Are you on the market to sell your home? As a home seller, you have to be ready at the drop of a dime, for people to come by for a home showing. Read below for my best tips to keep your house clean (and keep your sanity?!) while showing your home (with small kids).
With three little boys running around and wreaking havoc in our home, keeping our house ready for home showings can be a huge task. We’ve been dealing with it for the last month and have gotten into a good routine.
If you’re not selling a home, these tips are great for Spring Cleaning time and maintaining a cleaning schedule to keep your house clutter, mess and dirt free for the warm season!
Best Tips for Keeping Your House Clean and Ready for Showings
Simple & Easy Clutter Pick Up
Keep a laundry basket handy to pick up and store all the everyday items. This is the best tip I heard from my Instagram followers who have been through this home selling process.
From blankets, toys, books, diapers, clothes. It’s a super quick and easy way to clear your rooms of clutter and get things out of the way for a home showing. Store the laundry basket in a closet, your laundry room, or storage area.
Refresh the Odor in Your Rooms
A few of you asked how we manage to hide the smells between home showings. Febreze AIR and Febreze FABRIC are my go-to products for refreshing our rooms.
After cleaning and picking up the rooms, I do a quick spritz of Febreze AIR in each room to refresh the odors and scents.
Febreze AIR quickly eliminates any odors in the room and is safe for everyday use. It’s great to use for your Spring Cleaning routine this time of year, too.
I use Febreze FABRIC for hard to wash fabrics like our cloth furniture, rugs, and in our closets. Just spray until damp to eliminate smells on fabrics.
Create the Illusion of Clean
When I get a random request for a showing, I don’t have the time in my day to worry about washing dishes or doing laundry. I quickly rinse out the dirty dishes with Dawn Platinum dish soap and load up the dishwasher with my trusty Cascade ActionPacs. I just recently switched over to Cascade pure essentials, but prior to that, Cascade Platinum ActionPacs were my go-to dish washing detergent.
Also, I clear out sinks, trash cans and throw used towels and rags in the washing machine. I don’t typically run our appliances while we’re out, but it’s nice to have it all out of sight and put away and ready to clean when we get back to the house.
Keep Counters Clear
Before we listed our home, we cleared all our countertops. In the kitchen and bathrooms, we got rid of everything besides soap dishes and the coffee machine.
Every night, we try our best to put everything we used back in the hideaway spots in cabinets and closets. Depending on the room, we’ve modified our daily routines to account for putting things away.
While it’s a pain to do it, we figure it’s only for a short period of time. And I like that it makes it so easy to wipe down counters and keep the rooms clean overall.
A super quick wipe down with Mr. Clean Clean Freak All-Purpose Cleaning Mist leaves all our counter tops mess and germ free!
Clean the Visible Dirtiness
While I don’t notice the everyday mess, to a buyer, dirty walls and floors can be a complete turnoff. Unfortunately, the Dubs boys are notorious for writing on the walls and leaving crumbs everywhere they walk in the house.
There’s nothing that works as quickly as Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Sheets for wiping down appliances, walls, and dirty floors. I did a live demonstration on Instagram stories, so check out the highlights, if you missed it last week. The sheets are a flexible and thin version that make it easy to clean hard to reach places, too.
Repeat the Routine
Once you get into a good habit, the process will run more efficiently and quickly. You’ll know what to tackle in each room, what order to do things, and what products to use to make the whole fire drill process of cleaning up for a random house showing to run smoothly.
It’s not as overwhelming after you do it once or twice. I’ve memorized all my hideaway spots for putting things away. I know exactly what to use on what pile of mess or dirt. Our closets might not be all that well organized, but at least the house looks (and smells) like it’s clean!
What are your some of your go-to quick cleaning tips?
Best Tips for Keeping Your House Clean and Ready for Showings
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