Moving out of an apartment can be a real hassle, especially if you are a procrastinator at heart like me, but it is important that you leave your apartment squeaky clean to be able to get that deposit back. Follow our tips on how to declutter your apartment while making some money back on the things you don’t really need. Moving out can be pretty easy if you have a list of what to do.
Have a yard sales
I recommend adopting the Marie Kondo style of cleaning up. Have three piles, one for the things you are going to keep, one for things you can sell/donate and one for items that are beyond repair and need to be thrown away. According to Kondo, you should get rid of everything that no longer sparks joy. Sort through your belongings and ask if it it still has meaning or purpose in your life. If it does you keep it, if it doesn’t you either throw it, donate it or sell it. After sorting through all your stuff, you can now sell the stuff you no longer need and rake in the extra money, which will come in handy during the move. If you’ve been saving an item that might come in handy someday or that you might use someday, the likelihood that this happens is next to none; you are better selling it off to someone who actually needs it. After the yard sale, assess everything that remained unsold and if you still don’t want to throw them away, you can always donate it to a thrift shop or a homeless shelter.
Clean, clean and more cleaning.
You will be a literal maid while moving, and you’ll have to get the apartment spot on before your landlord inspects it and to gives you your deposit back. Clean all the appliances that will be left behind, like the fridge, the oven and the washer and dryer. This one is not for the deposit as much as it is a sign of courtesy for the next tenant because you wouldn’t like to like in a hell hole of an apartment and neither would they. Cleaning might seem like a simple task, but it demands a lot of patience, especially if you’ve been living in that apartment for a while; consider it as your spring cleaning. Dust accumulates under everything, and you can no longer take the saying out of sight out of mind literally. Vacuum everything, wash the windows, the bathroom, everything that you can think of. Now, I’m not telling you to scrub the walls but if they look like a literal crime scene then you might consider scrubbing them. Believe me; you don’t want to leave this for the last minute as it’s a real pain to complete and is time-consuming.
Fix everything that needs fixing
Repair your drywall; there might be a few dents or scraps that were created from doorknobs or furniture. If you don’t fix this, it’s coming out of your deposit, and your landlord will do their best not to give you your deposit back. Fix everything that is visibly broken. You can fill small crevices created by thumbtacks with spackling paste that will make it look less obvious. Once you get your deposit back, it’s the landlord’s problem, not yours. Patch up any major holes and repaint your wall if they look knackered. Take pictures of the apartment after you’ve fixed everything as proof and you can use this when your landlord tells you that things needs fixing. This is only if you can’t be there during their inspection and is your fail-safe against any scams. This avoids situations where it’s your word against theirs, since you have proof of everything that was there after you left. You also need to be conscientious of the deposit scheme of the state or area you live in to get your whole deposit back.
Sound of in the comment section below if you are currently planning to move out of your current apartment.
