Decluttering a home for sale to fund aged care

When it’s time for you or a loved one to think about entering aged care, you might discover you need to sell the family home to help with ongoing costs.

In a previous article, Succession planning and deceased estate sales, I discussed briefly how to prepare the family home for sale. In this article, I’ll focus more on the decluttering aspect as, in my experience, this is the hardest part. For the purposes of this article, I’ve assumed that you or your loved one has moved ‒ or will move shortly ‒ into aged care so you’ll know how few items from the family home can be kept.

Dealing with emotions when decluttering the family home

In overseeing many clients preparing their homes for sale, especially if they’re downsizing, I’ve observed that the ones who get outside help manage better. The problem with getting family members to help is you’ll all get caught up in memories and not have your rational thinking cap on. Remember, you can’t take everything with you and you’ll need to let go of many items ‒ from furniture to photos. An impartial outside source of help can ensure you stay on track with decluttering your home.

The decluttering process

If you’ve read or watched anything by Marie Kondo, you’ll know of her KonMari method of decluttering. This method, in my view, is somewhat extreme. I suggest you use the KonMari method combined with one that’s more flexible.

The main challenge when decluttering is being indecisive. To overcome this challenge, get four large boxes or laundry baskets or other types of containers for all the small stuff. Label the boxes or baskets as ‘Keep’, ‘Rubbish’, ‘Donate’ and ‘Maybe’. The Maybe pile will enable you to make faster decisions. You can always return to the Maybe pile later.

For larger items like furniture, get some sticky notes in different colours so you can identify what is to happen to each item; for example, a child’s name, charity, auction, council kerbside pickup and so on.

Decluttering larger items

If you or your loved one is going into aged care, you will have to get rid of almost all the furniture. When you’re assessing furniture, tag anything that’s broken or in poor condition and get it taken to the dump or put out for pickup when there’s a council clean-up. You can offer quality pieces to friends or family but don’t be offended if they don’t want them. That beautiful cedar sideboard may have suited your home but it won’t fit in most modern homes. You can send high-quality pieces to an auction house, so tag any potential auction pieces with a sticker. What’s left – furniture in good condition – can be donated to a local charity like St Vincent de Paul.

You can donate larger items like whitegoods, TV, CD player and so on if they’re in good working order and in good condition.

Decluttering smaller items

You might find it easier to go room by room.

• Bathroom: Clear out old medicines, cosmetics, shampoo and cleaning supplies. If you have out-of-date prescription medicines, it’s best to drop these off at your local pharmacy for safe disposal.

• Linen cupboard: Donate sheets and towels in good condition to a local charity. For any linens not in top condition, donate to a local vet who can use these items to keep animals more comfortable when they’re kept in overnight.

• Kitchen: Throw out worn kitchen utensils, pots and pans. Anything in good condition can be donated. Clear out old food and donate any in-date packaged food to a foodbank. Keep cleaning supplies only to use to clean the home once you’ve decluttered (although I recommend engaging a cleaning company to do this part. It’s much more time-consuming and tiring than you can imagine.) Some charities won’t take electrical appliances so check with the charity before donating appliances.

• Laundry: Discard all cleaning supplies and donate or dump your washing machine and dryer.

• Living room: Sort décor items into your Keep, Rubbish, Donate or Maybe piles. Your Keep pile will include sentimental items you might choose to photograph before donating or giving to family or friends. Books can be donated to Lifeline or to local charities.

• Bedroom: Sort clothing into the four piles. Throw away or donate coat hangers as long as they aren’t the flimsy wire hangers that can go into your recycle bin. Donate electrical appliances that can’t go to the aged care home.

• Paperwork: Sort paperwork into the four categories. Shred or recycle anything that’s not needed for legal or tax reasons.

• Photographs: If you or your loved one has shoeboxes full of photos, consider getting them digitised. I’ll write more about digitising your memories soon but let me say that getting your photos sorted and on a disk or memory stick will be a load off your mind.

Important: Give yourself a decluttering time limit

You might have imposed this anyway if you’re putting the house on the market on a certain date. However, don’t try to plough through the whole house in a weekend. Decluttering is exhausting both physically and emotionally. That’s why I suggest getting professional help.

Can I help with decluttering your home for sale?

I’ve lived and worked in The Hills for most of my life. With my network of real estate, retirement village and financial contacts, I can guide you to the next steps you need to take to achieve your life goals. If you’re unsure of where to start with decluttering your home or you would like someone to have your back as a seller’s advocate, I can help.