I have used just about every spare minute over the past couple of weeks to clean out the house. The guest bedroom closets are now completely empty, the linen closet labeled and organized, every single cabinet and sink area has been scrubbed clean and reorganized, including new cabinet liners.
I started with the guest rooms thinking they should be easy, "right?" Huuuuge mistake to assume that any organization would be easy. We had crammed luggage, seasonal clothes,
you name it into the rooms and used them as storage.
So this was my process to get the house ready:
Step one: Remove all clutter from all closets and put into garage
Step two: Clean, clean, clean
Step three: Stage the rooms. Anything that could fit into the palm of my hand or wasn't pretty went into the garage. I put a dust ruffle on our new bed. Now that I see the picture, I'm adding "iron dust ruffle" to the
to do list. By the way, our bed is a Marriott mattress set and I loooooove it. Finally, I put new comforters that I was saving on the guest beds. Side note: What am I saving nice purchases for? In the next house, I will live with the pride of actually
using our nice things!
Step four: Clean out the garage and move everything we'd like to keep for the next house into storage.
We cleaned out the garage yesterday. Have you ever seen the show Horders? We looked like a special edition. As I was cleaning out the house, I just set everything in the garage. Yesterday when we were trying to organize at one point I realized I was just turning in circles, with no idea what to do with all of the clutter. We organized three piles: 1. Storage unit 2. Goodwill 3. Trash. After 4 hours of organizing, we hauled it all away with me in the Tahoe and Jay in the Uhaul....
It was much easier once the Uhaul was organized to get everything into storage. Although, there was one incident with a spare couch that I thought would send Jay over the edge. This sofa is heavy. And I mean heavy. It has the recliners at both ends which add weight from the metal and mechanics of the piece. The storage facility has little hallways named as streets and each unit has a street number. Of course, ours is near the back, around two corners. We had to get this couch around these narrow corners so Jay decided to push it completely upright on the end side (by himself without warning) to get it around the corner. I've never seen a struggle ensue like that before. I thought the couch might actually win! He got it though, red face and all, Jay got that darned couch into the unit! I've never seen this man so determined!
When we got home last night, Jay painted the entire family room ceiling in the den for another 2 hours (a little home maintenance from a grout issue in the master bathroom upstairs last year), as I cleaned the house.
What I want to know is, "How in the world do people with children sell houses?" Really, I'd like to know. I think super mom and super dad of the year awards go out to those people.
Last night after we got done with our busy day I went into my usual state of lay in bed and start thinking. It's my new thing. I have been sleeping an average of 4 hours a night. Last night it was 3.5 hours to be exact. I just can't turn my mind off. Worst case scenarios, best case scenarios, dreaming - not actual of course, just the kind that keeps one up at night. I've even taken Melatonin and it hasn't worked. Not even a little. I'm pretty delirious right now with bags under my eyes galore, but can I sleep? No. I need some serious help!! I'm praying that my mind will ease at some point so my worn and tired body can rest.
We don't know exactly how the next few weeks will go. Of course we hope for a quick sale, but realize that there is no telling what can happen in this kind of market. I saw on the news yesterday that it looks as though real estate might be coming back around...and I'm praying that that is true. To an extent. Because I'm hoping for a good deal on a house too!
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