It’s almost that time of year. The weather is beginning to warm up and your schedule is getting busy! If you’re the average Montanan, you’ve been cooped up inside your house since late October, unable to get to that snow-buried garden shed or bbq out on the deck. You have probably been spending your days out on the ski slopes, only to come home and sit by the fire and eat carbs to stay warm at night. You know, and we know, that you have been a little too casual when it comes to tidying up your living space.

     Like our New Year’s resolutions coming at the beginning of the year, our house-refresher comes at the beginning of the spring season! Springtime always feels like a fresh start to the mundane end of winter where we can turn a new leaf on winter habits to get our lives ready for the busy summer ahead of us. You’ll thank yourself if you get a jumpstart on the process sooner than later, so you can leave the most amount of time for summertime activities and the beautiful weather it has to offer.

     The first step in the spring cleaning process is to make a master plan of tidying up the areas you want to focus on. When ERA Landmark agents were asked where they thought the best places to start, the biggest suggestion was to freshen up and clean out the clutter. The hot spots of clutter are found in our hidden storage areas like the garage and closets. The process of cleaning out the storage can be started by sorting items into four different piles: keep, donate, recycle, and throw away. Every real estate agent will appreciate your hard work and agree that your house will sell MUCH easier without the clutter! 

     If you are looking to donate or consign: Goodwill accepts used furniture and clothing and has convenient drop-off drive-thru locations in Bozeman and Belgrade, Livingston allows donations at their Community Closet downtown, the Madison Valley Woman’s Club accepts donations in their outside bins, and the Consignment Cabin in Big Sky allows you to consign clothing and decor. For items that have seen better days, you can recycle or dispose of them in the proper ways; Gallatin, Park, and Madison County all have solid waste management programs with tons of local resources to recycle as well as for instructions on what to do with items that need to be taken to the landfill. 

     The biggest impact of cold winter months in our area is the effect of snow on your landscape and exterior parts of your home. A lot can be said about how washing windows, restaining a deck, and pulling dead plants out of flower beds can give the outside of your house a bright, clean feel. There’s no fresher feeling than having your carpets and flooring professionally cleaned. It’s a simple and effective way to take years of built-up grime out and present a fresh look to a room. ERA agents will also remind you that you don’t need to completely repaint the entire house, but presenting a clean, livable space will help potential buyers see the beauty in your home that is already there.

     If you’re looking for a more detailed list of small spring cleaning tasks to tackle, we suggest this article directly from Good Housekeeping with “33 Easy Spring Cleaning Tips”. If you want to take it a step further, there is no better master at Tidy than Marie Kondo. She will remind you that there is a difference between cleaning and tidying, and not overwhelm yourself in the process!

Are you ready to list your house? Our 59 agents will have even more tips to get your house beautiful and ready to hit the market hard!