Moving can be hard. 

And no matter what has prompted your decision to sell your home, it’s been just that– your home. So saying goodbye to it may, for good reason, have its emotional moments. Even if you’re selling to move on to something better, leaving the place that you’ve called home can be difficult.

A few things can help this process and it makes a big difference if you’ve already identified where you are moving. Visualizing yourself in your new property can ease the sadness of leaving the old one behind. However, this may not always be the case that you have a new place picked out before you put your old one on the market.

Thankfully, there’s one thing that helps ease the pain of leaving your old home: De-cluttering.  This is an essential step in preparing your home to go on the market. Use this as an excuse to finally start packing. As you pack away your items bit by bit, your home will start to feel less familiar and you can begin to detach.

On the subject of packing…start packing and sorting at the same time. Over the time you’ve lived in the home you’ve no doubt accumulated things you no longer need. Use this as an opportunity to get rid of anything you don’t want to take with you. This can be a very cathartic exercise and can be part of the “saying goodbye to the old” process.

Additionally, removing things like family photographs and other personally identifying items from your home first, will start to make your home feel less like yours faster. Doing this may start to feel a little cold and impersonal which fortunately, will also help with the detachment process.

And with that I say: Moving out can also mean moving on. And although it’s always tough to say au revoir, it’s always good to start something new. De-cluttering and packing up can help ease the pain of breaking up with your old home, but it can also prepare you to start your fresh new life in your fresh new home.

Good luck, and happy packing.