Clean Your Home for Unexpected Guests

Tis the season of guests! You guys, as much as I so, so wish it was, my house is very rarely ready for guests. I mean, hello, I live with a tiny tornado and a literal Pigpen. Add on top of that fact that in general, I don’t do well with ‘last minute’ and ‘change in plans’ and I’m sure you can imagine that guests coming with little notice makes me super anxious.

With that in mind, I think it’s safe to say that I’ve perfected what I call the ‘quick clean’ – aka, making my house appear clean as quick as possible, usually when a last minute guest announces an imminent arrival. And I’m sure a lot of you feel the same anxiety, so I thought that today I’d share my super secret (ha) method for quickly cleaning and making my house presentable!

First things first, if you did a Google search and found this in preparation for your last minute guests either a. go you for knowing that last minute guests will be around in the coming days or b. what are you doing wasting time Googling things?!?! Mosty joking, but really, just getting into it ASAP is the most important.

I’ve set the following up by time frame – figure out how long you have until your guests arrive and work up to there. I suggest starting at the 0-5 minute frame and work up, incase your guests come sooner than anticipated. The first sections will give you the most impact – the most percieved clean in the least amount of time – while the final sections take a look at spots that aren’t necessarily what you’d notice immediately.

Clean Your Home for Unexpected Guests in Minutes

5 Minutes

Say a little prayer – I kid!!
Pick up toys/shoes/miscellaneous stuff. Pro tip: stuff it all into an empty laundry basket and either top with a blanket, or even better, folded towels – VOILA! Hidden mess.
Light a candle or refill your plug in.
Close the door to any rooms that are messy and won’t be seen.

10 Minutes

Clear off all surfaces where guests will see – kitchen, living rooms, bathrooms.
Clean dishes
Take out garbage.
Open a window if stuffy.
Fluff pillows.

20 Minutes

Wipe down counters.
Dust

30 Minutes

Vaccuum/sweep. (side note: we splurged on a Dyson vacuum a few months ago and it makes EVERYTHING faster. Hardwood, carpet, couches, you name it. )

45 Minutes

Wipe windows/mirrors.
Wipe cabinets down.
Put away dishes.

It’s important to also note a few things:

1. This is all probably done at hyper speed – at least it is for me.
2. This is all damage control – you’re not deep cleaning here, just making it look like you have it all together.
3. Once you hit 45 minutes, I would keep tidying, because I’m a crazy person and get anxious when people are late, but feel free to sit yo’ booty down and relax.

Hopefully this helps unexpected guests showing up out of the blue less of a point of anxiety and more fun – as it should be. The holidays can be stressful enough without worrying about this kind of thing!

So tell me – do unexpected guests freak you out? If your house always ready for guests? (HOW?!) Let me know in the comments!