Tips for Decluttering Your Vacation Rental
Why You Should Declutter
Even if your vacation rental is maximalist in every sense of the word, short-term rental guests rarely enjoy staying in an overly-cluttered and claustrophobic environment. Not only does taking care of clutter make your rental more welcoming to potential guests, it also makes it quicker and easier for cleaning crews to turn over the home after a stay.
There’s nothing worse than unintentional clutter ruining an otherwise beautiful vacation home, and clutter may be losing you guests and potential income as a property owner, especially if it is shown in your listing photos. That’s why, today, we’ll be diving into some tips and tricks for decluttering your vacation rental.
Take Stock of the Clutter Situation in Your Rental
Before you begin your decluttering process, it’s important to sit back and take stock of the situation at your vacation rental. What kind of clutter is most pervasive–is it an overflow of paperwork on the dining room table or is it just that the cabinets in your kitchen are so stuffed with pots and pans that they’re hard to get into? Not only will figuring out this information help you to take care of any immediate messes, it will also give you a chance to prevent them from piling up once again.
Once you’ve had a moment to look it all over, make a list of the worst areas in your rental, going from room to room. Tackle those problem areas of clutter first, then create a plan to stop this clutter from happening in the first place. For example, if your kitchen cabinets are too overstuffed, pare down your assortment of pots and pans so that it will all fit into the allotted space.
Take Care of Paper and Mail Clutter Immediately
One of the most pervasive (and easily-avoidable) types of clutter in a vacation home is paperwork and mail. Whether that’s fliers from your homeowner’s association about upcoming events or meetings, communication from your property manager, or even important information about taxes and licensing your rental in your city–there’s just so many types of paperwork that pop up when you own a vacation rental, and it can turn into a cluttered mess that guests find unsightly.
Instead of letting paperwork and mail begin to pile up, put a system in place to prevent that from occurring. As we’ll dive into later on in this article, the easiest way to do that is to have a designated spot for mail, paperwork, and other various forms of paper clutter. Create a spot where you can put all of your mail once it comes in and let your housekeepers, inspectors, and property managers know that there is a designated place to put all paperwork so it doesn’t begin to pile up yet again.
Utilize the Four Box Method and Purge Your Rental Periodically
Sometimes rental owners have to purge the clutter in a big way, like if the home is getting completely out of control from a large amount of owner stays, for example, or you’re working on preparing a previously private vacation home for short-term guests.
However, there is one very effective (and relatively quick) way to help you purge unwanted and unnecessary items: the four box method.
The idea of this method is pretty simple and straightforward–gather four large, empty boxes and label each of them accordingly: “to keep”, “to donate”, “to throw away”, and “to store elsewhere”.
Comb through every room in your vacation rental with these boxes at-hand and decide which items you want to keep, which to donate to a new home, which to throw in the trash, and which to move to your personal home. Not only is this method effective for minimizing any clutter in your vacation rental, it’ll also help you to understand which items are necessary for guests to use and which items just take up space while adding no value whatsoever.
Have a Place for Everything and Put Everything in its Place
Our final tip for vacation rental owners is to work on preventing clutter from ever occurring by having a place for everything and putting everything in its place. From easy changes like a basket to store the remotes to the TV and sound system to big organizational investments like installing a cubby wall in the living room, there are so many options for home organization and storage these days.
One of the easiest ways to implement this tip is to think of ways to declutter and pare down every room in your vacation rental. In the bathroom, for instance, purchase small tubs and plastic shelf organizers to fill with essentials rather than having items like hand soap and lotion strewn across the counter or rolling around in the vanity drawers.
The most important thing to remember is that having a designated spot for just about every item in your rental can help to cut down on any and all future clutter. Plus, it makes everything look more organized and tidy.
More Tips and Tricks for Vacation Rental Owners
Decluttering your vacation rental can be a trying task, especially if you’ve previously used the property as a private vacation home and it’s overflowing with personal items and piles of clutter. However, if you take it one step at a time and follow these tips, you’ll find that your vacation rental is looking much better without a huge time investment.
On the hunt for more ways to improve your processes and methods as a vacation rental owner? Take a look at our blog on creating a smooth guest check-in experience or our guide to screening vacation rental guests for better experiences.