Selling Your Home: Tips for Busy Parents on Keeping It Neat

Selling a home can be a stressful event, but when you’re a busy parent, it always seems there’s so much to do and think about on top of your everyday responsibilities, and it can quickly become overwhelming. Preparing your home to put on the market, looking for a new home, making arrangements for the move, and dealing with the financial end take up a lot of time and energy, and when it comes to cleaning your current house and keeping it spotless for showings and open houses, it can be a major undertaking. However, there are some easy ways you can keep your home clean and neat during the process and reduce your anxiety as well.

First, you can ask for help. If it’s in your budget, consider hiring a professional service to give the house a deep-clean and then to come back periodically to maintain it. This is a great way to take some of the weight off your shoulders during a busy time. You can also declutter and get organized, as this will help you keep things straight and will make it easier to pick up quickly when you have a last-minute viewing. Here are a few things to keep in mind.

Get Some Help

If you have some wiggle room in your budget, consider hiring a maid service for a deep clean, as well as a professional housekeeper who can visit regularly to maintain the clean. Turning to the pros can significantly free up your time to take care of other things. A cleaning service will take care of flooring, windows, and all the big jobs that will be time-consuming for you to tackle on your own. Hiring a maid service from day-to-day, ensures things are put away, beds are made and the lawn is tidied. Some housekeepers even help with minor meal prep, which is a boon for busy families.

Get Organized

Getting organized is an essential part of making sure your home is ready to put on the market. You’ll need to go through each room and declutter, as this will make it much easier to tidy up on short notice and help you stage your home for visits and showings. If necessary, add some temporary storage solutions that can be hidden away, such as baskets and bins that will hold toys, books, or kitchen tools (you can find plenty of affordable options starting at around $6.99 at the Container Store). These can be placed in cupboards for easy cleanup and will allow you to keep things neat, which will help when it comes time to pack.

Clean As You Go

It’s not always easy to clean up right away, but if you and your family can get into the habit of tidying up as soon as a mess is made, it will be much easier to clean as opposed to waiting until the end of the week to do it all at once. Never leave dishes in the sink or laundry in the dryer. Also, always wipe down surfaces in the kitchen after any cooking, and have your little ones pick up their toys after playing. This will help you stay on top of chores every day.

Break Up the Tasks

When you have a long list of tasks to take care of and chores to do, it can be overwhelming to face it all at once. That’s why it’s helpful to break it down into manageable jobs. Rather than “packing up” on a given day, tackle one room each day of the week. You can also hand out chores to family members so that everyone has a job to do on a particular day. This will help to reduce your stress during the selling process and will ensure that everything is taken care of.

Selling your home comes with a lot of responsibilities, but if you can get organized and create a plan for each job in each room of your house, you’ll be able to get your house into shape in no time and get the best sale price for it as well.

Content provided by Kris Louis. Parentingwithkris.com