The Art of Selling a House and Not Losing Your Mind Completely

I know the "Keep Calm" signs are totally overused, but I JUST SOLD MY HOUSE!

After 32 showings and 50+ days on the market, I accepted an offer on my house yesterday afternoon.  I have never enjoyed electronically signing anything as much as that offer.  Tap. Tap. Tapitty-Tap-Tap.  Done. 

I don't know if we have met.  I am Prairie Eydie.

This morning all I could manage was sitting on the couch feeling like a wrung out dishrag.  Limp.  But a good kind of limp.

For the past 65 days I have focused on nothing other than selling my house.  (I also had to work, parent my children, orchestrate the holidays, and sporadically go to the gym.) 

• I savagely decluttered the house. 
• I made regular trips to St. Vincent's with piles of Trivial Pursuit  games and gently worn snow pants. 
• I staged the entire house. 
• I got up at 4:30 every morning to make sure the house would be left "Showing Ready." 
• I sent the elderly cats off to live with friends. 
• I badgered my kids to not mess anything up - especially the kitchen floor and toothpaste free bathroom counters. 
• I had my windows repaired.
• I brightened up woodwork with stain and polyurethane.  (NOTE:  Don't do this minutes before an Open House because a stink will linger the rest of the day.) 

Did I do this all on my own?  Nope - sure didn't.  I had a hard working, cheering section of family and friends who patiently listened to my ill-based fears while packing up photo albums in the guest room.  Without them, I would have quit.  Because I wanted to quit every other second.  Last Sunday, I had brilliantly decided to take my house off the market and get a weekend job at Starbucks to make ends meet.  It didn't seem like a big deal to have my kids raise themselves if it meant a stop to the endless parade of showings.

I am no longer charged up on adrenaline and a laundry list of "What ifs . . ."  Today I had a perfect day.  No cleaning.  No packing.  No searching for missing chargers and cell phone bills.

I am off to pack up my "staging props" for Prairie Sherry.  Soon her house will be on the market.  She can have all the white towels, white shower curtains, wooden hangers, coffee table books, battery operated pillar candles, etc.  Luckily she got a new Kitchen Aid for Christmas from her daughter because I couldn't help her with that one.  Tomorrow I will deliver the props and help her bury St. Joseph, upside down, in her backyard.

Prairie Eydie