Attempting to sell your home when you have a baby or toddler is, not surprisingly, a very challenging situation. We recently put our house on the market and, by necessity, we are quickly finding solutions.

The mere thought of doing this was extremely intimidating. We're in a common situation, yet there is no fail-safe method for making it smooth and easy. However, I can share a few tips we've picked up along the way.

In preparing our home for the housing market, it was very beneficial to get rid of the clutter that comes along with a 2-year-old.We were surprised that she did not seem to mind not having so many toys everywhere. Not only is our house ready to show, but we finally get to enjoy a clutter-free home!

We left just enough of her favorite toys around to occupy her and showed her how to access a few items that were now put up but still safely reachable. It took a lot of hours working around the house, mainly late at night and during naps, but this key first step was completed on schedule. Our advice: Start very early with the de-cluttering phase if you are able to plan the selling of your house well ahead of time. Also, you’ll need a storage plan. Luckily, we have in-laws near who are letting us store boxes at their home.

The second phase of this process is the major house upgrades. For us, it was new carpet and fresh paint. Again, you'll need to plan ahead as much as possible because you cannot have children home for these.

After you've completed the journey of getting your house on the market, the challenges still come at you. You have to clean pretty thoroughly every day, probably quite a bit more than usual. Given the often short notices for agent previews or private viewings, you have to be ready to act fast!

Just the other day, I received a call with an hour’s warning for an agent preview. I was trying to meet a work deadline. Oh, no! The basement was littered with puzzle pieces, and I was thrilled to have it cleaned within minutes. But when I ran upstairs to frantically clean, I saw that earlier, unbeknownst to me, our daughter had hand-shredded a bunch of toilet paper and meticulously spread it throughout every room. Like I said, you have to act fast and just do the best you can.

Besides keeping up with cleaning, we have a big rubber container on hand to quickly fill with all of the loose items around the house before making a quick exit. Many of these strategies also apply to when you have open houses, except you have a longer period of time to cover – though with open houses usually being on Sundays, the options are greater and easier for passing time and good nap strategies.

The very best nap-time strategy, since you are also looking for a new home, is to go to Sunday afternoon open houses yourself while your house is open. This is the perfect time to do it. If your child is awake at first, you can just take her along and into the open houses. Since this is early afternoon, it is likely the car nap will take effect. We have found the best thing to do is to let her nap in the car, and then we just take turns going into houses.

If we find something we really like, then the other person goes into to check it out once the other person gets back to the car with a positive report. It’s maybe a bit arduous, but it works! It’s also a nice use of this time. Of course, just chillin’ at the park always works well, too.

By Brian Doolitte, Lifestyle Blogger for SmartParenting