Serenity

We are scheduled to close on our home in June, so this weekend, we began the process of packing up our things in our rental. Since we are breaking our lease, it's really important for us to have the landlord find a replacement renter as soon as possible. That means that the house needs to be show ready if there is someone that wants to view it.

Since we moved into this home, we have not felt settled. It started with the fact that the house wasn't clean when we arrived to Atlanta. We appreciate the landlord's attempt at making the house presentable, but having not seen the property in person, it was hard to tell just how badly the last tenants had cared for it, until I found myself steaming the floor around the kitchen cabinets until 3am. It was disgusting.

The prior tenants were four single men who were not in the least bit domestic. The house was grimy, the paint was chipping, and the house just smelled. Knowing that the furniture was arriving the next day, I really really wanted to get the house clean. I cried for three days. And then I cried for three more months. Because no matter what I did, the house still just feels gross. It's in serious need of a remodel at this point. Fresh floors, fresh paint, fresh everything.

Originally, we intended to live here for a few years to get to know the area and to keep our child in the school district we chose. Within a month, we knew we had made a grave mistake with the school and needed to change. It felt like every choice we made from the house to school felt wrong. The only two things that felt right were our choice to move Atlanta and my husband's job.

All of this to say, we have been organizing and packing to have the rental ready, but we have also been doing it to ensure our move to the new house is a smooth transition. We really want a smooth transition. We are trying to pack as much as possible, while still being able to have enough out to live for the next 6 weeks. We did this for our two home sales in the past, but we realized when we were making those moves that we still could have packed so much more and avoided less chaos by doing so.

This weekend, we tackled the dining room, the den, the master bedroom, and our son's room. I can't even begin to express how much better I feel already. My son's room alone felt like the Bermuda triangle! When his room was finished, I laid on his bed and just reveled in its cleanliness and organization.

This morning when waking up, getting the whole family out the door just felt easier! And I tell myself this every time we stage a home. We need to live like this on a daily basis. People say that it's not possible, but honestly, we did it for six months when we sold our first home, and it was easy. It made life easy. It made me a calmer, less stressful person, which in turn made my family less stressed.

So...my husband informed me this weekend that he's willing to make organization our top investment when we first move in, and I could marry him all over just for that small statement alone.