I own her home, and there are significant expenses: lawn care and snow removal, insurance , heat, etc. I want to want to engage her in disposal of contents and ask her what she would like to gift to various people. Nothing doing - "I don't want to talk about that!" The sale would also provide for her continuing care. She will never be able to return home.
Since you own her home it's yours to sell. However, if you are planning on depending upon her to divvy things up and designate special items to certain people you will probably never get the sale accomplished. You will have to do it without her assistance if you want to get this done because she will never want to talk about it.
You know what items of your mom's are meaningful to her, what items are meaningful to certain family members. Set these aside.
If you try to explain to your mom that she needs the money from the house in order to continue paying for her care she may understand--eventually--but she may not and proceed to kick and scream throughout the whole process. My brother and I finally got our family home of 40 years cleaned out, rehabbed, and ready to sell when my dad decided that he wanted to live there again, alone. We told him that it was on the market, that it was staged already, and that we had gone into debt to clean this house up and we needed our money back. My dad said that was HIS house and he'd pitch a tent in the backyard. I said fine, but don't call me when the realtor arrests you for trespassing or vagrancy or whatever. And this was after my dad had put the house in our hands to sell.
Elderly people get nuts about their homes and I understand why. That's their home, there are emotional attachments there. But you know as well as I do that there is no reason for your mom's house to sit there, costing money, when the money could go towards her care.
You can try to get her to understand but thank goodness the house is in your name.
As POA you have an obligation to take care of your aunt, that is enough, you do not need to be a property manager as well. Additionally the money is needed for her care. Do what you know you need to do, explain it once and move on.
On your question, sounds like you are trying to do what is best for your loved one. Gently let her know what you would like to do, put the things aside that you know mean something to her and to those she loves and do what you need to do for her best interests. It is never easy...ever.
I would start organizing things for disposition, with the ones that she would miss the least first. You might mention it again after she's settled in, but drop the issue if she continues to reject considering it.
If there's no consideration of her ever returning to her home, then go ahead with cleaning out the house but don't discuss your actions with her. No sense upsetting her.
Besides SA, you could also hold a garage sale, but be prepared for some loss as every one I've known who has had one has said that pilferers do show up. Estate auctions are another disposal method, but you'll pay a percentage to the auctioneer.
Another option is to check for a military charity. When my sister died, I had to dispose of a lot of heavy workout equipment in the basement that required at least a few people to move it safely up and outside. SA wouldn't pick up anything in the house, and we couldn't move up the equipment ourselves.
I called 411 and found a local military charity which also provides housing for ex-military members. They came in (including my father, all branches of the service except the Coast Guard were represented!) and took everything I wanted to donate. It was a perfect arrangement for us, and my father had a chance to talk with some other Vets.
Best wishes for this difficult and sometimes daunting task.