We decided to sell our home and move! As a lot of you may know, moving is tough. It is super stressful with all the different aspects that go into it. You have to get the current home spotlessly clean and show ready and then you have packing and preparing to move. Now add in 5 young kids and 6 cats!! Here are some things I did to make this whole process a tad easier.

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PURGE, PURGE, PURGE!!!

As several of you all already know, I am a huge believer in minimalism. After making a more conscious effort in applying minimalism within the past year it has made going through everything so effortless. Go through your house (every nook and cranny) and purge as much as you can! Trust me, it will make packing, getting your home show ready to sell, and moving so much easier. Now is a great time to get rid of any broken junk, random clutter, or things you really don’t care too much for. Although we have purged and purged frequently throughout this past year, we still have managed to get rid of carloads full of more stuff.

Pack everything except for the bare necessities

5 kids can make the biggest messes within a matter of seconds. So trying to clean up their current mess on top of doing a quick clean throughout your whole house in only 30mins to 1 hour is completely insane! To make things a tad bit easier, I am packing as much as I possibly can. Some things we packed up are:

  • All arts and craft items
  • Books
  • Homeschool stuff (except the books we are currently using)
  • All the plates, cups, and bowls (we are just using paper/ plastic dinnerware)
  • All decorative stuff
  • All the clothes except for 7 outfits per person
  • Office stuff you don’t need on a daily basis
  • Majority of the toys (we only have out a couple dolls and legos)
  • Cloth diapers (we decided for the sake of not having one other thing to clean, we are switching to disposables until we move)

Find Conspicuous Hiding Spots

I have given every room a designated bin to be the throw everything in when it’s time to show a house. 

Disposable Paper Products

To help prevent having to show the house while the sink is piled high with dirty dishes, we started using only paper or plastic plates, bowls, cups, and utensils. This was a bit of an added expense but it was totally worth it!!!

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Pets

  • Keep up on the poop! For cats, clean the litter box multiple time a day and definitely before you leave when showing a house. Hide the box under a bed. If you have a dog, make sure pick up all the poop from the yard.
  • We do not have the means to board 6 cats at once so we did put them in a large dog crate only while showing the house.  Keep treats on hand to give to your pets, moving and having to be relocated or kept locked up is stressful for them.

Cleaning

Have a designated portable cleaning bag that you can quickly grab when you need to speed clean. I’ve been using an old Thirty-One bag I’ve had and I keep all the basic cleaners, cleaning rags, paper towels, and extra trash bags ready to go in the bag.

Other tips:

  • Get a diffuser and some EOs to diffuse when you need to show the house. I personally have found essential oils to rid of bad smells more effectively than candle or chemical room fresheners. Start it when you start straightening up. Use scents that are pleasant, cozy, and welcoming. My favorite is Fitness.
    • Not an essential oil fan, try rubbing vanilla extract on all the light bulbs… smells like you were baking without having to actually bake
  • Getting a storage unit was a total lifesaver. We didn’t need a huge one, we only needed it for two bookshelves, curio cabinet, and a few boxes but it really helped with opening up space.

We were able to get an offer about a month after putting our home on the market! I do feel doing all these things really helped with maintaining a “show ready” home.