Getting house ready to sell - declutter

[Allnewtometoo]

I've lived in my house fir about 15 years. In the time married, 2 dc, divorced. There's a LOT of stuff. Not hoarded, but for example, too many clothes for the wardrobes, too many toys, books, just stuff.

I need to downsize my stuff. But I'm quite sentimental about some things, and also quite poor.

I have clothes a size or 2 too small. But not unrealistic to wear again.

Winter clothes that fit but don't like.

Kids stuff that they might not want but I might keep for sentimental reasons.

Things that I've kept or got because I like, but ultimately just take up space...decorative tins, for one.

Kids have WAY too many clothes, but that's a fairly easy one.

Any tips? Advice?

I was once advised by an agent to bag or box up and put in garage - to be gone through later at leisure (or taken in move to be put in loft and forgotten about for another 15 years).

Clothes that don't fit or you don't like, don't have permission to stay. Get rid of those. Only keep clothes that you actually wear otherwise they are renting space in your house and you will be moving them to your new home for no reason.
I keep a bin bag in my wardrobe to put any item of clothing that no longer makes me feel good, once full it goes to the clothing bins at the tip. You can use vinted or ebay but it's rarely worth the hassle.
Books and other home items are also good for clearing out.

Any reason you don’t take those clothes to a charity shop?

@Redburnett I dont have a garage, and the loft isn't accessible (that's another story....) this is part of the problem. EVERYTHING is stored in the house, Xmas Dec's for example.

Sone clothes that fit but I don't like, I'll probably need to keep to wear...

I'd love to rent a storage space but they're £££. Not forever but just to get stuff out easily then sort through.

@jamtarty The clothing bin at our local tip is a charity collection - goes to the Salvation Army. I’d imagine that’s the case in lots of places.

This is a bit of a mind set issue at this point.

when was the last time you wore the clothes you don’t like? If you’ve not worn them in the last year why will you need to wear them in the future.

realistically clothes that are too small are but ever going to get worn again.

try to think about what you will gain from shedding all this clutter rather than what you will lose. Take some photos of the kids toys so you’ve got something to look back on if you like the sentimental side of things.

If you‘be got a lot of nik naks like tins that you like but don’t hold sentiment or function start there.

Think about your new home and how you would ideally organise each room and what will actually fit so that you’re comfortable with it. For example what size will your wardrobe be? Only keep what will fit in there. What size will the storage cupboard/loft be and what exactly will fit in there? Everything else has to go.

If you need to keep some clothes you don’t like but that fit, that’s fine. Pull everything else out. Start in the kids room with their clothes as you said that’s easy. Put them on Vinted, as you take pictures and put the details it’ll suggest a price for you. If you’re sentimental about that piece you can price it slightly higher and then lower as your sentimentality wanes a bit (which I found happened when I sold some baby bits). Switch on bundles and offer good discounts. Upload of an evening as loads of people will look in their doom scrolling time. You can create drafts earlier in the day if that’s when you have time and then publish in the evening. Everything listed on Vinted goes in a separate box or bag. If it’s not gone by the time you move and you’ve reduced the price take it to a clothes donation point or a charity shop (whichever is closer). You could even just post on FB freebies and someone will come take it off your hands.

Your clothes - I would get rid of the too small clothes. I’m guilty for holding onto those too but by the time you’ve lost the weight you will probably want something new. Maybe keep a few prices if you really love them. Toys - go through them, be ruthless. You can sell these on Vinted if they’re in a good condition.

With a mass decluttering you can post the items on FB - I’ve found any old rubbish will go (I had people collecting bags of coat hangers, old DVDs that wouldn’t sell, water damaged books). If you don’t want people turning up at various times and waiting around for them, just put it outside the house, put a post on FB with some photos of the stuff saying you’re having a clear out and stuff is outside no 37, no holding.

Do you have a storage option for your Christmas decorations or are they just in the corner of the living room? If they’re on display, I’d probably look at getting a cheap wardrobe/cabinet/decorative storage item of marketplace and making sure they are hidden. Whatever you use to store them should fit with the house and not be a pain to walk past. Same goes for your hoover, your ironing board, your iron. These all need to have homes out of sight but it needs to be relatively easy to see and for viewers to see where they would put their hoover, ironing board etc.

If you box anything up to sort at the new house, it will remain boxed at the new house and not get sorted.

I absolutely don't want to be sorting at the new house. I dont know what the new house even is yet. I'm at the start of this process and time limited. I find selling stuff quite time consuming. I think I struggle more to get rid of stuff because I don't have much money to replace it

Decorative tins etc, can they go to the charity shop?

Don't think about the whole task but break it down into sections. I find this helps me loads. We are planning on moving next year hopefully so I have started the declutter etc now so it doesn't get too much closer to the time.

I split into rooms then smaller sections like clothes, toys, books in that room. If anything doesn't belong in that room it gets relocated to the right place then sorted when that area gets sorted. Or if I know it needs to go just get rid then and there. I try to tackle a section a week (life is busy!!). Slow and steady works for me but you could speed up one section every few days if you are on a tight timeline.

I'm terrible with kids clothes!! They have so many as we get given alot of stuff for them. My daugher have 53 dress (at 2 years old)....who needs that many dresses!!!!!
When sorting out current size, if it fits in the wardrobe/drawers it can stay. If not then keep a certain number (7 trousers, 14 t-shirts etc). The wardrobe is split into sections to help with control of certain items. Once the wardrobe or that section is full, its a one in one out policy.
When sorting stuff they have outgrown I keep some for passing on to younger sibling (as I have loft space to do this though) and a few sentimental items - e.g. outfit from Christmas/event, special t-shirts etc.

Sentimental clothing is the biggest hoard for me. I found this thing were you can make items of clothing into blankets so I am going to do that this year (made myself as too expensive to get it done for me). It means you can keep the items but not the massive piles of clothes. Other sentimental items, I am trying to keep just a box of things for each child per 5 years at the moment.(the plan is to reduce that further over the years). No one needs every nursery drawing and school book for their 7 year old lol.

If you have a bit of time before needing to gone, you can put stuff on Facebook marketplace, gumtree, sphock, next door, ebay or vinted to try and make a bit of money. Put a time limit on it and then take it to charity or the tip. I sell alot through facebook and vinted.

I've got a bit ruthless in the last 6 months or so. Only 8 years in the house but 2 kids and being handed down everything plus birthdays and Christmases means we have alot of stuff. I very much a if it is not used, not kept for a purpose (event or something) or doesn't fit/too young for the kids, then it is going......selling first to make some money tho lol

Clothes 2 sizes too small should go.
How many decorative tins do you need? Keep a couple of the nicest and get rid of the rest.

The other way to go is to get a small bin bag - about the size of the old supermarket carrier bags - and pick just one cupboard/ wardrobe/ dumping corner. Fill it with stuff for the bin or charity shop. Do that once a day with a different area. It's amazing how much you can get rid of, and it only takes 10 mins a time.

I dont need any decorative tins 😂 I just don't know what to do with them.

New house likely to be a new build so the current "style" of stuff I have won't "go" anyway which makes it easier.

I'm going to start with the kids room I think. Clothes.

This @jamtarty. My clothes are not top labels either. It's all about getting them out of the house as simply as possible. I think ours is Salvation army at the tip. Also, my local charity shops are not overly friendly.

Forget about your clothes for the moment OP.
They sound like a sticking point that is preventing other easier tasks getting done.

Start with the easy stuff.

Break down the goal into immediate achievements.

You want to put house on the market so viewers are going to have to imagine themselves in that space. So think what could you and what couldn't you look past first.

Anyone you know could store the Xnas decorations for a couple of months?

Freecycle/gumtree/FB marketplace
Can decorative tins go to the charity shop - yes
The more times you touch something you are more likely to keep it regardless of whether you need it.
Kid crap ( in the politest way) if in good condition - sell/ school/ family//friends etc
It's all doable . don't overthink
How do you eat an elephant?

"I think I struggle more to get rid of stuff because I don't have much money to replace it"

If this is stuff that doesn't fit or you don't like, why would you want to replace it?

Get rid. And ditch the sentimentality as well - it's just .... stuff.

Usually, hoarding and collection anxiety is deeper rooted than being a bit strapped for cash. Might it be worth looking into that side of things to see why you're so emotionally attached to impersonal things which serve no purpose?

We have just downsized.
About ten bin bags full of clothes were put in the clothing bank (like a bottle bank) as I couldn't be bothered sorting things for charity.
We got a huge skip and filled that with everything we had kept 'just in case'.
Anything that remained afterwards was taken to the tip before we moved.
I don't miss any of it!

Anything that’s sentimental, can you photograph it? Clothes that have sentimental value will only deteriorate over time ( modern fabrics aren’t like historic ones) and you’ll have to wash them as they’ll get musty.
Everything that you don’t like bag up for a charity shop.
Get some quite small boxes from a supermarket and put ornaments, bric a brac, toys, unused kitchen stuff in and rake to a charity shop.
I’ve declutterred over the past month and I’m definitely not a keeper of stuff but my house looks and feels so much better.