It feels so good to say I’ve crossed 6 things off of our listing list. All. By. Myself. {Unless you count the ‘help’ you get from a 2-year-old.} I am exhausted but excited. Yesterday I tackled the kitchen. And it really looked like I tackled it. Stuff was everywhere.
Stuff to pack…
Stuff to donate… {who really needs 2 cheese graters?}
I went through each and every kitchen cabinet and drawer including the island. I organized all items into 3 piles…1) keep in kitchen 2) pack up into boxes 3) donate. We’ve lived here for 3 years, so it was easy to decide what to donate. Whatever we hadn’t used since moving, well, it got donated. Whatever we had used but wasn’t necessary for daily living {i.e. Thanksgiving roaster, bread maker, fine china, etc.} got boxed up and taken down to the basement until moving time. In case you’re wondering, I labeled each box as ‘kitchen’ then wrote what specific items were in each box to take the guesswork out of unpacking.
Not only will downsizing our kitchen inventory make the kitchen storage look bigger and tidier to potential buyers, but it should also make our move easier…less stuff to move and pack when that time comes. Our pared down cabinets are looking downright bare…
In the cabinet above the fridge, I left the microwave rack, microwave and oven range manuals, and the extra kitchen hardware. All of these items will be staying on with the new owners.
We are including all kitchen appliances in the sale of the house. I figured it was about time I cleaned out the oven…for only the second time ever since we’ve lived here. That’s pretty sad. But it looks great now.
For extra credit, I also touched up a few dings on the painted cabinets. I just walked around with our leftover latex enamel paint {from painting the cabinets over a year ago} and a 1″ brush and swiped over every little imperfection. The cabinets look as good as new!
My cousin let me borrow her carpet shampooer {a Bissel ProHeat} to erase a pet stain from the carpet in one of the bedrooms. It worked like a charm. So much so that I used it in our family and living rooms too just to spiff things up even more. Plus I kind of liked using it. Weird? Yes. Last night I took a shower in my boys’ bathroom and made myself scrub it down before I showered. This morning I tackled all the second floor closets which is no small task because each bedroom has its own walk-in closet. Coupled with the kitchen donate pile, the unnecessary closet clutter filled my SUV to the brim on the way to Goodwill. Goodbye and good riddance.
After a quick trip to Goodwill, I washed down all the windows inside and out. We have a lot of them. As much as I enjoy all the natural light that those windows let in, I’ll be happy not to have so many to wash in a smaller home. Running short on steam, I decided to take on one last project for the day. The WT {that’s white trash} mailbox. We’d lost our signal flag over the winter.
I replaced it with a DIY kit that Handy Hubby picked up from Lowe’s for about $4 last night on his way home from work.
It was easy and I thought I’d just pull the Steelers magnet off {because even though we are Steelers fans that might not go over so well with potential buyers since we live in Bengals country} and call it a day, but this is what ensued…
…rustiness. Ugh. So I trudged down to the basement for some black spray paint to finish one more project. After a little spray can shaking and a few sprays, the mailbox was looking a little less WT – but still wet. {Sorry, I didn’t feel like waiting for it to dry.}
Then I came inside and wrote this post. So that’s what I’ve been up to over the last 24 hours. I crossed 6 things off my list:
- declutter kitchen cabinets
- declutter all closets
- wash windows
- shampoo spot of carpet where the dog dooed
- scrub the showers
- fix the signal flag on our mailbox
Getting your home ready for sale – whether you list with a realtor or by owner – is a must if you want to sell quickly and get top dollar {whatever that is nowadays}. Look at your home like a buyer would look at your home. Be thorough and detail-oriented.
Tomorrow’s weather is calling for sunshine and mild temps, so I’m hoping to clean the garage floor and exterior man doors. Maybe I’ll even take some photos for the sales brochure. As tired as I am, I just keep reminding myself why I’m doing this…to live in a modest home that we can pay off in 4-5 years. No one said selling your home or becoming debt free would be easy. And I don’t expect it to be. But I’m sure looking forward to it!
images: all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking
DIY, organization