Interview Tomorrow/How To Make My Home More Appealing!

[Abigail]

Janarae, is it warm where you are? If it is (not likely, it's January!) you might be able to open the windows for a bit to get some fresh air in the house. If it is bright outside, I wouldn't have all the lights on because I would just think what a waste of energy. ::

What type of people are you getting for your interviews? Are you priced high or low? What is it that is getting these people interested in your daycare. If they were interested in your meals you offer then I would be having something in the oven and have a sample menu ready to talk about in their "interview" folder. If they like that you have a young age group, I would make sure you show off your best toys and art projects. KWIM? How many children do you currently have enrolled and what is your goal enrollment?

[SilverSabre25]

Honestly, I would stash and dash every bit of clutter you can from the areas of your home they'll be seeing. Clutter really does make a humongous difference. Trust me--I know. Clutter is my big failing too! Our carpet is stained too but has never seemed like it was an issue (but who knows; I did fail a lot of interviews before getting full). I try and make sure that I have small age appropriate toys/paper and crayons ready for the child--we usually sit at my kitchen table to do the interview and the child sits with us. I make sure my own DD is fed and watered pre-interview.

[ninosqueridos]

What I do is have someone (DH) watch my kids in another room...and then towards the END of the interview, I bring them all in so they could all be introduced, meet the prospective child for a few minutes, and then off they go...

I never thought of burning a candle - it screams "fire hazard" to me and I'd wonder if you were always burning candles.

I agree about not making it seem different than what it is usually......perhaps making changes (like throwing away or donating things) that could be permanent changes would be beneficial. Zero clutter. Toys, yes, of course.

Focus on the parent/child and not at whether they noticed a stain on your rug. YOU are the one who is being showcased, and if YOU shine, that's what's most important.

[lvt77]

I dont think that I would worry so much about your house needing updates, however, I would be concerned about how clean it is. My house is clean top to bottom every day as if I were to get inspected or an interview at the drop of a hat. I have had an unexpected interview and boy was I happy that my house is always white glove clean. My oldest son plays baseball and I was at one of his games. I starting talking to one of the other parents there about my daycare and they were in desperate need of a new DCP. She asked me would you mind if we swung by after the game? I could not say no after all the bragging I did about how clean my house was and how I sanitized every sunday.... Her child has been with me for almost 3 years.


Also, ALL of my DCP always tell me how in the world do you keep your house this clean with having 3 kids of your own and your husband always at work. They are very impressed. Especially with the amount of art and other projects that we do every day.

I use my closets in the hallway as a dcare closet for supplies and little clutter so most of it is out of view. I have all of my monthly boxes by theme or holiday in my garage on shelves and I have very little inside my house that I need to clean each day. My house was built in the 80s but has not had a lot of updates.

Do you think if you had someone come in and clean your carpets that they might be more appealing? Or rent a carpet cleaner? Maybe move your furniture around so that you can hide some of the stains? I have never allowed shoes in my house by anyone and my carpets look very new for being almost 12 years old.

I love lights, but too much light will show every imperfection. Choosing nice bright colors can help you keep the lights a little dim.
In the past, I did not have very nice furniture and I went to Joann’s Fabric and bought clearance fabric and just tucked it in all around my sofa. I made some pillows and bought some nice green plants. For smell I always have a nice candle burning or a fresh plug in that is out of eye view.
Don’t stress so much, you will be fine. If you feel stressed about it, get your worst critic and have them come over and see how they feel about it. I used to have my sister who is a teacher come over for fake interviews and drill me. I was feeling great when I did my first interview years ago and still love doing them. I wish you luck and I hope I did not put you to sleep….

[marniewon]

I think I need to disagree a little bit about the carpet stains. I've already told you that the carpet in our bedroom (and one other room) is very stained. Or, it was, until I used the stuff that I can't seem to remember the name of. Anyway, I think the carpet stains could be a huge deal to prospective parents!! Kids love to play on the floor, sit on the floor, roll around on the floor, etc. I would not want my kids on the floor on stained carpets. Why? Well, from personal experience, a lot of our floor stains are from animals. Ewww. Parents look at stained carpets and they have no idea what the stain is actually from, and can think the worst. I would concentrate on cleaning the carpets. I have a small house also, and no dedicated dc room. I've made "apology noises" during interviews before, and they always said "oh, i'm not concerned about that" (and every one of them who said that started bringing their child to me). I also have a fair amount of knick-knacks around, so my house tends to look a little cluttered at times. That doesn't seem to be a problem either.

[ammama]

My home is very small (house is only 1200 sq feet total, my main floor is only 500 sq feet, and that is the only space I allow the dck's in). I find the biggest thing that makes it look dirty is clutter, so I have decluttered LIKE CRAZY for the last year. It has been really hard to get rid of so much stuff, but in the end, I don't miss it all (really, how many pots do you need? We are down to 3 - sm, med and large). My home is so much easier to clean now, and looks and feels SOO much better. A cluttered home was making my mind feel cluttered, which made me stressed out.

For tomorrow, I would declutter into a box if you need to, and put it away in the basement. I like the idea of strategically placing some large, age appropriate toys for the child to play with over the worst of the stains. I also always try to have something really good smelling cooking while they are here (either cookies fresh from the oven to offer, or bread, a roast in the crockpot etc) and they always comment on how great it smells.

Good Luck!

[cillybean83]

this stuff is awesome on carpet stains

http://www.homehardware.ca/en/rec/index.htm/_/N-1z141c2Z67lZ2pqf/Ne-67nZlnt3/R-I4528611

[Little People]

Let us know how your interview went.

[momofboys]

Wow, ladies! Thank you all for your wonderful ideas! I did go buy some foaming carpet cleaner--I have used something like that before & it did make the carpet look a bit cleaner. It really isn't THAT bad but you know how it is when youa re aware of where the stains are etc. I am going to try to hide some of the clutter as best as I can & I will be baking lemon bars when they get here. My older boys will be present (they are typically well behaved). My DH plans to take our youngest (who tends to have fits/not good with sharing initially. . . he is the sweetest child but he just turned 3 & is still in the terrible twos to a certain degree!) to the library & come back about 40 min or so after the interview has started so hopefully they will be leaving then.

[lvt77]

sounds like your are off to a great start!!
I wish you luck!!

[KEG123]

Awesome! Let us know how it goes! My *first* interview is today. I'm so nervous!

[Stacy214]

OOh Good Luck !!!!! It sounds like you have it together. I have a small home (1200 sq ft)too....I actually just put in Pergo but before that I used Spot Shot on my carpet stains. If you have carpet and are a daycare then you got stains . I love what everyone said here, all great suggestions.

[Stacy214]

Awesome! Let us know how it goes! My *first* interview is today. I'm so nervous!

Good Luck!!!!