Moving? Here’s How to Stage Your Home and Keep it Clean (Even with Kids!)

25 Mar Moving? Here’s How to Stage Your Home and Keep it Clean (Even with Kids!)

Most parents would admit it’s hard to keep a spotless home with kids around, which means parents who are listing their home for sale have an extra challenge in front of them. Don’t worry, though! We have the ultimate step-by-step strategy for getting your house sale-ready, along with tips for how to keep it that way.

Step 1 – Declutter

Whether you’re doing this on your own or getting help, the first step is to declutter. You may think of clutter as small things lying around, but this actually starts with big stuff. This is because you can make your home feel more spacious by getting rid of excess furniture and other items like exercise equipment and large toys.

Once you’ve pared down the biggest items, it’s time to move on to decluttering the small stuff. This is really a two-part process that starts with reducing the amount of stuff in your home, and then containing what’s left. For kids, this means packing up a good number of toys. To make this easier, USA Today recommends letting kids pick their “must-have toys” to keep out. This way, they have the ones they play with most, but you don’t have toys taking over the house.

Step 2 – Target Trouble Spots

With clutter under control, another must for home staging is to make sure any glaring problems are fixed. This doesn’t mean you have to do a full-scale remodel, but instead, what you want to do is focus on obvious small repairs and cosmetic quick fixes. As the blog Wise Bread explains, walls and doors in high-traffic areas are usually the biggest trouble spots in homes with kids. Thankfully, touching these up with fresh paint is a pretty easy way to eliminate any unsightly marks.

Step 3 – Deep Clean

The purpose of staging is to make sure buyers get the absolute best impression from viewing your house, which means that getting it sparkling clean is a necessity. This is another area where hiring help can really help save you time. If hiring cleaners isn’t in your budget (home cleaners typically charge $20 – $40 an hour), we suggest doing this over a few days and preferably while the kids are at school or with a babysitter. Make sure you use a home-cleaning guide or checklist, and remember this should include getting rid of odors.

Step 4 – Keep It Clean

The last step, and possibly the hardest one for families, is to keep your home show-ready. Toys can be the hardest items to keep wrangled in their proper place, but having plenty of storage will help tremendously. A home stager can help with this, but we also love Good Housekeeping’s toy storage ideas for just about every home and category. The other thing you need is a plan! Make sure to get the whole family on board, and use a cleaning checklist for handling small stuff daily and doing a deeper clean weekly.

Step 5 – Consider Hiring a Home Stager

It’s worth looking into the advantages of hiring a professional home stager. Besides the fact that this task can be time-consuming, the other benefit of hiring a professional is that they can help your home sell faster because they specialize in determining exactly how to make your home look most appealing to buyers. 

If you’re wondering if home staging is in your budget, one thing to keep in mind is that you can often choose from a variety of services. In general, you can expect to spend an average of about $1,101 for professional home staging. That breaks down to anywhere from $150 to $600 for a consultation, plus about $75 per hour for the stager’s time.

The reality is that the way you normally live and the way you have to maintain your home while it’s on the market are two totally different things. That’s why getting your home ready to sell requires stepping outside of your real life so you can focus on being a seller. Remember that this is all temporary, and doing it right will get you out of your home and moving on even faster! When you’re ready to finish your move, be sure to contact the premier San Antonio moving company at Careful Movers and let us handle your heavy lifting for you!