Clean House While Selling – My Plan of Attack

Keeping the house clean is a huge task on it’s own when you’ve got 4 kids. Keeping the house clean enough to show to prospective buyers on any given day with only 2 hours advance notice? Well, I didn’t even want to try! But I pulled on my big girl pants, took a couple of weeks to find my groove and now I’m making it work.

The very first step for me was to stop procrastinating. I’ve always been bad about leaving things for later. Clean clothes out of the dryer? Put them in a basket for later. Toys on the floor at bedtime? Put them in a bin and push it to the side of the room for tomorrow. Stack of mail? I’ll get to it eventually. This had to stop. Now, even on my bad days, I’m picking up as I go. I save nothing for tomorrow.

I tend to think of my cleaning in layers. Layer 1 is my morning + night routine, Layer 2 is my To Do list, and Layer 3 is my calendar of cleaning.

I’m an old fashioned kinda girl, I like handwritten lists and calendars, so I keep a spiral notebook and a pen someplace handy, and I keep a printed calendar page on the fridge. I like these calendar pages, they’re cute and they’re free!

Layer 1: Morning + Night Routine. After the big kids are fed, dressed and off to school, I turn on some cartoons for the little girls and I start my morning routine. I’m a bed maker, I like to make the beds every day, so this is a routine I had before we put our house on the market, but I find it’s especially important now. I don’t let myself miss a day.

I start at one corner of the house and work my way to the other, one room at a time. I make beds, open blinds, turn off lamps and just generally straighten up. There are usually pajamas left in a pile on someone’s floor, towels left on the bathroom counter, toothpaste in the sink, milk spilled where the kids sat to eat, closet doors left open… I just do a quick walk-through and tidy it all up. It doesn’t usually take more than 15 minutes to make my way through our little 3 bedroom, 2 bath house.

My night routine is similar. I wait until everyone is in their PJs and settled in for a little tv viewing before bed, and I make my through the rooms again to pick up dirty socks left on the floor, put away any stray toys (the kids are responsible for picking up after themselves, but there’s always something that’s been forgotten), close all the blinds and just generally tidy up so that we won’t wake up to a mess tomorrow.

Layer 2: To Do List. After my morning routine and a quick snack break with the little girls, I move on to my To Do List. I’m a big believer in To Dos and I use one almost daily.

I keep my To Do list in my spiral notebook, which is where I also keep my menu plan and shopping lists, but I’ll get to that later. It’s not a cute spiral, sad to say, but it’s a work horse! I leave the spiral notebook out where I have quick access to it throughout the day, and I write down any specific chores that need to be done as I notice them. For instance, this is my To Do for today…

These are all my little as-needed chores that pop up overnight or at a time where I’m not able to tackle the task right away. This morning, I’m spending my Layer 2 time writing a blog post. But when I get done, I’ll start working on scratching off the items on my To Do List.

Layer 3: Calendar of Cleaning. There are some chores that need to be done regularly, and especially so when selling the house. Vacuuming, mopping, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms and staying on top of the laundry. This is where I use those cute printable calendar pages. I took a close look at our week, our schedule of activities and how/when certain chores are best done, and I wrote it all down. I keep my calendar on the fridge so I see it every morning when I making breakfast and packing lunches. This takes a lot of the thinking out of it for me, which is helpful when I have so much on my plate already. My calendar looks something like this:

• Monday – laundry and clean bathrooms (swish a brush in the toilets, clean the mirrors, spray/wipe down counters and bathtubs, wash/replace towels)
• Tuesday – dust, vacuum and mop
• Wednesday – laundry (when you have 4 kids, laundry piles up quick, usually by day 2 the hamper is overflowing)
• Thursday – dust, vacuum and mop again
• Friday – laundry and bathrooms again

This works for our family, I like to have the laundry caught up and the bathrooms clean before the weekend starts, and I find it all needs to be done again immediately following a weekend. The house doesn’t get especially dusty, but I walk around with a swiffer anyway on Tuesdays and Thursdays because we have a lot of dark wood and black painted furniture that shows every little spec.

When I follow this plan of 3 layers of cleaning, and I make sure to do what I need to do every day, I’m in good shape when the realtor calls to show the house. At that point, all I have to do is pick up whatever toys are out, finish up whatever task I may be in the middle of, and I’ll usually touch up the floors if needed. That’s it!

What are some of your Go To Ideas for keeping the house looking good when it’s for sale?

Hello, 2012! (alternate title: The Year of Big Changes)

We’ve had a lot going on in the last year: I was put on 14 weeks of strict bedrest with our 4th child, which was a strain on our family in many ways. We had a major house flood that caused tens of thousands of dollars of damage and forced us to leave our home for a while (while I was on bedrest). There was the birth of our baby, a beautiful girl, happy and healthy! Sadly we lost my mother-in-law to cancer, and a few months later we lost our dog of 13 years. And our latest going-on, my husband was offered, and accepted, a new job. This means our family of 6 + dog + tarantula will be packing up and moving state this spring!

We’re leaving our hometown of 14 years in North Carolina and making a new home in Columbia, South Carolina, and while we’re all excited for this adventure to start, we first have to make it through the Limbo Phase of out-of-state relocation. I’m not particularly fond of the Limbo Phase and I sometimes fail miserably at dealing with it gracefully, but I can at least say that I wake up every day ready to start new and try again.

Along the way, there have been little things here and there that I find make life easier and I want to blog about them. How I’m managing my dinner menus while my husband is out of town, what I pack in my house hunting survival bag, how I’m keeping my house clean enough to show while our big family + pets still actually live here… I’m excited to share these little things, as simple and no-brainer as some may be, because I know when you’ve got a lot going on, every little tip and hint can make a difference. I don’t have it all figured out yet, though, so I hope my 3 readers will chime in on each blog post with what works for them in similar cases as well!

In the meantime, here’s a little product that makes me happy every morning. My husband bought me this Thermos to-go mug for my coffee in the mornings while I’m carting kids to school. I’ve tried many varieties of these to-go mugs, and this is by far my favorite. Nobody is paying me to say this, I promise! I just want to pass it on when I find a good product. He found it at Wa1mart, I don’t know how much he spent, hopefully less than the listed price, but honestly if that’s what it cost, it was well worth it. My coffee stays hot and most importantly, it doesn’t have that weird to-go mug taste that so many do! It’s also this pretty magenta color.

It’s laundry day, so I’m off to fluff and fold, but look for some new posts soon!

Halloween Mantel (v. 2011)

My kids have been on fall break and we went on a 10 day vacation to Florida, so I’m late with my Halloween decorations this year, but you know what they say!

As usual, I challenged myself to use what I already had on hand. The only purchases I made were the pumpkins.

The candle holders are a part of almost every season’s mantel. I replaced the candles with little pumpkins and just simply (lazily?) sat the candles next to the holders and I think it worked.

The spooky wire tree is a clearance purchase from Pottery Barn many years ago. It originally held little orange votive holders, but a few broke in storage so I’ve used it with silk fall leaves instead and arranged the few remaining orange votive holders on the mantel. The iron bats are also a Pottery Barn clearance find.

The skull came from a light-up, spooky sounding lantern we bought at Target a few years ago. The kids played with it until it fell apart, and rather than tossing the whole thing into the garbage, I saved the pieces to try to reuse in my decor this year. The skull worked into the mantel perfectly, I think!

Do you guys have a serious addiction to Pinterest like I do? I found the idea for painting b-o-o on little pumpkins on Pinterest. These particular little pumpkins came in a kit, six of them, a set of paints and a paint brush. I bought the kit, let my 3 oldest kids each paint a pumpkin (displayed on a shelf over my buffet) and I used the extra 3 for myself.

The iron spiders are yet another Pottery Barn clearance find. I love hitting their after-holiday sales!

And last, but not least, the broom! I love my witch’s broom! I don’t even remember where I bought it, it’s been years. I usually set it in a corner somewhere, but I have a wild 2 year old in the house this year and I worried the broom wouldn’t survive the next couple of weeks if left within her reach. My solution was to hang it right on the mantel in place of garland!

I’m already thinking about the next mantel… Thanksgiving!

woolly letter M

Just because I was away from the blog for months doesn’t mean I wasn’t busy!

Here’s a little something I did for the baby’s nursery. I knew I wanted to incorporate her first initial into the decor somehow, but I wanted something a little different. We decided to nickname the baby Mary, and the first thing my then 4 year old said was, “just like Mary had a little lamb!” Indeed! So a theme for the nursery was born, and the best way I could figure to make the initial was make it look woolly like a lamb.

For this easy little project, I used a wooden letter M, a sharp pair of scissors, a skein of Bunny Tail yarn (I dearly love this stuff!) and some white school glue.

I didn’t take photos as I went along; I worked on mine late at night as I watched TV. But I’ll try to recreate the events for you.

First, I cut all the little “bunny tails” off the string.

I don’t have a before photo of my letter M. It’s a large capital M that came primed from Michael’s. For the purpose of recreating, I’ll use this smaller, non-primed wooden letter. If your letter isn’t primed, it might be best to brush on a coat or two of paint in the color of your bunny tails so that the color of the wood doesn’t peek through.

Now I just smeared white school glue onto the wooden letter and positioned the bunny tails onto the letter. I worked in sections, making sure to smoosh them together as close as possible. The bunny tails are longer than they are wide, so I was sure to alternate their positions, putting them this way and that so there wouldn’t be any apparent pattern and it’d look more fluffly like real lamb’s wool. I covered the front and sides, but left the back unfinished so that it would lean or hang flat against the wall when I used it in my decor.

And voila! A woolly letter M!

summer mantel

Dusting off the ‘ole blog! I’ve been away the majority of the year while I was on bedrest, and then giving birth to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Things are finally getting back to normal around here, so I hope to post more!

I’m starting to think about my fall/halloween/Thanksgiving fireplace mantel decor, but before I get started on that, I wanted to share a quick pic of my summer/beach mantel. Because of the bedrest and new baby, my spring mantel lasted well into July. I finally cleared it off and threw this together using what I already had…

It’s nice that my convex mirror is much like a porthole! That was my starting point. The topiaries and candles are a mainstay on the mantel, I almost never take them off. So I just went from there… a glass vase filled with gems and rocks my kids collected on a family trip, another smaller vase filled with sand from the kids’ backyard sandbox, a starfish and shells scattered about that were leftover from a centerpiece for my son’s shark themed birthday a few years ago, and a black and white photograph of a pier that I took myself at a local beach when I first started my photography hobby.

So there you have it! My summer mantel. Now on with the fall!

Annabelle Banner

This is another one of those UFOs found while cleaning last week. It’s a name banner that I’d hoped to use as decoration for my youngest daughter’s first birthday, but I lost steam when I found my white school glue was warping my paper and pressing between books wasn’t helping.

Thankfully now, a year later, I’m seeing it with new eyes. Why didn’t I use something like, oh, spray-on adhesive? Or even simpler, glue dots? Yes, glue dots were the answer! So that’s how I finished it.

I’ve seen these types of banners/pennants/garlands/whatever-you-want-to-call-them all over party planning blogs, Etsy, etc. Loved them, didn’t want to fork over the cash for them, so I started out to make one myself. I don’t have any fancy punches or cutters, I did the circles the old fashioned way. I used a bowl from my kitchen to trace circles onto scrapbook paper, then I cut them out using scalloped shears.

The letters are from Martha Stewart, they came precut in bags and I found them on a clearance end cap at W*lmart. Stuck the first few on with glue, that was a no, so this morning stuck the rest of the letters on with glue dots, this was a yes! Punched holes in the tops of the circles, strung them with white satin ribbon and I’m done!

My youngest daughter has her 2nd birthday coming up next week, I’m not sure I’ll use the banner for that occasion or not, so I went ahead and hung it over her bed this morning. She Ooohs and Aaahs when she sees it, I think it’s a WIN!

I’ve got spring fever!

I was looking through photos from last summer yesterday, remembering how lovely all the greenery is, and suddenly… BAM I’ve got spring fever. In January. What a bummer, I’ve got a long wait for that green to come back!

In the meantime, I thought I’d spring-ify (sure, it’s a word) my mantel. I found the spring fling garland I started two years ago, but never finished. Yeah, two years ago! My poor neglected, half-finished projects.

So I finished up the garland this morning and I’m so happy with how it turned out, I thought I’d share.

 

 

I even dug out my Easter bunnies for the occasion!

The spring fling garland was super easy to make, just a little time consuming cutting out all those circles of fabric. I did the cutting while I watched TV on the weekend, sewed them together after all the cutting was done and then threaded them onto the twine. Follow the link above for a more detailed tutorial.

Now, bring on spring, y’all!

Menu Plan Monday – 01.17.2010

I’m spending too much at the grocery store again, next week I have to find a way to go cheaper!

Monday:  chicken enchiladas (filling recipe here, sauce recipe here), spanish rice, black beans (recipe here)

Tuesday:  spinach and ricotta stuffed shells, garlic bread, salad

Wednesday:  turkey paninis, veggie pasta salad, pickles

Thursday:  meatloaf, caramelized onion smashed potatoes, steamed broccoli

Friday:  grilled chicken caesar salad

Saturday:  ~At-Home Date Night!~ Beef curry stir-fry over rice noodles, and chicken satay with peanut sauce (chicken nuggets and mac-n-cheese for the kids)

Sunday:  BBQ baby back ribs, baked beans, cole slaw, corn muffins

Menu Plan Monday – 01.03.2011

Finally, at 19 weeks pregnant, I can plan meals again without feeling queasy! Yippee!

I took a couple meal ideas from my  most recent issue of Cooking Light.

Monday:  smoky pan-grilled pork chops, caramelized onion smashed potatoes and lemon broccoli

Tuesday:  beef tagine with butternut squash, scallion couscous

Wednesday:  chicken fajitas for the grown-ups, cheese quesadillas for the kids, homemade guacamole and chips

Thursday:  meatloaf, salad

Friday:  spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, salad

Saturday:  grilled Hawaiian chicken, wild rice, pineapple and cucumber salad

Sunday:  French toast, bacon, fruit

Menu Plan Monday – 10.04.2010

Throwing this list together at the last minute! We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary over the weekend and after a big night out Saturday night, I didn’t do my usual menu/grocery list writing on Sunday and instead had a big fat lazy day.  :-)

My oldest child is on fall break from school, and one of the Boredom Buster activities I have planned is a kids’ choice night, where the kids get to plan, shop and cook a meal (or at least help prepare in an age-appropriate way).  I’ve noted this night as Kids’ Choice since they haven’t decided what they want this meal to be yet.

Monday:  Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells with Caesar salad and garlic bread

Tuesday:  Kids’ Choice

Wednesday:  Chili and cornbread

Thursday:  Turkey sandwiches, pasta salad and raw veggies

Friday:  Breakfast for dinner! Buttermilk pancakes, bacon and fresh fruit

Saturday:  Mushroom and Provolone Patty Melts, roasted potatoes and a green veggie

Sunday:  Teriyaki glazed chicken sandwiches, sweet potato fries and a green veggie

I buy whatever green vegetables look good or are on sale for the week.  I haven’t shopped yet, but it usually ends up being broccoli and asparagus, although last week the brussel sprouts looked good so maybe we’ll have those.

Also, as an update to last week’s menu, the pasta with kale, caramelized onions and parsnips went over SO WELL with my family! Two of my three kids even had second helpings! And surprisingly, the spiced pork tenderloin with sautéed apples didn’t go over well at all with the husband and kids (I liked it, though). I thought for sure that would be the hit of the week.

This week, the patty melt is the only new recipe we’re trying. I’ll be sure to report back with how that goes.