’t all need to be out at once.
Tidy up paperwork: Piles of mail in the hallway are off-putting, so remove them and have a system for when letters come through the door. You may want to invest in a letter holder in the hallway and an in-tray elsewhere in your home.
Clear away pet paraphernalia: We’d also advise tidying away dog leads, toys, and beds – they make any room look cluttered and untidy and, of course, they carry their own special scent…
Store stuff smarter: Ideally you should clean out as much of the stuff from your hallway as possible, but what has to stay should be stored tidily.
Decluttering the Living Room
The living room needs to look welcoming – prospective buyers need to imagine themselves unwinding there – but it needs to feel spacious, too. Here’s what to pare back:
Get rid of excess furniture: One of the quickest ‘wins’ when decluttering your home for sale is to get rid of excess furniture – a couple of pieces that are not needed will instantly make rooms feel more spacious and make the positive features of the room more obvious. It also makes it one less place for clutter to gather!
Remove oversized pieces: You may have a large coffee table or small items of gym equipment in a small living room – or an ottoman in a small bedroom. Consider whether you need it on display or whether it could be sold, donated, or stored elsewhere while the house is on the market.
Depersonalize: As beautiful as your wedding photos or pictures of your kids are, take them down before home viewings. By decluttering photos on walls and shelves, you depersonalize your home which means prospective buyers can visualize your home as “theirs”.
This is a good opportunity for you to decide whether any of these sentimental items should be stored in a memory box instead. You may need to rearrange shelves where photos have been so play around with the space, but remember to keep it simple and symmetrical, where possible.
Decluttering the Kitchen
The kitchen is often the biggest influencer on prospective home buyers, so working hard to declutter yours makes good sense. Here’s what to do:
Declutter kitchen work surfaces: This is vital, particularly if you keep a lot of kitchen gadgets and appliances on show. For example, if despite all your good intentions, you only use your juice maker now and again, put it in a cabinet between uses. This may mean that you need to make space for these appliances in your cupboards.
Tidy out drawers and cupboards: Sort through items and remember you don’t need to do it all at once. You could sort out pans one day and cutlery the next. Be ruthless and let go of duplicates—anything that you do not use or that is broken or worn out.
Donate working items to friends or family who may be able to use them. Any clean items in good working order can also be donated to your local thrift store so they can be resold.
Remove fridge magnets, artwork, coupons and anything else you have plastered on your fridge.
Declutter windowsills: The same goes for the windowsill – if you have lots of plants and ornaments, reduce these and this will make a huge difference to the feel of this space. This goes for all your rooms by the way.
Decluttering Adult Bedrooms
Don’t think for a minute that viewers won’t open all the closets to see how much space there is inside. That means bedrooms – and any rooms with cabinets or closets – need to be decluttered and tidied to make a good impression:
Declutter closets: It’s really important to do this before selling. If they are full to bursting, this will create the impression that you have no space. You can guarantee buyers will be opening doors to storage spaces to check them out.
Work through each category of clothes to make it more manageable, e.g. underwear, tops, pants, dresses, etc. Hang/fold all the clothes in a category together, so you can see how many you have. Pick up each item and decide whether you love it and wear it.
Clear out drawers: If you find it hard to decide, pick out the three items in each category that you absolutely love. For example, if you are decluttering sweaters, pick your top five favorite ones and then with every other one decide whether it matches up to that feeling. If not, it’s time to let go of it.
Donate clothes so others can benefit from them. It often makes it easier to let go of things if you know that they will go to a good home and won’t be wasted.
Hide what’s under the bed: If your under-bed area is stuffed with untidy boxes that can be seen when you enter the room, swap them out for good-looking storage boxes or invest in a dust ruffle to hide what’s beneath the bed. It’s worth decluttering the top of any cabinets and the back of the bedroom door in exactly the same way – either hide it or disguise it.
Decluttering Kids’ Rooms
It can be difficult to keep your home for sale tidy for viewings when you have children. And it can be hard to get them to agree to throw things out, too. However, it’s a must in really cluttered rooms.
Decluttering toys can really help keep things under control and create a lot more space. Try to involve your children if you can but remember if they are small, the ultimate decision lies with you. Get rid of any items they no longer play with.
Store away items for the future: If you are holding on to items in case you have another child in the future, box these up and keep them stored elsewhere.
Invest in stylish storage: Once you have decluttered, storage baskets are a great way to organize toys in play areas and mean that you can pile all the toys in them five minutes before a viewing if needed.
Decluttering Bathrooms
Ideally, you want to present the image that your bathroom is effortlessly easy to keep clean and a relaxing space to indulge in a bit of me-time (you’re selling the dream, remember!). A line-up of half-used and expired toiletries in your bathroom is not going to help that image.
Throw away old toiletries: Go through all your cosmetics and toiletries and throw away any that are past their use-by date. Typically, makeup expires six months to a year after you bought it so keep that in mind when decluttering your cosmetics. Items that have not been used can be donated at food collection banks or to non-profit organizations.
Invest in good towel storage: If all your towels are on show, good towel storage is a must-have to keep them neat. Doing so will help keep them dry, too, which will, in turn, help keep your bathroom smelling sweet.
Declutter under the sink: Yes, buyers will look into those under sink cabinets too, so ‘hiding’ stuff there is not an option!
Decluttering the Backyard
Remove backyard debris: Broken garden furniture, old toys and other rubbish, such as dead leaves and branches should all be cleared away. This might finally be the time to remove the rusty basketball hoop the kids haven’t used for 10 years.
Hide the trashcans: While we’re on the subject of trash, decluttering the front yard of anything untidy, such as trash cans, will help create curb appeal.
Clear out the shed: If you have a shed in your yard, take the time to clear this out as well so that buyers can see how useful it is. If they are stuffed to the brim, the inherent value of handy extra spaces like these can be lost on buyers.
Decluttering the Garage
Think no one will look in there? Yes, they will, and a messy garage stuffed with all your unwanted things can make it look smaller than it is.
Declutter Completely: You will have to do it at some point before moving out anyway, so do it before viewings commence. If you can’t bring yourself to throw out all your kids’ old toys/clothes you wore 20 years ago, ensure that if you are keeping them you pack them up and store
Organize the garage with good storage: Plastic storage boxes are the easiest option, but there are more creative ways to organize your garage, such as hanging all your tools on pegboards and converting old filing cabinets into storage containers.
Declutter, Then Dominate the Market!
Remember, decluttering isn't just about tidiness. It's about showcasing your Waterloo Region home's best features, creating a welcoming atmosphere, and maximizing your sale price. While this list is a great start, every home is unique.
That's where Team Pinto comes in! As your local real estate experts, we see your home through buyers' eyes. We'll offer personalized guidance on where to prioritize your decluttering efforts, how to stage the newly cleared spaces, and strategize about those final touches that make your home irresistible to buyers.
Ready to say goodbye to clutter, and hello to a successful sale? Contact Team Pinto today for a pre-listing consultation. Let's work together to achieve your real estate goals!