Our house has been on the market since September 27 & trust me, we have learned A LOT the last month & a half on how to live in a house while selling one!
1. Bed skirts are your friend!
Can’t find a place for husband’s hideous  big computer table? Fold it down & hide it under the kid’s bed & fold down the bed skirt.
Find a random pillow, coloring book, dog bone 10 minutes before people are supposed to be at your house for  a showing?! HIDE IT UNDER THE BED & COVER IT UP WITH THE BED SKIRT!
Seriously, the bed skirt has saved my life on more than one occasion. Just remember to clean it out when the showing is done, otherwise, you forget it’s there.
2. Always keep Windex, Resolve Carpet Cleaner, Magic Eraser & some Kaboom on hand AT ALL TIMES!
I drive Todd nuts with all the carpet cleaning. The carpets upset me the most & I’m constantly walking around the house scrubbing the smallest of small anythings that might have the appearance of a stain. Todd thinks it’s ridiculous & O (19 months) has started following me around the house with a scrub brush. But I don’t care, there won’t be a spot on there if I can help it!
Windex has become crucial & I’m starting to sound like the dad from the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, “Need WINDEX?!!”
3. You don’t need as much stuff as you think you do!
Our house pretty much looks like someone robbed us blind. We cleaned the house out while we were getting it ready to go on the market. And you know what?! I haven’t missed any of it! It really has made me rethink how much junk we keep in the house, and for what?! A lot we gave to Goodwill & a lot is in storage. It feels good to have the house so decluttered.
4. You run, clean & cry…a lot.
Have you ever watched Design Star on HGTV? Whenever the contestants are finishing a challenge, there is usually a lot of running as time comes to an end. I used to think that they were crazy to run. Then I started selling a home & yeah, when you have 2 kids in your house 4 & under and you’re trying to get it ready for showing, you literally RUN from room to room getting it all ready.
For example, we had a showing on Saturday. In a matter of minutes, literally, I walked (no, ran) into the kitchen, loaded a bowl, a cup & a spoon, then came back into the living room. O had applied PURPLE glue stick to the wall & our massive glass back door, had colored fireplace tiles in GREEN crayon, & Lboy had spilled hot chocolate all over the dining room table, which leaked onto the floor.
So yeah, Magic Eraser, Windex & Resolve were my best friends. And I did a lot of running around cleaning & I *might* have done some crying too (I also might have hid in my closet for a few while getting a grip.)
Told ya.
5. God is in charge of the timing.
Time spent waiting on God, is time never wasted. I can’t explain it better than that….
Have you ever sold a house? What did you learn from it all?
Have done this many times … and in the awful market here … had this house on for a yr and a half, with three cats, two kids and a dog …think … a.lot.of.wine.
Secretly it works for my ocd, they HAVE to keep it clean, and I kind of like it 😉
sisters from another mister Most Recent Post…Old School Blogging
I soooo understand! It’s so exhausting!!! Lots of wine….hmmm….I need to be buying more of that probably!