What routines do you have to keep your house presentable?

[monkeywrangler71]

Our house goes on the market tomorrow, and aside from the paint fumes, it is ready to show. I'm not the tidiest of people, so I'm going to have to build some new habits to keep it this way. We have just started wearing slippers to try to keep the floors clean. The kids prefer their barefeet, but we have this awful black dust that sticks to their feet and leaves little dirty footprints on the bathroom floors.

What are some of the things you do to keep your house clean and tidy throughout the day? What habits have you established to make a clean house easier to maintain?

[Liane]

My teenager is my messy factor. One of the best things you can do is keep laundry baskets under end tables or behind a piece of furniture where you can dump things quickly. This is for when the relator calls and says I have someone coming over in 15 minutes. If you can have one in every room. As for the kitchen, try to load the dishwasher after every meal. In a pinch put dirty dishes in the oven until you can deal with them. If you are really ambitious make the beds, or throw the comforter over the messy sheets. Do the best you can and good luck with the sale. Hope it is quick and as painless as possible.

[Grainlady]

-Pack up as much stuff as possible and put it in storage. Less stuff to contend with means fewer things to clean or get in the way. Less stuff also makes the house look a lot larger.

-Make sure the entrance (inside and outside) is clear of clutter and clean. Those first impressions are important.

-Remove anything from the house you wouldn't want someone to steal, see, or accidentally break (heirlooms/collectibles, jewelry, etc.). If you take Rx drugs, hid it. People are going to open houses just to steal Rx drugs these days.

-Deal with everything that comes into the house A.S.A.P. Put groceries away, put laundry away as soon as it's completed, go through the mail and disperse it. Don't leave bikes/toys laying in the front yard. Get out of the habit of filling flat surfaces with "stuff" (chucking the mail on the kitchen counter, tossing jackets on the chair, kicking off shoes at the front door....). Everything in it's place - THE FIRST TIME.

-Make beds as soon as you get up. You won't have to worry about it for the rest of the day. It takes hubby and me 15-seconds to make the bed in the morning, so it's time well spent.

-Do that "clean sweep" in the evening before going to bed. If everyone spends 10-minutes tidying up, it will be ready for showing the next day.

-Keep the kitchen spotless and uncluttered at all times. You never know when you'll get a call from someone to show the house. If you have that do-in-now resolve, you will help to keep yourself from freaking-out when someone calls and says they will be showing the house in 20-minutes.

-If you have carpet that shows a traffic pattern, you may want to vacuum once a day, or every 2 days. If you have wood, or other non-carpeted floors, run the dust mop over them everyday.

-When you are done in the bathroom/s in the morning, wipe down all flat surfaces, remove all personal items, change the towels (if necessary), and sweep/vacuum any hair off the floor. Another 10-minutes well spent.

-Keep everything smelling great. You might want to put off cooking cabbage or fish for awhile to avoid lingering odors.

-If you normally hang things behind doors (house coat, p.j.s, shoe rack, etc.), remove them and place them in the closet. That stuff makes people think you don't have enough closet space.

-Put out some fresh flowers. They always liven things up.

-If you don't dirty it to begin with, it won't need cleaning. Make it your motto until the house is sold.

Good luck.

[gapeach]

I have a 15 minute morning routine where I make the bed, put away any clean dishes, wash breakfast dishes, take dirty clothes down to the laundry room, take out the recycling, and pickup in all the rooms. While it's not spotless, it helps to keep our home ready for company to stop by at anytime. Good luck with the sale.

[mauimagic]

Grain Lady - love your ideas and they are definitely things I should do everyday for our peace of mind. Am starting again one step at a time- mahalo!!

[MomToTwoBoys]

I'd get one of those Swiffer Sweeper things and use the dry cloths to get rid of the black dust. You can also use the wet ones to pick up any residue.

All we really do is whenever we walk through the room, we pick up things and either toss them or put them in their appropriate place.

There's other items that are everyday habits for most:

Make the beds (and spritz them with some Febreze, if you have it on hand)
Put shoes away. Leave out only one pair per person and put the others in the closet on a shoe rack.
Hang up coats or if you don't have one, put them on a hanger and put them in your closet.
Go over surfaces with a damp rag to get rid of dust. Sweep around the underneaths of your desks/couches/stands.
Clean the glass surfaces in every room in your house after you make the bed. You can also add decorative pillows to the bed and couch/loveseat to give it a shot of color.
Put out a vase of flowers in at least your kitchen, entryway and living room. You can also do it in every bedroom and the bathrooms.

You can also wipe down your countertops and appliances with some disinfecting wipes that have a pleasant smell.