How do we get things done around here? Mostly by doing — and occasionally by panicking. When someone called unexpectedly and asked to see our house in an hour, we had a brief five- to ten-minute moment of panic. After that, we settled into action and used the remaining 50 minutes to do a focused clean-and-declutter sprint. The house was already generally tidy because we’d been planning to show it someday, but there’s a specific decluttering trick that makes cabinets and closets look more spacious and inviting. It helps potential buyers see the room, not your stuff. Here’s the process we used and how it worked in practice.
- Step 1: Grab two large plastic bags — big black lawn-and-leaf-style bags work best. They hold a lot and keep things out of sight. Smaller white kitchen bags are less useful for a quick whole-house purge.
- Step 2: Label one bag for donations or trash and the other as a short-term storage bag for items you want to keep but don’t need in sight while selling the house.
- Step 3: Move systematically through every room, closet, and cupboard. Put anything you can comfortably part with into the donate/toss bag. If you haven’t used it recently, or it clutters the space visually, it’s a good candidate for removal.
- Step 4: Keep this in mind: if you don’t want an item in this house, you’re unlikely to want to move it to the next one. Let that thought make decisions easier and speed the process.
- Step 5: Don’t worry that the donate bag won’t get to Goodwill immediately. Because the bag is a temporary holding place, when you’re unsure, toss the item in the bag anyway — you can sort later when you’re not under time pressure.
- Step 6: As you go, anything you want to keep but don’t need during open houses or showings should go into the store-out-of-sight bag. This creates cleaner lines and makes cabinets and shelves appear larger and better organized.
- Step 7: Treat the store-out-of-sight bag like a mini Pod dropped on your driveway — it’s temporary. The goal is to create visual space now, not to make permanent storage decisions in the heat of the moment.
- Step 8: When you finish, put both bags in your car trunk to sort later. Break them into donate, trash, and keep-for-open-houses piles at a less hectic time.
In a hurry, cabins and closets are the obvious targets, but we also found that some spots are unlikely to be inspected closely. For example, most people glance into cabinets and closets, but few will reach into a laundry hamper. In a time crunch, your hamper can be an acceptable temporary hiding spot for a couple of small items you didn’t get a chance to pack or shelve properly. Not that you should make a habit of hiding clutter there — it’s just a last-minute trick when the doorbell rings and you need every surface to look uncluttered.
We used that trick ourselves: in the final minute before the visitors arrived, we tucked a few stray books and magazines into the laundry basket. It’s not elegant, but it works in a pinch. The bigger point is creating an environment that feels open and well cared for. Clear counters, partially empty shelves, and organized closets give potential buyers the impression that the home is spacious and well maintained.
After the showing, tackle the bags in your trunk. Donate what you can, throw away trash, and keep a small selection of essentials in a bag that can stay in the car for future open houses. Over time, this simple routine of quick decluttering before showings not only improves how your house looks but also helps you make clearer decisions about what to keep when preparing for a move.
Bottom line: when you have limited time, prioritize visible surfaces and storage areas, use two large bags to sort items quickly, and remember that temporary out-of-sight storage is just that — temporary. A little focused effort can turn last-minute panic into a calm, presentable home.