I’ve been a real estate agent in San Francisco for 22 years. I’ve been married to the same person for more than 20 years. I’ve given birth to two sons. I’ve driven across the U.S. three times in a Chevrolet Vega. I’ve climbed down a fire escape ladder in my Stuart Weitzman shoes while holding a kitty litter box sloshing full of rainwater and cat poop.

But the hardest thing by far that I’ve ever done is sell my house of 15 years. This involved purging, staging, showing, packing, organizing, moving, purging again, unpacking. In other words, it was Pure Hell.

Two months later, I’m beginning to recover and I realize I have some new insights and resources to share with


1) real estate professionals to help them empathetically and effectively support their clients and


2) people who are in the process of moving and/or selling.

Here’s my tip for today: Check out the website www.unclutterer.com. More specifically, check out this article by unclutterer’s editor Erin Rooney Doland that appeared in Real Simple magazine.

In order to purge effectively it’s imperative to get yourself into the optimum head space: a self-compassionate yet ruthless psychological stance. Doland’s 10 Commandments of letting go can make all the difference.

Print them out and post them on your forehead. It’ll make an impossible task much easier.