We seem to be a day late and a dollar short on the home selling thing. After a nice trip down to FL and official word of a transfer for Jim, we put our house up for sale. The only place I’ll be moving at this rate though is to a padded cell.
We’ve had three people in so far, with excellent feedback from all of the agents who have shown the place. They say it’s clean, it’s bright, it shows really well. But no one has made an offer. We have another person coming in on Friday night, and hopefully, with the interest rate drop, they will have mortgage money available. And they’ll love our house.
We put new carpet in downstairs, and painted the living room and the two kid bedrooms upstairs. I fixed up the FL room so it looks like a playroom, and we had it painted, the drop ceiling removed, and a ceiling fan installed. It looks nice out there. The other day, I pulled up all the summer flowers, planted 21 yellow mums (because I read somewhere that yellow puts people in a mind to buy things), and put red mulch down to offset the yellow. It looks great outside. We have two pumpkins on the steps, Indian corn on both doors, and a pumpkin scare crow in the one mostly empty flower bed. Very autumnal. I also read it’s important to keep your house seasonal looking. Ours does, for sure.
But this is like a full time job. I drop the kids off at school in the morning, then race home to load breakfast dishes, clean the stove and wipe the kitchen counters and cabinets down. Then I go to each kid room to make (in Eilis’ case re-make) the beds and pick up any dirty clothes or toys or books that are on the floor. Then I hit each bathroom with the Mr. Clean wipes and wipe down the sink, the counter, and the outside of the toilet. I finally this morning put those Clorox toilet cleaning tablets in each toilet, and I’m hoping that will eliminate having to clean the toilet every day. I sweep out the bathroom upstairs every day and I sweep the kitchen and dining room every day. I run some sort of sweeper downstairs every day – usually the little one. But if the carpet is especially fuzzy, I have to bring out the big vacuum to really pick stuff up. And I run the sweeper in the FL room every day that the kids are out there. And now it smells like dog out there 🙁 Not a bad dog smell, but definitely a dog smell. I hope people are discouraged from buying the house because of it. The real estate agents don’t think it smells, but some people won’t buy a house with a dog in it.
On days when I have time, I mop the kitchen and bathroom floors, and at least once a week, I mop the hardwood floors. When I take Granuaile out to play, she plays while I pull weeds. And I never let the laundry baskets get to the point where you can see the dirty clothes over the top. The only room that really needs work is the laundry room. My desk is a mess and there is some stuff on top of the freezer and on top of the dryer.
On a positive note, I won’t have to look far to sell some of my furniture when we move. My mom’s friend Harry is chomping at the bit to buy my dining room set and my freezer – although I don’t know if I’m selling that. He’s also interested in my living room set and my bedroom set – which I also don’t think I’m selling. But he said if I am selling stuff when I move, call him first before I have a yard sale or anything.
I have St. Joseph buried outside, updside down, with an angel marking the spot where he’s buried so we know where to dig him up from. I have St. Joseph’s prayer card displayed in the dining room so I see it every day and remember to say a little prayer that he is working on selling the house. I may take that to the funny farm with me so it doesn’t look like I’m talking to myself 😉