The Minimalist Lives Here

Now that you have somehow managed to settle down and know that selling is the right thing to be doing right now, you need to start taking the U out of your HOUSE. If you can't you're HOSEd. I hope you see what I did there--I wake up at night with these sort of thoughts.

At any rate, you have to step back and depersonalize the space. If you have items that have special emotional significance to you, you need to get them out of the house. I know that sounds mean, but if you're really going to sell it, you have to wipe away any trace of yourself. Not only do I mean that on a spiritual and emotional level, I also mean it on a physical level. Stuff that shouts "I live here!" has to go. You don't have to throw it away, of course; just pack it away and store it, at your mother in law's house or in a storage unit. This includes, but is not limited to, very specific collections or hobbies, wedding, baby and family photographs, and artwork on the refrigerator. There might be some emotionally significant things that are actually a part of the house or yard--a tree planted in memory of a loved one or in honor of someone's birth, a mural on the nursery wall or the room that Hildi did when you were on Trading Spaces. In these cases, you can choose to leave them with the house as long as you can walk away from that emotional connection and as long as these built in items are not obviously personal. A mural that says "Welcome, precious Adelaide, to our family," is a lot more personalized than the lovely Japanese maple outside.