Getting the house ready

We are trying to get the house ready to sell. It's a task that is overwhelming me. A big part of it is just simply the amount of stuff we have (and, admittedly, most of that stuff is mine), but it's also just that there seems to be more and more to do. There's another corner with a stack of magazines, a pile of books, what the hell am I doing with all these pens, another pile of books, good Lord, another pile of books. 

It's also difficult because it's not just cleaning, but getting ready to show the house to a bunch of strangers who will be judging it. Should we shove all the clothes to one side so that there's a space, or have them nicely spread apart? Should we have one closet crammed with stuff or should we have a little in every closet? Should we clean the oven or straighten the basement? Are people really going to look in there?

In some ways, this part is even worse than getting ready to actually move. When we move, just dump everything into a box and go. Ugh, I hate selling houses. I guess I'm lucky because I will be out of here during most of the showings. But it's also frustrating because I'm limited time-wise to what I can do to the house. I have to rely on Mr. HP to get everything done, and his priorities about the house are different from mine. 

I feel like getting the house ready is a series of steps. Every time I put away something or organize a shelf, it's another step closer to being done. I just wish I knew how many steps I still had to do.