Property expert
We Buy Any House
When you’re looking to move out of a family home after a divorce, there are a lot of feelings and difficulties that you’ll need to deal with. One of the biggest is the decision of what to do with the house, and what to do with all the things inside of it so here are some helpful ways to lower the stress:
- One room at a time
Decluttering a home under any circumstance tends to be really challenging, but when you’re getting ready to move out after a divorce, it becomes even harder. Approaching it in the best way possible will reduce the stress, so make sure that you take things at a pace that you’re comfortable with and don’t overwhelm yourself.
Tackle one room at a time, and don’t move elsewhere until you’ve finished in the room that you’ve started. It can be easy to try and declutter the whole house in one go, but you’ll quickly find yourself losing motivation which just makes the job harder. It’s best to start in smaller areas, for example, tackling a set of drawers or a bookshelf, as seeing the progress that you’ve made will keep you moving forward.
- Keep it amicable
Dealing with a divorce is an incredibly emotional time, and while this is easier said than done, keeping things amicable will make a big difference. It isn’t always possible, depending on the reasoning behind the breakdown of the marriage, but if you’re able to, staying on the best terms that you can with your ex-partner will mean the process is smoother.
Being able to discuss with them what you’re doing with certain items, important information about the sale of the property, and any other issues that you might run into. If you aren’t able to speak with them, these processes often get dragged out and mean that it goes on for much longer, putting yourself under more stress and having to suffer longer than necessary.
By being on speaking terms, you will find dealing with the decluttering and the sale of the home easier, be able to get it dealt with faster, and leave yourself free to move on and start fresh.
- Yours, Mine, Ours pile (personal property, marital property)
When you start to pack and declutter, you’ll need to sort things into basic piles to decide what you want to do with them. In this case, splitting them into three sections at first will give you a better idea of what you’re dealing with.
You should designate things as yours, your ex-partners, and anything that’s shared, so you can then decide what you want to do with them afterwards. Anything that is yours you can deal with as you like, and the items within your ex-partner’s pile are their responsibility to handle.
Anything that’s in the shared pile will likely need to be discussed to decide what you want to do with it. This can be anything from furniture that you shared, to items with sentimental value that you bought together.
Some couples will split things down the middle by monetary value to make things as fair as possible, or if one person is going to be keeping the house, the other person may take all of the shared items to even it out. You can decide what’s going to be best between you – if you can’t decide, it may end up in the court proceedings, but being able to deal with it in advance will make things easier for you both.
- Plan it out
Knowing what you’re doing makes every job much easier, especially one that’s as difficult as decluttering after a divorce. By making a plan, you’ll find that things progress faster, and you’ll feel more in control which is something that a lot of people crave during this time.
Approach your clearing out with an idea of what you’re doing and when, especially if you’re working toward a specific timeframe to move out and sell the house.
Planning to be in the house at different times than your ex-partner can also be a good way to make things easier, as it will give you both some distance and let you focus on the job at hand rather than getting distracted.
You can discuss this between yourself – remember that this approach isn’t the best for everyone, especially if you’re still living together, but you can still plan when you need to be packed by and when you want to do certain rooms to make sure that you’re all sorted by the time you need to go.
Dealing with a divorce is one of the most stressful things that we can go through, and when you add moving out of your home onto that it becomes even more difficult. By using these ideas, you can make your life a little easier and help you move on!
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About Holly Herbert
Holly is a property expert for We Buy Any House dealing specially with individuals who have been affected by divorce.
She works with individuals who are struggling financially from this, making sure they get their house in the best condition to sell so they can move forward and get to where they want to be in life.