Our house looks a bit chaotic right now, so we made a spontaneous decision: this week is officially Moving Week. While we unpack and track down our underwear, we’re sharing everything you asked about selling our current home. Here’s what we’ll cover during Spontaneous Moving Week:

• How we staged and sold our house, including a look at our real estate flyer and a checklist of what we changed before showings
• A detailed breakdown of what we made from the sale versus what we invested into the house
• Photos of the empty house — it’s strange to see your place echoing, but it also feels like closure
• Moving day photos from our new house and reflections on the first day
• A casual house-hunting post about a few other properties we checked out
• Other miscellaneous things I’m forgetting right now because, well, the house looks like this

First up: staging. A lot of you asked questions like:

“Did you stage your home to sell it? Did you remove personal items or make small changes to appeal to buyers?”

“Would you share your For Sale flyer without personal details like price and address?”

Below is the double-sided flier we designed in Photoshop (address, price, and contact details removed for privacy). Click the images to view them larger.

We don’t follow the traditional staging rules to the letter. Neutralizing every room and removing all personal photos isn’t really our style. We sold our first house successfully without stripping everything down, and the same approach worked well this time. We kept elements like our framed hallway photos because they show how cozy and lived-in a home can feel — and that personality sometimes connects with buyers better than an impersonal, stripped-down space.

That said, we did make targeted improvements to present the house at its best. Instead of hiding things, we focused on simple, practical updates that help buyers imagine themselves living here. Our checklist before showings included:

• Over-seeding the lawn a few weeks before showings and letting the rain help the grass look fresh and green
• Adding mulch to garden beds and planting a few colorful annuals to boost curb appeal and signal that the house is well cared for

• Organizing closets, the attic, and the basement so any visible storage spaces looked functional, not overflowing
• Wiping down kitchen and bathroom counters and polishing faucets so surfaces looked and smelled clean
• Rolling up a kitchen rug to showcase the cork flooring and create a more open look

• Mowing the lawn and using a leaf blower on the driveway, deck, and patio to remove pollen, twigs, and debris
• Touching up scuffed paint on doorways and baseboards for a fresher appearance

• Tucking away pet food and water that were stored in the walk-in closet to avoid distracting pet owners or non-pet buyers
• Removing children’s bath toys, potty seats, and step stools from bathrooms so spaces didn’t read exclusively as “kids’ bathrooms” (we left toys in baskets in living and play areas where they seemed less intrusive)
• Removing bath mats to make bathrooms look roomier and show off the tile

• Vacuuming, dusting, and doing a final tidy — which included a last-minute half-hour of decluttering with a toddler in tow and a lot of quick clean-up songs
• Wiping the front door with a damp rag and mild soap to remove pollen haze; small tasks like that make a noticeable difference

• Leaving the separate basement entry unlocked so visitors could easily inspect it without getting locked out
• Leaving a note in the microwave cabinet indicating the presence of a vented microwave so buyers could find it quickly
• Adding a runner and a few cups on the deck table to create an inviting, sit-down vibe even though the furniture moved with us

Most of these tasks were done once before the first showing, and maintaining them for subsequent visits wasn’t too difficult. Evacuating a toddler and a dog before each showing was sometimes frantic, but overall we were lucky to have only three showings this time around compared with 14 last time. What do you do when your house is on the market? Any tips for people getting ready to list?