Tips for Selling - While Still Living In Your House - With a Family of Five! And... Lucky #13

Tomorrow we have a showing scheduled here at the house! And it will be the 13th scheduled showing. Um. Lucky #13! Maybe. Number 13 has always been my lucky number. I am not positive why. Maybe because I look to go against the "grain" and everyone thinks #13 is bad luck - or maybe because as a kid I couldn't wait to turn 13! A teenager! - It was just always my lucky number - always.
 
So lets hope for the best.  Send some positive vibes.  Mr. L & I are getting super antsy.  We want to live in our new house!  It would be a pain to do all this work and not get to move.  I mean we are already jumping through hoops with the mortgage company.  Ugh.

 

 I've gotten pretty good at getting the house into shape.  We have a real routine down.  - First off we have bare minimum going on in the kids rooms.  A few toys - the rest we have donated, thrown away, or stored in ONE BIN each out in the shed.  Amazing.  The littles have fallen into a routine of getting there beds made before school.  Being that we have hardly no toys in the house there is not much to pick up.  Except shoes.  We have a lot of shoes.  For a family of five I think 50 pairs is too much.

When we have a showing this is what goes down... 

 Tips for Cleaning

 Up

*Adjust the beds {no 6, 7 & 8 year old are PERFECT at this art of bed making.}
*Empty Trash Bins
*Clean Sinks & Toilets
*Wipe Down Bathroom Floors
*Vacuum Up Stairs.
*Dust Banister & Rail

 Down

*Load any Dishes into Dishwasher
*Clean Counters
*Dust Tables
*Put a Clean Tablecloth Down
*Take Out All Trash
*Remove Dog Crate & Dog  ... & littles! {They aren't allowed in once the floors are happening!!} 
*Vacumm
*Mop

 Out

*Mow {If needed}
*Sweep Decks
*Sweep Walkway

Daily Chores  

{...these will keep your home in a condition so that you can handle a showing scheduled in the next hour! ... And keep your sanity!}

*Minimum Toys
*Make Beds Every Morning
*One Load of Laundry per Day
*Run Dishwasher & Unload after Dinner - This way the littles can put there dinner dishes in & breakfast dishes the next morning.  Eliminating the sink mess. 
*Keep A Coordinating Set of Towels in Bath at All Times.  {Don't use them.  Tell husband & kids. Do. NOT. Use. Them.}

Be prepared & flexible.  Ready to leave the house at anytime of day & any weather.  I have sat out on my neighbors porch for an hour in the heat, with the pug, only to find the showing was canceled.  I have been  my family has been incredible flexible.  They get excited when we have a showing & we all pitch in to keep the house clean - yet functional.  When we all have the same goal in mind, a new home, its easy to pull together.   Below you can see our goal, its amazing, that its reachable - if we can just sell this house.