Escape from the Cube - Financial Independence: Rental Income Big Gamble Part 2 - Decluttering

Prepping to Rent and Move:

The last week has been all about decluttering and staging.  I'm decluttering because I'm going from 1200 square feet to 697 square feet.  I'm staging because I'm putting the townhouse on the market July 1st.   The property manager has been hired (cost 1/2 first month's rent, 8% thereafter per month).

Decluttering has been emotional -- but freeing!  My declutter Go-tos for inspiration have included the book "Get Organized:  the Clear and Simple Way" by Marla Dee, FlyLady.net, and any resource for ADHD organization such as the National Association of Professional Organizers.    

washroom after removing mini-trampoline

Dee approaches organization from an emotional purging/mental envisioning and mapping perspective.  She suggests taking photos of the space.  It worked better for me than most other approaches such as, "do you love it? use it?  No?  - then toss it."     For example, throwing out the old mini-trampoline that didn't work so well anymore was easier to do when I took a photo of the room where it was stored,  after the trampoline was moved.   I wanted that cleared out space for myself.  The tossing process became a gift to myself:  of a beautiful, daily used space instead of the loss of an object that wasn't used that much anymore anyway. 

Since I had to take photos anyway for the online lease posting, this helped get me going on the photo taking recommended by Dee.   Another example of how this works --  I didn't realize how the golf clubs got in the way of the pic until I viewed it through the camera lens and saw them in the photo of the washroom.   (PS - I'm keeping the clubs, just giving them to a friend to store.)

woodburning fireplace

By the way, it took abut two hours to stage and take about 10 photos of the townhouse. Here's one of the woodburning fireplace.  (notice the coffee table was moved, and you can see the built in bookshelves.  Oops, that reminds me -- I need to declutter the cabinets underneath!)

Do you have too much clutter getting in the way of your space?  What resources do you use to inspire the big clean out?


Other posts you might like:

How I sold my pool table on craig's list
Escape from the Cube: Part 1