How fuckity fuck do I keep my house ‘viewer’ ready?

[worriedwellworrier]

I spent two weeks annual leave getting my house show house ready, had a flurry of viewings and a low offer then nothing for 2 weeks.
My house has descended into a shit heap in that 2 weeks. I work 60+ hours a week, DH also works, kids rooms are tips, dog is shedding like it has a skin disease, cleaner not been seen since lockdown and there’s someone who wants to view with less than 12 hours notice!
Any tips for managing to keep the house sorted would be gratefully appreciated, I genuinely feel like taking the house off the market at the thought of having to ‘show house’ this tip tonight!

No tips except murdering the culprits. You have my sympathy OP, it’s the worst part of the process.

Rent a storage unit, clear half the contents of your house into it.
Seriously.

I feel your pain op. We are in the same boat! I feel like I am constantly cleaning and tidying we had one last week where I spent 3 hours cleaning And shouting at the kids anytime the touched anything, only for them to cancel 1 hour before the viewing

Idk but I did hear a tip that the best way to motivate yourself to keep up with the cleaning is to put your house on the market.

I hid half our belongings anywhere I could find - loft, shed, in drawers, cupboards, under the sofa, under the stairs, in my car.

Makes it easier to tidy up when you get a viewing request ...but also kept on top of things daily just in case. It sucks - if you have a lot of stuff maybe storage and a cleaner to get things really sparkly and you could maybe keep on top if it all after a deep clean?

How old are the kids? In all seriousness, get them helping. If they are teenagers threaten to bin anything you’re forced to pick up.

We are just about to do this we have two kid's in a two bed flat and a bed in the front room 😭😭😱

I second the suggestion about the storage unit. We did this and it’s been worth it. A couple of empty cupboards means we had somewhere to put everything away for viewings.

Definitely get rid of as much as you can, preferably to charity but otherwise into storage. I removed everything I could and it halved the cleaning time. I would also say in your circumstance I would get a new cleaner or at least a backup cleaner or company who can come in and do it for you.

We also hired a storage unit and hoped no one opened any of the cupboard doors.

We got a storage unit too. We put lots of seasonal sports gear there (ski gear, tennis rackets). Now you could probably store away a lot of your summer clothes and shoes etc. Empty the cupboards as much as possible and then get all the essential items away into those cupboards. Your trinkets or photos mean nothing to viewers, and only gather dust. If you get a 2 hour request, it is easy just to open a cupboard a pack anything in there quickly.

Also 30 minute clean is - dust from high onto surfaces, spray all surfaces with cleaner and allow to soak as proceeding around the house. Wipe down (crumbs dirt etc) onto floors. Hoover away all that debris. Finally quick wipe of the kitchen floor with something what smells nice. There is a pretty good febreeze spray which covers dog smell. Good luck.

Oh LillilLu that totally sucks.
Some great tips and solidarity here!

It’s tough! We’ve got a 3 year old & baby & two very fluffy cats and good grief, it was such a stressful few weeks until we sold!

It really helped to have viewings on set days & not all week. So for us, DD1 goes to nursery Mon, Tues, Fri so we’d have viewings lined up Monday afternoon, all day Tuesday, Friday afternoon & Saturday! Meant I had a good half day to blitz the house!
I also kept up hoovering every evening so that was done. And I’m glad no-one asked to see the loft as it was stacked sky high with our junk 🙈

I feel for you. We put our house on the market a few days before I was due to take the dog and kids to my parents for 3 weeks. I joked to the agent it would be great if I came back and it had sold- luck was on our side as it did in a week. Only had to tidy/ clear once (took me days!) and that was enough to do me in. I really hope you get a buyer soon.

It's an absolute bugger. I started chucking stuff and packing so there was less to clean around. But it would still take me 3 hours to clean the whole house

You have my sympathy. Unfortunately, I don't think there is a way that doesn't involve a frankly unreasonable amount of cleaning!

You have my sympathies, its the worst part of the process. We decluttered like mad, we put literally three quarters of our life in storage (even down to our clothes and furniture!) and it was still so stressful! As @beingajen says putting things in storage means you can stuff things into your newly cleared cupboards in an emergency. I also had a bag in a cupboard with a clean table cloth, brand new towels that no-one could actually use on pain of death, posh air freshener, etc which was whipped out prior to any viewings to get the house 'viewing ready' and that helped marginally. Also the boot of the car is useful in an emergency (laundry basket I'm looking at you!). If its viable for you then maybe think about hiring a cleaner just whilst you're trying to sell, it means you just have to tidy prior to a viewing, rather than clean the house top to bottom every time.

As other PP have said - you need to get rid of most of your stuff. Whether that is into storage, gone for good or just hidden is up to you. Ours all went in the garage in boxes! Just keep your absolute day essentials in the house.
It's a nightmare. There's nothing to shy away from that fact. I honestly felt like crying each time! But just tell yourself - the cleaner it is the faster it may sell. It was the motivation I needed