Living in a House that is For Sale

Several months ago, my wife and I decided it was time to sell our house. Although this isn’t a great time to sell, we decided that it was in our family’s best interest to jump the state line and become Kansans. Now a lot of factors went into this decision and I won’t go into a lot of them now. Let’s just say that the school options on the Missouri side of Kansas City aren’t the best for a visually impaired child.

Anyway, we had a real estate agent come out to the house and he gave us a “honey-do” list. For the past five months, we have been painting, remodeling, cleaning, and de-cluttering (which basically means packing up 95% of my children’s toys, books, and stuff and putting it in storage). For five month, we have used every free moment to get the house ready to sell. All of our work paid off, as the house went on the market earlier this week. I thought that I would be able to take a deep breath now that it is officially for sale. I thought I would be able to relax and take a few days off “from the house”. Boy was I wrong. Now that the house is on the market, I realize that the hard work has just begun.

Now, anyone who has ever sold a house will back me up when I say it is really hard to live in a house that is for sale. The house has to be in pristine condition24/7, because you never know when someone will want to come in and look around. You can’t leave your coffee mug in the sink when you leave for work and you can’t leave the folded laundry out during the day. You can’t just throw the mail on the front table, dirty clothes have to be hidden away, and the bed has to be made, each and every day. This job becomes much more difficult with three kids. I admit that my children are not very good at keeping their rooms clean and they are not great about picking up after themselves. Now they have to be. Their rooms, like everyone else’s, has to be ready to show. The house has been on the market for two days and my kids are already sick of hearing me harping about the shoes left under the table, the soccer ball in the front room, the dirty clothes that didn’t quite make it into the hamper, the homework left on the table, the book left on the couch, not to mention the fingerprints left on the door frames and the crumbs on the floor. My youngest son even decided to sleep on top of his

blankets so that he won’t have to make his bed every morning.

This process has been hard on everyone, but it has especially been hard on the kids. Most of their toys and books have been packed away, they can’t make even the slightest mess, and they can’t really “live” in our house at the moment. I know it will get easier, once we all get in a routine, but frankly, I don’t want to get into a new routine. I want to be able to live in my own home. Hopefully, the house will sell quickly so that everything can get back to “normal” (and so nobody kills anyone).

How do you “live” in a house that is for sale? I am open to suggestions.