Moving, Bootcamp Style

For those of you who didn't see the news here, my family just found out that we're moving to a new state. My dear sisters at H.K. have encouraged me to blog about it. I've decided that it's a good idea because 1. It will motivate me to follow through on any before pictures I post, 2. It will keep the journey fresh in my mind when I finally put these principles into a Bootcamper's Guide to Moving book and, 3. I'm hoping that as you read my entries, you'd be willing to lift us up in prayer as we work hard to quickly sell our home and move to another.


PHASE ONE: A SHOW-READY HOME

When people come to a home-showing, they WILL open cabinets and drawers! Sure, your things won't be there when they move in. But messy, dirty spaces just don't sell homes. Make sure every built-in cupboard, closet and drawer is VERY clean and well-organized, in addition to cutting clutter and cleaning the standing furniture.

Today's to-do's:

Overhaul of school bookshelves: The school room (which has been overstuffed since we got our new school year's curriculum/books at the end of December) was the one area our real estate agent suggested I work on. And she was right!
I'm going to take out what we won't need for a loooong time, box it and put it in the basement, moving current books into their spots - and hopefully making everything look more streamlined/less stuffed. Need to do this today because our MLS photos are being taken this evening!

It's Kitchen Day!

Re-organize kitchen cabinets: Take out everything in the bottom kitchen cabinets (currently pots/pans/cast iron cookware) and move it in the Tupperware cabinet (a stand-along "wardrobe" in the kitchen). Then move the Tupperware to the bottom cabinets. Not nearly as user-friendly for me, but when people come to see the house, they'll want to pull out the cabinet's built-in drawers, and that is HARD TO DO with cast-iron pots in there. Plus, the current pots and pans are so heavy that they literally scrape the wood underneath and there is always sawdust in that cabinet. Before I refill the cabinets with Tupperware, I will vacuum them and wash the down inside and out!

Re-organize the rest of the kitchen cabinets. They could all do with a tidying up and a good scrubbing down inside.

Clean out oven: It's original to the house, 1964! It works great, but the age will be a turn-off to potential buyers. I want it to look as fresh and new as possible, which is tough with 46 years of wear on it. Do ovens add one layer of grime per year, like tree rings? I hope not!

I'll check in later with before and after photos!