Ready for Market. Julie F Sullivan
the spot off the wall but then it moves on to whatever else they’re wiping it with. And that is kind of how clutter is, I mean you can’t just move it around it is still there, it’s still a blot, it’s still a plight and we’ve just got to get it out just like we needed to get rid of that spot on that dress. And I mean we worked with one man and it honestly took him a year. He was taking care of a sick wife who was a hoarder and it just took so long for him to clear things out. But we got together a team for him and it consisted of a couple of college students and they went over every Saturday and helped him go through things and get things moved out.
And it was very interesting to see the metamorphosis not just in his house but in himself, he seemed to become more alert, more alive and engaged and he then ended up meeting somebody else and getting engaged. By the time he was finished and ready to clean his house he had met this other woman and they were getting married and moving into another house together. So I think that taking clutter out of your life can really open up your space and your energy for some great things to happen. And it’s not just about selling your house but it’s just about being the best person you can be. And so I will do anything I can to help people understand why it’s so important to get rid of clutter because I am just a huge believer that it’s just negative energy holding you back.
JULIE: Wow, that’s a really interesting way of looking at it and it almost sounds like you were talking about how important it is to create a vacuum by removing items and removing that stuff. And when you do that you’ve create then a vacuum in your life for new things to come in, and sometimes really, new experiences that are exciting right?
CHRISTIE: Absolutely right! And we really don’t want to have anything in our house that has energy that might be negative energy and sometimes some of that clutter does. I mean we might have something that was given to us by a grandmother that we really never wanted, and we didn’t really have a particularly close relationship with that person but we felt guilty to get rid of it, and there are all kinds of emotions that are brought up. And being able to let go and being able to have somebody that gives you permission to let go can be really freeing. Then as we do it, the more we do it the more we develop our clutter clearing muscles and it gets easier and easier and then we’re able to stay on top of it.
JULIE: So do you recommend, I know some people feel bad about throwing things in the trash, and so do you recommend certain sites for people to donate unwanted goods or yard sales?
CHRISTIE: Yes I do. I recommend that they give to their favorite charity, Freecycle is another great one. One of the things I ask people that have a lot in their house it to just have some of their favorite charities; just go online and you can do this with Amvets and several others, where you can just go online and find out from time to time…
JULIE: Salvation Army. And there's even an app for your smartphone called Let Go.
CHRISTIE: Purple Heart, I’ve used all of those and you can sign up online and they will come and pick things up. And just get the scheduled so that you know, “Okay these guys are coming on Monday and these guys are coming on Friday.” And you just keep filling up your garage and pushing that out into your driveway and it’s a great way to get things picked up. There are other sites that come and pick up junk and just take it to the dump. You know we really end up stuffing our houses full of a lot of things that don’t need to be there and that are really dragging us down.
JULIE: Sellers can donate items to places like Habitat for Humanity’s loading dock where building materials can be reused - another good source.
CHRISTIE: Those are great sources and I support them.
JULIE: And I will tell you Christie, one thing I have done is recommend a customer get a dumpster delivered to their driveway for that period of time. A small dumpster costs about $400 and if you paid someone to make runs to the dump it would cost that much too. So I think the dumpster right there in the driveway is so easy because then every day after work you could throw some more things in it and let it go.
CHRISTIE: I love that idea and I’ve done that with people and they’re just literally running around the house the day before the dumpster leaves looking for anything they can throw in it. It does turn it into a little bit of a fun game.
JULIE: Right! Well are there any other tips or tricks you wanted to share with our listeners?
CHRISTIE: I would just say if you’re selling your home, walk through the front door, kind of try to come through the home with fresh eyes. Even though I’m a designer, whenever my sister comes through to town to visit – she’s also a designer – she comes in with fresh eyes and has all sorts of great ideas for me and I love it. Try to do that for yourself, if you don’t have a stager, have a friend come in and do that. And think about the age of your target buyer. I highly recommend taking anything personal, political or religious out of your home when you’re enlisting it, these are the sort of things that are dear to our hearts but they can also become points that might turn a buyer off. And so it’s kind of like when we go rent a condo at the beach and you get there and it’s somebody else’s condo and you feel like all of their stuff is there and you’re living in somebody else’s space and it’s just not as pleasant. But if you come into a house, just like a nice beautiful hotel room or a condo at the beach, where everything feels like you could just live there and have a wonderful life there – that’s what we want. We really want to get things depersonalized and very welcoming.
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