Another Follow-Up

My fun blog friend Crossview commented on Posted Memo with a little bit of incredulity: "Wow! You go through this every time you have a prospective buyer? That has got to get old!"

Truth is, when you only have 4 showings of your house in a year, these showings make a great excuse for much needed thorough house cleanings anyway. I do clean my house more often than 4 times a year, but perhaps not with as much fervor as with an impending showing. And there is much, much more I do besides cleaning.

For example, when we initially put up that For Sale sign over a year ago, we did a major packing up of clutter...things that we wanted to keep but didn't really need lying around. Like all of our CDs. Thankfully, we have adapted well to iPod life, so there is still music in this home, although at Christmas I had to go digging through boxes and boxes of CDs to find where I had tossed all of the Christmas tunes.

Then there is the scale. I packed it up. Don't know where. I've looked. Can't find it. We bought a new one.

Then there are the items we do use on a daily basis but that I don't want out because these items throw off the whole look for the prospective home buyers. For example, the ugliest toaster oven in the world resides on our kitchen counter right next to a stainless steel utensil holder with cracks all through it. I toss both items in the back of my car before a showing. Along with lots of other things: the organizer thingy that holds junk mail, the basket that catches all of the toys that make their way downstairs during the day, the basket that holds the cat toys, the dish drainer thing, and--when I remember it--the cat box.

Then there are all of the items I stuff in cupboards like the toothbrush holders and soap dispensers.

And the things I stuff under the bed like all of the computers lying around.

See...Crossview actually had no idea exactly how an anal retentive person like me prepares for a house showing. I guess I should be thankful it has only happened 4 times this year.