Serenity Now!

Remember that hilarious Seinfeld episode? George's dad calms himself by repeating "serenity now, serenity now!" If you haven't seen it, google it, it's hysterical!

Anyways, I often find myself saying quietly {but screaming in my head} "Serenity now, Serenity now!!"-I mean don't all moms?! However, recently with our house being on the market I find myself actually taking a deep breath and saying "ahh, serenity". Seriously, I actually whisper that to myself-I know, I'm strange. But why do I say "ahh serenity" you ask?

Because right now I've got perfectly spotless bedrooms....

Serenity....

Serenity....

Bitty says: "Serenity"...

And yes, Serenity!

Believe it or not, the rooms stay this way, well at least while we're trying to sell. The beds get made as soon as we wake up {totally doesn't happen normally} and the clothes get put into the hamper. Minimal things are in the bedroom so there's just less clutter and less to pick up.

While I'm no expert at selling houses or am I trying to claim that if you do this or that, you will sell your house...I am here to share just a few things I do to maintain serenity when trying to show my house. I have done this 5 times now, ya know? If you're trying to sell yours as well as maintain sanity, maybe these tips will help!

Serenity Tip #1: Declutter! Get rid of the nick nacks! When someone is or may be coming to your house to take a look, it's so much easier to dust in a flash when there aren't a thousand things on the end tables, night stands or coffee table. We all know in this market you really can't tell someone: no, you can't come look because the house is a mess. You must show your house when buyers want to see it. It's all about the buyer these days.

So same goes for pictures. I'm not against family pictures while trying to sell but the more pictures that are up, means the more you have to dust and sometimes buyers can get lost in all of the nick nacks and pictures, I know I do.

Same goes for the kitchen-take things off the counters while you're showing-so much easier to keep clean! And isn't it true- a clean kitchen means a happy mom?? Well, it usually does for me!

Anyways, it takes me about 30 seconds to dust my room now and about 3 minutes to dust the whole upstairs. I also removed little things from the kid's rooms that I think make it "show" a little bit better ie: names on walls, most of the pictures, almost all toys etc.

Taking my mom's advice I also made my house look more "model home" like by taking out my sewing area and adding a chair we had in Bennett's room. Do we actually sit there and read? Oh Please! But it looks a lot better than my stacks of fabrics, sewing machines, and Lil' Sis stuff. Plus it's so much easier to keep that area clean now. And it really does feel serene, which a bedroom should feel like!

Can you believe I used to sew in that tiny space?! Over one hundred sweet little outfits were made there-hard to believe.

Okay so this is totally random but I love my little gal here. She stands in front of my mirror and reminds me to try and look my best even when I just want to put on sweats to meet B's therapists or drive down to the bus stop-ha! {I do ignore her though sometimes;)}

Serenity Tip #2-Perhaps the biggest tip I can give you- remove about 75% or more of your children's toys out of view...like, pack them away! Yes folks, your kids will survive if they don't have every single little toy at their finger tips. And when you finally move into your new space-it will be like Christmas with all the "new" toys!;)

I did a major overhaul of our playroom and went crazy with my organizing but it has helped sooo much with getting the house straight in a flash.

The girls know where things are when they want to play-no more, "mommmmie!, where's that barbie shoe!!??" and they know where things go when it's time to clean up. I can clean up Bennett's toys quickly if need be and even Mike knows where things go now;)

I've actually decluttered even more in this room- yet, the kids still have plenty to play with...imagine that! I'm telling you, your kids won't even know stuff is gone!

More randomness but I did one of my "mini makeovers" on the dining room that I meant to share a while back {too lazy to show the before pics}...

The palm tree prints stayed because I just couldn't find anything I liked so I painted the frames from dark to white. Eeh-it's okay, better than it was. I also added more of my favorite color-robin egg blue!

Obsessed with birds and shells, obviously. This table used to be our dumping ground for mail and packages-not anymore!

Finally got around to making some pillows for my chairs in the corners.

This was an easy picture to make-just some string and star fish and glued them to the frame!

So even though we're in this crazy limbo stage right now of Mike working down in NC most of the time and me trying to keep the house clean to sell...with three kids, I can walk down stairs in the morning and instead of saying "SERENITY NOW!!!", I say "Ahh, serenity." LOL. We're like a well oiled machine when we get the call that someone wants to come see the house and the stress level has come way down.

I highly recommend my serenity tips if you're in the same boat..just sayin';)