Depending on the day - light the fire in the fireplace.
Take the dogs to the car, pickup their dishes
Turn on the water feature
Turn on the appropriate lights
Clean the kitchen & bath sinks
Straighten bath towels (my buyer requested them)
Straighten closets
Walk through every room with a careful eye

It quickly became routine, I did it easily, then left the house.

Number 1 thing -- close the toilet lids !!! with 4 kids, 3 of them being boys, I found my biggest job was making sure that what I had cleaned in the morning was still clean for un scheduled showings.

I always made sure everything was clean and ready for a showing by 8 am, but things like toilet lids, a coffee cup on the counter, cushions on the couch fluffed, area rugs straightened, checking for garbage cans to be emptied in all baths and kitchen, and a quick run through of the entire house to see if anything had been messed up during the day were all things I concentrated on before each showing if I had notice. The few times where I had someone show up to the door I asked for 5 minutes, I literally would go through the house with a laundry basket and throw anything that was out of place (kid shoes, book bags, hair brushes, etc.) in the laundry basket, load the basket and kids in the car and give the all clear for the realtor and buyer to look.

All of this is quite amusing when I reflect on houses that I have gone through. Almost no one did anything exceptional.

My house for sale is vacant, which comes with its own set of problems. I go over there twice per week to make sure all is well and that there are flyers in the box and booklets on the counter. I have had to sweep the odd palmetto bug out the door (nothing like that to queer a sale!) and prune the octopus of a rose bush off the front porch. I try to detect any odd odors. You know, the usual ;-) ...

Make sure all you jewelry, valuables, papers, checkbooks etc are out of sight and/or locked up. Just read in a retirement magazine an article that this is a bigger problem than agents will admit. Many times they are very nice looking etc Even lock up prescription meds. Check after anyone leaves for missing articles. Some even take pictures and compare.

Let's see if I can remember it all -

In master bath:
--replace hand towel with one for show
--put away any used towels
--put out vanity mirror and candle to highlight the --vanity/make-up area
--shine all fixtures and light plates
--make sure shower is dry
--clean toilet (also have 3 boys! lol)

Our 2nd bath is closed off, so I only go in there to check and dust.

In the master bedroom:
--put on the comforter and shams
--put away my 'real' pillows

In my small kitchen:
--move one plant from window to counter
--put away paper towels & paper napkins (nothing on counters except two plants & coffee pot)
--put rug in front of sink
--put garbage can in garage
--clean and shine the sink, fixtures & appliances

Dining room:
--remove table cloth
--set out bowl of apples

Living room:
--put out the pillows
--place a tray on the ottoman

Also, because of the kids, I run around and clean off all the door knobs and look for marks on the walls, windows and the tile floors. And like others, I turn on lights and open blinds, and slowly check the condition of each room. I also check the front and back yards.

My boys are camped out with me in the master, so their rooms and bath are closed off. All their toys have been reduced to the point where they fit in baskets in one of the master closets. I'd go crazy if I had to worry about keeping their rooms cleaned every second of the day! Thank goodness that they're still young enough to think this is fun :)

I don't mind doing all this - it's quick and easy and I do it because I'm hoping for a good offer in a short time :) It's the keeping it all clean stuff that's hard. I clean twice a day - before bed and again in the afternoon, and I tidy up constantly. So far all my showing have been in the late afternoon or the evening, and half of those gave no notice.

I did all of the above and also did the cookie baking thing which eventually gave way to cooking up some basmati rice in the rice cooker if it was close to dinner time. We were eating too many cookies!

I also made sure to cut some flowers from the garden to bring in and place here and there. Nicer than grocery store varieties if you have a garden.

I removed all traces of the dog, inside and out IYKWIM. Didn't want folks to know we had an animal in the house unless they were nosy enough to dig in the cupboards, which I figure some were. We sold to dog owners...

In our last house somebody stole the piece of paper that a new credit card comes on out of the trash, activated it, and bought a lot of stuff.

After we wised up and bought a shredder, we also made sure the trash was always empty in every room.

We also used to crate our dog before we left, but then realized she barked insanely from her crate the entire time buyers were there (duh!) and from then on her crate was in our car and we just brought her with us everywhere.

Hide or take with you all prescription drugs.

I turn on most of the lights, even during the day.

We were selling in Florida in a "transitional" season (a warm spring), so we also cranked up the AC and opened the sliders and the fabulous huge window over the sink that looked onto the pool and patio. Felt horrible from an environmental standpoint, but we did sell...!

All of the above helped! Bout a half hour before people were due to arrive, I would pour Liquid Lysol cleaner (purple lavender) into the sinks and let it sit for 45 minutes! LOL! My house smelled clean and fresh! I also popped on James Taylors greatest hits on low. We close in two weeks!! This forum was invaluable to me!! Good luck To you!!!!

I'm impressed with the number of showings you're getting! We've been on the market about 5-6 weeks now and the showings have really slacked off. At first we kept it in a "ready to show" condition all the time, but when we went two weeks with out a showing, all that went out the window!

We have our cleaning lady come weekly instead of bi-weekly while the house is listed, which keeps the deeper cleaning up as we each work very full time jobs.

The agent has held 3 open houses, and we spent all morning making sure the house looks the best it can look.

Check for smudges on glass.
blow leaves off patio.
Buy "fresh" fresh flowers for the dining tables
open blinds & turn on all lights
play smooth jazz from the music channel on the television clean clean clean
organize cupboards
sweep garage & front porch
straighten pillows, fluff cushions
fresh fruit in fruit bowl
take take laptops in car
take clothes basket with any remaining laundry

I'm sure there is plenty more since I get fanitical about it.

Luckily we've had anywhere from 3- 24 hrs warning before scheduled showings so I pretty much do all that (except fresh fruits & flowers) for those too!

Most of our visitors have been through during the open houses, and only about 6 or so scheduled visits. No negatives, just haven't found the right buyer yet!
Good luck to you!