I’m Ilyce Glink and welcome back to expertrealestatetips.net.

One of the first things you’ll want to do when you’re selling your home is to get rid of clutter. And if you’re like me, there are specific areas of your house that become clutter zones. When you’re getting your house ready to sell, you’ll want to attack those zones first, so your house feels really clean and beautiful.

Our homes are full of clothes, toys, mementos, tools, broken appliances, books, papers, filing cabinets and inherited treasures.

I know you may be attached to a particular collection you have, or perhaps a favorite collection of memorabilia. But when you’re selling your home, you really need to pack most of these things away.

While they’re treasured pieces to you, they can really get in the way of a buyer seeing all of the best features of your house.

The whole idea of uncluttering your home is to cut down on the amount of stuff you’re displaying to the world. You want buyers to enter your home and get a sense of spaciousness and graciousness.

So, the first thing to do is basically remove everything from tables, countertops and bookshelves. Pack away all of your collectibles and tchochkes. Pack away all but one of your family photos from on top of the piano.

Take last season’s clothing out of your closets so they’ll seem bigger. Pack extra sweaters in boxes and get them out of the way of house hunters — who will then think you have more closet space than you really have.

If you have papers and files in a home office, pack them inside a cabinet. If you’ve got a pile of mail in the dining room, you’ll want to get rid of that as well.

Packing away your stuff is a great idea — it’ll make your home feel bigger and roomier but it will also give you a head start on your packing. But you don’t want to clutter up your basement with a ton of boxes. So if you have a ton of things, consider renting a storage locker until after you’ve sold your home.