I don’t think it’s too early to say spring is here. If you’re scheduled for a spring or summer closing on your new home, you’ve been longing for these days. With moving day growing near, you’ll be putting your existing home on the market so you’ve got some work to do!

If all the grey grunge that surrounds your home is disgusting you, you can bet it will disgust and discourage prospective buyers.

Time to give the exterior of your home a spring spruce-up so you can enter the real estate market with your head held high. Buyers have also lived through an Ontario winter and won’t be expecting green grass and roses, but there’s no excuse for letting winter grunge hang around longer than necessary. Spend the next few weekends tackling the items on this list and it won’t be as overwhelming as it seems.

1. Bag it. We’ve got to work around those April showers so on the first dry day that appears, get out there with your gloves, a rake and a stack of leaf bags and start collecting the leaves, litter and “pet refuse” that has been accumulating under the snow on sidewalks, decks, lawns and flower beds. If you’ve got kids, pay them $10 or $20/bag for every bag they fill. It will be worth it! Seeing brown earth and even some brown grass around your home is preferable to seeing the aforementioned.

2. Wash it. Rake any leaves off the deck and hose it down or pressure wash it. Keep up the momentum and wash walkways, driveway, vinyl siding, brick walls (careful of the mortar on older structures) and other vertical surfaces. Clean out the gutters—again.

Once all the splashing and spraying is done, clean all the windows, inside and out, sills, too. This may take an entire day but it’s needed and is a great reflection on your pride of ownership.

3. Patio time. Pull out the patio furniture and put it in place, and set up the barbecue. You don’t need to have Easter dinner out there, but make it look like you did. This does double duty of eliminating storage clutter while enabling buyers to visualize “their” outdoor living space. Add more potted plants for colour until real flowers burst open to break up the dreariness.

4. New containers. How about creating a dedicated area for recycling and garbage that is pleasant to look at? Invest in some new garbage cans and blue boxes (you’ll be taking them with you, after all) that are clean and shiny. Even buy some potted shrubs (you can take these, too) to form a living screen around this area.

5. Organize storage. A long winter means lots of extra stuff tossed into the garage and basement so get them organized. Line the old garbage cans and recycle bins with garbage bags for extra storage. Rakes, hoes, shovels, etc., can stand in the tall cans in a corner. Stack the gardening essentials, pots, hoses and anything without a home in the recycle bins until needed. If you’re even more ambitious, add hooks and hardware to the walls to hang tools, bikes, sports equipment, etc. The more things off the floor, the bigger the space looks.

6. When in doubt, throw it out. Of course, you’ll also have the opportunity to toss (or repair) broken items, get rid of unused items or items the kids have grown out of. If you’re planning a garage/yard sale, reserve a corner for these items. Pick a date and place the ad on kijiji.ca or the newspaper now, rather than later, for incentive.

7. Who you gonna call? Anything you don’t need, can’t sell, or don’t want to haul away can be picked up as part of garbage collection. If you’re in Guelph, as I am, this is the city website where you can arrange for pickup of big items for a fee: guelph.ca/living/garbage-and-recycling/curbside-collection/preparing-waste/bulky-item-collection/

Once you’ve cleaned and organized, packing will be a breeze when your new home is ready!