I live in a small town. We have been trying to sell our house for several months to no avail. There is very little for work around here so people are moving away and there is an abundance of homes for sale. Most of my showings have been on short notice. With stiff competition, I like to keep my home ready to show at any time, or at least in 20 minutes! Here is what works for me:
1.) Have fresh flowers in your home. I try to keep fresh flowers in our home at all times. I keep a small bouquet or single flower in the living room and bathroom, with a larger bouquet on the kitchen table. Flowers brighten up a space and make it look polished. I don't spend much money. I just grab a medium bouquet at my grocery store and split it between the 3 locations. The bouquets usually last 2 weeks. I just pick out any flowers that are wilting and rearrange!
2.) Stay on top of your dishes. I try to do dishes right after each meal. Home buyers don't want to see dirty dishes in the sink or stacked on the counters. We have limited counter space in our kitchen and I really don't need anything crowding it up. If we have not time to do dishes, I quickly rinse them out and stack them neatly in the sink, but that only happened once!
3.) Have a fast and easy place to corral toys. I live with an active toddler, who doesn't really understand the concept of putting things away. She is slowly becoming better at it, but still only picks up when she is instructed to. So, inevitably, her bedroom and my living room usually have toys scattered about. In Miss. E's bedroom we have a large toy box that used to belong to Hubby. In the living room we have a large basket with a lid on the ladder shelf and 3 smaller baskets on the T.V. stand. These locations make it quick and easy to put toys away in less than 5 minutes! I don't organize anything, I just toss the toys in and we are done. I try to curate the amount of toys that Miss. E has. I have either packed away or donated the toys that she has outgrown. This helps keep the chaos under control.
4.) Put things away when you are done with them. Honestly, this one sounds like common sense, but how easy is it to toss the mail on the counter and forget about it? Or throw an outfit over a chair instead of hanging it up? I used to be terrible about this! I like to keep a clean and organized home, however, I used to just take care of all of it at night, after Miss. E was in bed. This made for stressful and exhausting evenings. I have learned to put things away as I am done with them. I credit part of it to wanting to have the house show ready, but also partly because of the Kon-Mari method. (An update is coming soon!) Just file the mail as soon as you get home. Hang the outfit back up. You truly have the extra 30 seconds, I promise. It will make life so much easier!
5.) I stick to a cleaning schedule. I vacuum my floors quite often and I stick to a cleaning schedule so that nothing looks dirty or dusty. People can't see past dirt!
6.) I have a quick checklist as I am leaving the house. When I am pressed for time, I try to do what is most important. I tidy up, straighten the beds (Miss. E thinks that it's fun to crawl under the covers once the bed is made), take out the garbage (no one wants to smell anything funky!), open the curtains (let that natural light in!) and wipe down counters. This checklist helps me make sure that I am not forgetting anything that may jeopardize the showing.
How do you keep your house looking it's best? I would love to hear your ideas!
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