How to Live in Your House While It’s Staged

DIY Home Staging Packages in Washington D.C.In a dream world, your new house will be ready to move into just as you’ve closed an offer on your old one. Unfortunately for many home sellers, the timing doesn’t always quite work out that way.

Sometimes, the selling process moves quicker than the buying process and you end up having to live in your current home while keeping it staged for the market. To make sure you don’t undo all of your hard staging work (or waste the money you spent on a professional), follow these guidelines to keep your space ready for buyers!

Move out of your house mentally.

First things first, you need to get in the mindset that this isn’t YOUR house anymore—it belongs to your buyers now. Mentally disassociating from your space will make it easier to depersonalize and keep it neutral, even as you’re still physically living in it.

Cut your clutter in half (at least).

Even though you’re still living in your house, you don’t want it to have that “lived-in” look that will turn off buyers. Physically move out as much as you can, starting with a full purge of each room to send what you don’t use anymore to the curb, donation store, or Craigslist. Then, move whatever you can live without for now to a storage unit, your car, your mom’s house, or literally anywhere else.

Get into a cleaning routine.

After the initial deep clean you complete in preparation for putting your house on the market, you’ll need to continue to cover your tracks if you’re going to keep living in that space. Get in the habit of performing cleaning tasks that used to be weekly every day now—vacuuming, dusting, wiping and clearing surfaces, neutralizing food and pet odors, etc. You might also want to create a last-minute cleaning checklist to make sure you’ve covered everything right before a showing or open house.

Avoid being there.

The less time you spend in your house, the easier it will be to keep it beautiful and stage-ready. Try to plan most of your activities for out of the house, dine out more often, and hangout with friends and family at their homes. It’s also a good idea to have a to-go bag ready with a few essential items (snacks, extra clothes, phone charger, etc.) so you can quickly get out of the house for those last-minute showings.

If you need an easy and affordable solution to speed up your home sale, check out the DIY home staging packages we offer at Stage2Go! Simply choose between the large or small-scale furniture package and then pair it with the décor set that best fits your space.

Select your package online today and everything you need to stage your space yourself can be delivered to your home in less than 48 hours!