My goodness, I knew getting our house together to be put on the market would be a lot of work but man, it never ends! Between oh working 45-50 hours a week plus two kids under the age of 3, life is crazy as it is. Add working on your house plus planning your sister’s baby shower and you have one very tired mama.

I have to give a huge shout out to my hubby- he has been incredible this whole process and whenever he has a free second, he is painting or cleaning. Here is a few things we have been doing.

1- Find an amazing realtor. We are using a new realtor this time around just because Michele, our previous one is in the process of moving to Florida herself so she has a lot on her plate. We are using our friend Laura and she has been going above and beyond for us. From coming over day 1 with a pile of local comps for us to talking me off a ledge when I get a tad bit stressed over this process to hiring us a handyman. I think this is KEY when selling & buying a new home.

2-Storing/Cleaning up. I have gotten rid of a ton of our baby stuff by giving bags of clothes, seats, (why do kids need so many seats?) and toys to my sister. (YAY!) Then we started doing little things like putting all of our DVD’s in a cd case holder- the space we have saved by throwing out cases is so awesome. (we don’t buy dvds anymore but we or should I say Dave, had a ton from years past haha!) We stored away a bunch of my girl’s books- keeping plenty out but cleaning up our living room turned library. We rented out a storage unit starting last weekend and filled it up with our mess in the garage. Futon, book shelf, extra chairs from the kitchen, bins of decorations etc. I know when I look at homes, I tend to lean towards ones with less clutter so I think that is important on our end to do the same. Tip: find a storage unit where you can borrow their truck for the day. Saved us $$!

3. Curb Appeal. My dad came over last week and cleaned our picket fence then painted the doors and many spots that have seen a lot of sun, snow and Bradley the last few years. (Thanks Dad!!) Dave has been working on the lawn, new mulch, weeding, making sure our trees and hedges are all done and put some new stones up the side of our driveway. I would like to say I helped in this process by buying new front/side door mats. You’re welcome.

4. The Handyman Can. Like I mentioned early, our realtor not only hired us a handyman but picked up the cost. (Whattt?!) yes. amazing. We have had 2 holes in our basement ceiling for oh about 3 years now after we had a new gas line put in. We had those closed up, bathroom drain fixed, & some molding fixed up. Every little bit helps and now everything is all ready to go! We took a ton of pictures down in the house so Dave has been spackling and doing paint touch ups all week.

5. Staging. Last but not least…this part I thought would be the most fun since I watch HGTV and I think I know what I’m doing. Like I said, we took pictures down, cleaned up and did little things like taking down the million magnets and artwork that filled our fridge, putting away appliances we don’t use, taking some furniture out- like the large nursery chair we had in Kayla’s room that no one uses anymore except to throw toys or clothes on. Laura is going to assist when we have pictures taken- whew! Some days I want to take everything down but, we still live here. This is a loved house with 2 little kids and a 65lb dog, so we can only do so much. I want people to picture their lives here and see how wonderful of a house it is!

Next week our house will be listed, I will keep sharing more of this journey! 🙂 Have a great day all! I can’t wait to post next week about my sister’s shower we are having this weekend. yay!