Thursday, July 21, 2005

Saturday, July 09, 2005

Readying a house for sale

We're attempting to get our house up for sale so we can move somewhere a little quieter and more family-friendly. I have watched all the "get top dollar for your house" shows, and they usually raise the homes' values by several thousand dollars, with a little paint, some imagination and a weekend. This should be easy, right?

Wrong.

First of all, I have two small children. Anyone who has small children can imagine what that does to one's organizational and packing skills.

Second, I have too much stuff. I have 6 identical Corningware casserole dishes. I've had them since our wedding. They are all in my kitchen cupboards. Have I ever needed 6 casserole dishes at once? No. I also have four large boxes of candles and candle holders leftover from my failed attempt at a fahhbulous career selling Partylite. Most of them do not match my home. Yet, I have been providing them room and board for 3 years. And then there's the growing stack of "ebay" items. I could make a mint if I could just get organized enough to try to sell these things. Maybe next week...

Lastly, those shows don't show you the twenty people and the storage unit that are the real heroes of the whole process. If I had even two or three people packing, wrapping, and carting away all my "extra" unsightly possessions, I could have it done in a weekend too.

But I have 2 dining tables in my half-primed dining room, 8 boxes of books (and 2 empty bookcases) piled in my bedroom, and a spare room full of outgrown children's clothing. Do you thing TLC would send over a few beefy guys and a U-haul to make my house look pretty?