- DE-Clutter!!! This means get all the crap that sits around with no purpose OUT! You wouldn't believe how many houses I have looked at online that OMG have so much clutter laying around! People can't tell how much room they have to put their crap there if you don't make space for them to see.
- DE-Clutter!!! Yep I said it again. Get 3 boxes for each level of the house or each room if you've collected a LOT, and label them "Trash", "Give-Away" & "Store". There should be more trash & give-away than storage, but I'm not the boss of you.
- Curb Appeal. This is really where you start, in case you get drive-by's before you get showings. They want to see if the outside is taken care of, and if it's not, they'll just keep driving. This doesn't mean you have to expensively landscape, so here's what I did: mow (well brad did, not me actually), hose down front of house, wash front windows, put fresh potted flowers at the entrance, with as many colors as you can. Clean the junk off the porch & put the trash cans in the back. Leave a few chairs where they can envision themselves hanging out on the porch in the evening with friends.
- Take down all personal family pictures. We decorate with pictures of our kids, so we have a lot to take down, but that cuts down on clutter, so it's good. We put them under our bed, but if you're motivated to box them up, go ahead!
- Think of your bedroom like a hotel room. Simple is better. Make as much space on the floor as possible. Same with the bathroom. Nothing on the counters.
- Dining room: Set the table with dishes, placemats, nice glasses & a centerpiece. (candle)
- Kitchen: TAKE OFF the magnets & junk on the fridge. Shine up the appliances & sink. Use Murphy's Oil to shine up the cabinets. Clear the countertops!
- Appeal to all 5 senses: Candles or Wallflowers for smelling, turn down the AC, put a dish of chocolates out where the info for your house is, and turn on quiet classical music in the iHome or stereo.
- Clean! Clean! Clean! Yuck. I hate this part. If I had the money, I'd hire it done in the beginning, and then keep it clean until it sells. With kids this really stinks, but here's the rules in our house right now: When you wake up, make your bed! If you get out a toy, put it back, if you eat, use paper plates & clean up after yourself! Easy, obvious stuff you'd think, but well....no. So here are my favorite cleaning tricks to use:
- Magic Erasers: there are even generic brands that work, and they clean the gunk off of the kitchen sink, the bathroom sinks & the bathtub! It even cleans boogers off the wall. (Luke had a "Booger Wall of Fame" in his last room where he didn't feel like getting up to get a kleenex. Lovely.)
- Clorox Wipes: Keep them handy in the bathroom & kitchen for countertops & kid muck.
- Windex Wipes: Keep them handy in the bathroom & kitchen for shining sinks & mirrors...quickly!
- Pledge Wipes: You got it! Keep them handy in your bedroom & living room for dusting last minute particles off the wood. This is when you realize how many little trinkets need dusting, and really just need to be given away for someone else to dust!
- Swiffers: wet & dry! Love these little inventions, so easy to wipe away dust from wood floors or clean the tile!
- Keep that Dyson ready to vacuum, but our favorite tool is our little Dustbuster to clean up after the messiest eater in our household right now and you know who I'm talking about! The Daddy. of course.
So to sum it up, in the last 30 minutes before someone barges in to violate your personal space, run around like a crazy person picking up anything out that's not supposed to be, shine up sink faucets, wipe out sinks with dry towel, flush the toilet, fluff pillows, dustbust floor, light candles & run away to pray, and maybe get an ice cream cone too.
