Shelley@Valley West Realty: Tips for Selling Your Home:Clean, Clean, Clean

Shelley@Valley West Realty: Tips for Selling Your Home:Clean, Clean, Clean: Februum: Roman ritual cleansing ceremony using lavendar and other herbs to scent homes.  Do not just de-clutter, deep clean to let ...

Tips for Selling Your Home:Clean, Clean, Clean

Februum: Roman ritual cleansing ceremony using lavendar and other herbs to scent homes.

 Do not just de-clutter, deep clean to let your home shine!

 

Start at the top when cleaning your house.

If you do not have a ceiling brush, a broom with a clean, dry towel wrapped around the bristles will work for dusting and de-webbing your ceiling. Sweep the whole ceiling, especially the corners and door frames, being careful of light fixtures and pictures on the wall. 

Apple Cider Vinegar and Baking Soda as cleansers:

Wipe down the walls with the following recipe, this will clean and deodorize:

1    Cup Ammonia
1/2 Cup Vinegar, White or Apple Cider 
1/4 Cup Baking Soda
1 Gallon Warm Water
Mix well, then use with clean towel to wash walls, ceilings, doors and cabinets.
If using on wood surfaces, it may dull finishes.
If using on softer stone surfaces, it may cause etching.

Clean your windows to show your beautiful view.

Clean windows and glass doors improve the first impression of your home. The best way to avoid streaks when cleaning windows is to not wash in the direct sun.

Glass Cleaner:

1/2 Water and 1/2 Vinegar, White or Apple Cider. Mix together in spray bottle.
Spray on glass surface and wipe dry with a clean, dry towel.

Using Vinegar and Baking Soda as a toilet bowl cleaner:

This recipe is great for cleaning the toilet bowl, especially if you have a septic tank:

1/4 Cup Baking Soda
1     Cup Vinegar, White or Apple Cider
Put the Soda in the water in the toilet bowl, then add the Vinegar. It makes a neat foaming action, like the volcano experments in school. Let sit for at least 10 minutes, then brush with toilet brush. If there are hard water lines or marks, use a pumice stone to remove.

Freshen up your drains. Sprinkle 1/8 Cup Baking Soda in your sink, tub and shower drains, add Vinegar. Let sit at least 10 minutes, then flush with hot water.

Clean litter boxes.

Remove the litter boxes, from the rooms where there are no kitties, when showing your home. 

Clean up, do not be Cleaned Out. 

Secure Jewelry, Cash, Keys, Valuables and All Medications before showings. I also recommend hiding Calendars, your appointments are in plain sight showing when you will be out of the house.

Most people are trustworthy. Some people are not. Treat all showings as being shown to very tall toddlers with sticky fingers. 

Use a licensed Real Estate Agent for best results! 

Dog Treats:Dinner, snacks and walks

Favorite Dog and People things. Food, treats and walks

Dog Dinner:

Our dogs love this recipe for their dinner. They also have a good quality dry dog food, Fromm, that we used to let the dogs free feed on until the cats decided that they also liked the dry dog food. Now the pups have dry food in the morning with 1 1/4 cups of homemade food, late afternoon with 1 lightly cooked scrambled egg and 2TBS yogurt and evening-after potty walk. 

Dog Food Recipe:

4 Cups Water
1 Cup Wild Rice or Barley
1 1/2 Lbs Beef, cut into pieces raw or after cooked-I use what ever is on sale at the time:petite steaks, round steak,roast,london broil
2 Cups Yams or carrots, peeled and cut into pieces
1 or 2 Apples, cored and cut into pieces
1 Cup Blue or Blackberries
1 Cup dry oatmeal, quick cooking
1 Can Pumpkin
Using a large soup pot add the water, rice or barley and beef. Bring to a boil, turn down burner and simmer, with lid on, for 45 minutes. After 20 minutes of simmering add yams or carrots. Add apples and berries in the last 10 minutes of cooking. Add the oatmeal in the last 3 minutes of cooking, remove lid and stir constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the pumpkin. Cool before serving. I split the food into 3 separate dishes for storage, freezing 2 and keeping one in the refrigerator. It takes at least one day to thaw the container out. Serving size about 1 1/4 cups.

Dog treats:

This recipe comes from Spend with Pennies by Samantha. Our dogs love these and they are easy to make using only 6 ingredients:

Pumpkin Dog Treats:

3/4 Cup Pumpkin puree-pure pumkin, not pie filling with sugar added
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter-NOT containing xylitol, a sugar substitute, that may be toxic to dogs.
1 Egg Yolk
1 Cup Flour
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
Preheat oven to 375F. Line cooking sheet with parchment paper. Mix pumpkin, peanut butter and yolk together. In separate bowl mix dry ingredients, add gradually to wet until completely combined. Roll out dough on floured surface to approx. 1/4" thick. Use cookie cutter to make shapes. Place on lined cookie sheets at least 1" apart. Bake at 375F for 20 minutes with small shapes, 25 minutes for large shapes. Keep uneaten treats in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Favorite Dog Walks:

Some of our favorite dog walking places are:

Sarah Helmick State Park: 

Located approx. 6 miles south of Monmouth on the Luckiamute River. Take 99W to Old Fort Road turn west follow to Helmick Road, turn south cross the river and the park is to the west of the road. Sarah Helmick State Park is the first State Park established in Oregon.

Luckiamute Landing:

This park is located on Buena Vista Road, south of  Buena Vista. There are two different areas to hike, one is the North Luckiamute Landing which is right next to the Luckiamute River and the other is south, closer to Springhill Drive.

Cemeteries:

It may sound weird, but some of our favorite walking areas are in the local cemeteries. Usually hardly any alive people or pets, the cemeteries are located in beautiful grassy and treed areas. Kings Valley on Kings Valley Hwy, Wormer on Kings Valley Hwy, FirCrest on Helmick Rd and Dallas Cemeteries are nice walking areas. Be polite and take dog poo bags.