Selling Secrets of a Stay Home Mom

Well I may not be in the exact position to say these are great "selling secrets" seeing as our home has now been on the market for 2 weeks and we've had 5 appointments but no offers :(
However, I feel like these things are helpful and I'm confident the offer will come soon! So first things first
PACK
Get some boxes and start packing.
If you don't have a storage room or don't want to rent one, use the garage.  Pack up most of your nick knacks, clean out and pack things in all the closets you don't need out, and don't forget to clear off the top of the fridge and magnets (for some reason this just makes a huge difference in the appearance of your kitchen) Also, don't neglect the pantry, organize it. If you have appliances (toaster oven, mixer, spice rack, microwave) that sit out you may want them to find a new home in the garage or cabinets. I packed a lot of dishes, tupper ware, baking pans,to give the illusion of more cabinet space and make room for the things that did usually get left out on the counter. Getting rid of clutter and making your closets appear empty bigger makes the house look better to the buyer. I also went as far to color code our master closet. See out closet it really small so I needed it to look organize and believe it or not, not only did it help the overall look, I kind of like the results.
TOUCH UP
By now you may have taken down some things from walls or even banged them in a few spots while trying to get your newly packed boxes to the garage.  Touch them up! Fill nail holes and touch up the paint on trim. It just looks so much fresher and newer. Also finish up any of those projects you've started. You may not notice them anymore but a buyer will. They are looking for ways to knock down the price of your home. Anything they have to do themselves they start adding to the con's column.
CLEAN
This is the cheapest and best thing I believe you can do for selling your home. Clean everything! Fans, tops of door frames where dust collects, dust your furniture, clean your base boars, microwave, vent hood, oven, next to the fridge/washer/dryer, around the bottom of the toilets, windows inside and out, window sills, blinds, sweep the front and back porch. Don't forget doggy doors, and to poop scoop if you have pets...EVERYTHING. Nobody wants to buy anybody else's dirt.
You may even want to hire someone to get a really good cleaning.  I didn't but once you get a good start you have to keep it clean until it sells so its best to be super thorough the first time.
TAKE PICTURES
Do a walk through and take pictures like you would a home tour. Once you've taken the pictures sit down with your spouse and look at them. I would say get them printed (search for coupon codes online) and look through them. You'll notice in the pictures what you need to still do. I went back and packed more boxes from my built in's. They looked too cluttered even though I packed like 15 boxes of books previously trying to try to reduce the look of clutter.

Then I moved a piece of Emma's furniture to the garage. It looked too big in the pictures and dominated the room. We noticed that some green stuff was growing on the back of the house and it looked awful so we took care of that.

See the greenish line across the bottom of the house? I honestly never noticed it in person.
We didn't do the pictures first and I wish I had. These were the pictures the real estate photographer came and took and we used on the listing. But this is there were things I would have changed had I noticed, this is the first impression people get of your home and you want it to look great, to bring them in.
KEEP IT CLEAN SECRETS
ugh! The hardest part...living in your home with two kids and keeping it clean enough that you can be out with little notice for a showing.
-Make a check list of things that need to be done quickly before you show the house. This way you or the hubster can refer to it as soon as you get the call and get moving. This is mine:

Turn on Scentsy  (I do this first so the smell gets cirrculating)
Make all beds
Open all window (blinds or curtains, Bring in light!)
Turn on all lights
Kitchen: clean everything off the counters, wipe counters, table and sink, run disposal
Bathroom: wipe down counters, dump a little pine sol in the toilet and close the lid, close shower curtains (I
     leave mine open about a foot because our shower are remodeled and I want people to see that has been
     done,)  clear off cabinets, fluff hand towel, put away bath towels (I just fold mine fancy and leave them on
     the counter or the edge of the tub) and put the laundry hampers in the garage
Walk through with an empty laundry basket and get everything that shouldn't be out and put it in the basket  
     which goes it in the garage to be dealt with when you come home.
Sweep
Put dog bed and toys in the garage
Dogs in crate
If there is time: mop with the swiffer, vacuum

This is pretty good list and works for me. Its what I can accomplish with about an hours notice and the minimum I'm comfortable doing to make the house look the best it can.

Of course that means that every night we pick up most everything, including the kids rooms. I've gotten to the point I ask for their help but don't expect them to really get it right. You cannot expect young children to be able to clean a house to sell it but keeping it picked up makes it quick to do later. I also pick up before we leave to go anywhere so I know that if I need to get home in a hurry to get ready for a showing its one less thing I'll have to do.
Keep up with the dishes and laundry
Clean the bathrooms once a week - I usually do Friday to make sure its ready for weekend showings
Make the beds every morning (again, its one less thing to do when you get a showing. plus it looks nice and feels good when you walk into a room with the bed made, I'll be trying to stick with this habit)
I try to sweep at least once every two days but usually try to force myself to do it once a day.
Vacuum and mop twice a week (I do once on Friday to be ready for the weekend)
Windows, mirrors and doors once a week (use vinegar in a spray bottle and wipe until dry. works great and super cheap)
Fridays:
bathrooms, mirrors, dust, vacuum, mop  Your big showing day will probably be a Saturday. Just get these things knocked out so you can be ready to leave if they call you in the morning.

To make things easier I use a couple of cheats:

These are great to wipe down the granite really fast. It leaves it nice and polished looking

This is the pine-sol I pour in the toilets. It doesn't have that strong pine-sol smell and it makes your bathroom smell fresh when you walk in

These babies are now everywhere. Under the kitchen sink, in the laundry room, and in each bathroom.  I just wipe down the counters and any other spots I notice. Fast and convenient and looks freshly cleaned.

I dump just a little of this down the kitchen sink to make it smell fresh and eliminate the possibility of a stinky disposal. However, I prefer to use orange or lemon peels in the disposal if I have them. So I do try to just keep them in a tupperware in the fridge and throw them down the sink, turn on the disposal, and it smells great in the whole kitchen.

Whats not to love about the swiffer wet jet. Fast mopping, fresh smell.  This is great to manage spills during the week or to spot mop in you have a showing. Or mop the whole floor. Its just convenient and leave the house smelling wonderful .

Ok that sounds like a lot of smells but really, in my house it works and smells like my maid super mom (me) just cleaned the whole place. I like it and I don't think anyone is going to walk in and say "whats that disgusting clean smell" so I'm all right with it.

Anyway, If any of you are living (and working/entertaining/raising children) in your home while you' re trying to sell it. I hope this helps a little bit.  Or heck, if you're just getting ready for unexpected company quickly! Good luck!