Having your place on the market means one thing apparently, you will be cleaning ALL THE TIME!!!

Last week I posted an article about staging your home when you have children.  I thought at the time that the hardest part was behind me.  I figured that getting this place in tip top shape so we could put it on the market was going to be the most challenging part.  Once it was on the market, I thought, naively, that it would just be a matter of keeping on top of the cleaning (something I tend to do anyway) and occasionally having to be out of the house with both cats and my toddler in tow for showings.  I have learned, very quickly, that I was wrong.

It turns out that the hardest part is keeping my place show ready, not getting it show ready in the first place.  With 2 cats, a husband and a 2 year old it is more challenging than I expected to keep this place sparkling clean.

Take this morning for example.  We had an open house.  Now mind you we just had one on Sunday so we had done a very thorough cleaning Sunday morning and Lorne and I had done a bunch of tidying up yesterday evening so we figured it would be fairly easy for me to do a final tidy up and get the cats and Maya out of here in the couple of hours I had this morning.  Let me tell you, I busted my butt for 2 and 1/2 hours straight and barely managed to get out the door before the open house was slotted to begin.  Who knew that in one day there would be enough cat hair, dirt, etc on the floor and furniture to require a full up vacuuming.  Who knew there would be enough dust on the surfaces of our furniture and photos to require a full up dusting.  Who knew our bathroom and kitchen would be dirty enough to require a thorough wipe down (thankfully not a full up cleaning!).  No me apparently

I feel like I spend all my time cleaning.  I barely have time to play with my daughter, to write, to sit quietly for five minutes.  Even Maya has noticed.  She has asked me several times in the last few days to please be all done cleaning so I can play with her  It turns out open houses and showings are good for something a little extra, they give me some free time away from the vacuum, dust rag, windex and paper towel to spend with my daughter.

So from now until our place sells just call me Mrs. Clean, because that is what I will be doing morning, noon and night, cleaning.

Any tips you have for me on how to make keeping this place clean a little easier would be greatly appreciated?  Have you ever sold a house, how did you keep on top of this cleaning without going crazy?