Selling your home can be a busy and stressful time. Many things must be done to prepare the home so you can have a successful sale. Showing your home is vital to making the sale, but if you have children it can be difficult to keep the house tidy and appealing to the buyers with toys and children's belongings.

Staging your home can help to better showcase your property and attract more buyers. You want to make sure everything is  clean, neat, well maintained, spacious and ready for move in. There’s just one problem – your busy family has turned your model home into a disaster area. How can you get your kids to clean up and cooperate?

Here are a few ideas on how to get your home picture perfect with your kids’ help…

First of all, involve them in the process and have a family meeting and explain to them what staging is and why it’s important. You may want to show them some pictures of staged homes or virtual tours to give them an idea of what you are looking for and use those examples to set goals for the family. Then you can guide them to participate in these activities with you:

  1. Go through their clothing and put everything aside that doesn’t fit or that they no longer wear. Gather it up and get it ready to donate to a local charity. Your kids can go with you to the drop off and stay involved through the whole process. It’s a great way to make their closets look better and give to others at the same time.
  2. Reduce the living space by bunking together. If your kids have their own rooms, consider letting them share a room for a while. Try to make it a fun adventure and let them know it’s temporary. Get their help in setting up the extra room as a  guest room or study.
  3. Share one or more baths. Get shower baskets or caddies for each child and personalize them with their names. Then they have all of their persona toiletry items together in a portable, easily stored container.
  4. Maximize the floor space in the kids’ rooms by storing toys in a container, closet, or attic. It may help to install some temporary shelving or use a wire basket or plastic tub system. Some items can also be stored under the bed.
  5. Bikes, scooters and skateboards need to find a home in the garage. Make special racks or use pegboard that has each child’s name assigned to the space. Help them create a new habit of always putting their bike or scooter in their rack each time.

Getting your kids involved in the staging process can help you focus on decorating and larger home maintenance projects. It can also help them form great organization skills and habits for many years to come!

If you have any ideas on staging your home with children, please comment on them. We would love to know your ideas!

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