Here's the deal. When we found out I was pregnant, we knew we needed more living space. That gave us two choices: make our house bigger or buy a bigger house. We made a valiant effort to go with choice A. We LOVE our house, our street, our location, everything. We just need a couple more rooms. Unfortunately, with our house and our lot it just wasn't feasible. Also unfortunately, this meant we had to do the thing I have always feared more than just about anything on earth, except maybe homeschooling: putting our house on the market.
Have you been to my house? If so, then you know that it's a mess. We are clutter fiends. We just have a lot of STUFF. You know? I don't know what other people do with all their stuff. They have to have it though! For example. Where do other people put kids' sunglasses, unused picture frames, the channel guide for their cable, and 30 boxes of crayons? I can tell you where we put that stuff. The bar, or the desk, or the dining room table. Not anymore, though! Now we will have strangers waltzing through our house, judging us on our toothbrushes and our kitchen towels and our choice of window treatments. Ugh! I loathe the thought.
First, though, we had to spend a frantic couple of weeks prepping the house, which for us meant filling to the brim a 10 foot square storage room with things we own but in no way, shape or form actually use or need. Seriously, I am selling 95% of it as soon as it becomes garage sale weather.
We are close to being done, but still not quite there yet. If we get any lookers this weekend, they are in for a startling surprise when they go in our garage, in that it resembles a room from that show "Hoarders" more than it does an actual garage. We haven't been able to park a car in there since 2004. I am not joking.
My sincere hope is that someone will read this blog and go, "Hey! I was just thinking that I need a new house and I love Nancy's. I'm going to call her and make an offer RIGHT NOW!" Barring that, my hope is that the people who come look at the house will find it charming and will be forgiving of the little clutter that will inevitably sneak back in over time. And by over time, I mean by Friday.
5 comments:
Clutter is a sign of life. Yet I know there are seasons in our lives when it is time make space. Sounds like this is your season, but when you are in your new home, enjoy a little cozy clutter. I love the thought of all those colorful crayons :)
I'm wary of people who don't have some clutter laying around. I think...what are they trying to hide? :) Good luck with getting the house sold! I love watching the HGTV shows about buying and selling houses, but i disagree that houses have to look professionally decorated and staged perfectly. Sure you want everything to look clean and uncluttered, but i think people can look past your furniture arrangement or wall color if it's not exactly what they want. I think people, like me, are much more interested in things like structural integrity...maybe i'm weird like that! :)
We put all of our stuff in drawers, under beds, in the basement, etc! I am fine with a little clutter as long as it's in a place that I can forget it exists!
Good luck with selling the house -- here's hoping it happens quickly!
Erin
I think that a little clutter makes a house seem more like a home! Maybe clutter will be your best selling point! Good luck. I feel for you!
My gosh, all that stuff! Well, here is what I do: I have one room for clutter and I don't take it outside that room. My clutter is all shoes, bags, cosmetics, perfumes, skin care items, hair care products,earrings etc...but I have a lot of it. Also, I try to organise it by, well, throwing it in large, pretty, stylish containers. As for the 4 kids- I dunno...I guess it's hard to contain clutter when theyr'e around? I guess they'll just stop cluttering as they grow older? MY mom had an effective way of dealing w/our clutter when we were teenagers: any clothes, shoes, etc we left lying on the floor, around the house, etc, was put in large bags and given away w/out asking us!
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