One of the most stressful mornings of my life was when a
group of realtors from a big local office marched through my home like an army
of ants inspecting the place for potential buyers. Having them peek into
cupboards and closets as they made their way in and out through rooms of my
home couldn’t have made more anymore anxious if I was standing there naked!
Every day for weeks I had to keep the place spotless for
showings while my twin 5-year-old boys and 3-year-old daughter were right
behind me messing it up!
But, I lived to tell the tale and so can you.
Here are a few of my tips for getting a home ready for sale
while still trying to live your life inside of it:
Cull your home with a friend
Too much stuff to move around and clean is your worst enemy.
First, simplify your life by getting rid of stuff. A friend is necessary for
this task, because a friend will have an unbiased eye when it comes to what
should stay and what should go. Avoid the expense of a storage unit by being
willing to part with your stuff either through donation or a moving sale.
Next, this is an excellent time to institute a cleaning
schedule. If you didn’t have one before and you need a lot of motivation and
instruction, I recommend the Flylady method. Flylady provides detailed lists
and e-mail reminders that will help give you a good start and keep you
motivated.
Your house gets dirty every day and that is not going to
change in the new home, so it’s best to stay in the good habit of maintaining
it every day.
Remove excess furniture and extraneous items off surfaces
Recruit your family with bribery or tears, or whatever will
get them motivated to pick up and put away what they get out. Help them create
good habits like wiping down sinks and counter tops after use, getting clothes
into the dirty clothes hamper after they come off and hanging up back packs and
jackets as they come in the door. Again these are habits that will stay with
them in the new house.
Because I am so interested in homes and their upkeep, I
often look through real estate websites to check out other people’s homes and
I’m surprised with how much people leave out on their counter tops and tables. Stash
the blender and toaster in a cupboard.
Cull your magazines. Remove the collection of beer bottles from above
your kitchen cabinets (I can’t believe I’m saying this but, some of you need to
hear it.) And again, have a friend use a critical eye on your home to help to
pare down extraneous items and tchotchkes.
Send bottles to the recycling center
If it all seems so overwhelming, just think about how
wonderful it will feel to start off in your new home with less stuff and with
good habits for its upkeep established. No junk, no ‘ants’, and no beer bottles.
When we put our former home on the market, we had a 10-year-old, a 7-year-old, and a 3-month-old. I thought the constant cleaning would do me in, but lucky for me, we had a buyer after just three days! Whew!
ReplyDelete