Is your home ‘guest-ready’?
If that question runs sheer panic through your veins, don’t fret – you’re not alone.
Many people live such busy lives that it’s difficult for them to have their home looking as organized and clean as they know it could. With the holiday season in full swing, you’re bound to have unexpected guests dropping in for a glass (…or bottle!) of holiday cheer. Or perhaps you’ve planned to host a dinner party and you just have so much going on that you’ve run out of time to organize and clean properly before your guests arrive.
Let me share a few quick tips with you.
First, let’s start with unexpected guests. How do you plan for unexpected guests when they’re exactly that – unexpected?
You could quickly turn off all the lights, hush the kids and dog and pretend no one is home…right? Okay, maybe not. Let’s try something else. Instead, every day when you get home (yes, every day!) I want you to take ten to fifteen minutes to do a quick tidy of your entire house.
As soon as you’ve come through the door after a long day of work (errands, kids’ sports, volunteering, school…) I know the first thing you want to do is relax…or in some cases, start dinner! Don’t do either. That’s right. I said it. Don’t. Do. Either.
As soon as your coat and shoes are off, briefcase, hockey gear or groceries are put away – start tidying! Trust me…I know you’re exhausted, but if you don’t do it now, you and I both know you won’t do it later.
Always start in the same room of the house and work your way through until you’ve been inside every room. I’m not saying you have to pull out the mop, vacuum and dust cloths…I just want you to tidy the extremely obvious.
The dirty clothes or towels all over the floors – put them in the laundry basket. The dirty dishes on the counter-tops – put them in the dishwasher or place them neatly in the sink to be done with the dinner dishes (yes, you must do the dishes every night!). The pile of bills and paperwork strewn on the coffee table – place them neatly together and put them into a basket (which you will clean out once a week!). If you’ve got a lot of belongings that don’t actually need to be taking up space in your house, you might want to check out mobile storage Sydney and put it all in a storage unit. It’ll free up some space in your house and make it look much tidier!
This truly doesn’t take long and the time becomes less and less the more you keep up with it. You’ll be able to get to your relaxing in no time…unless of course you need to get dinner started!
Doing this tidying and making it part of your everyday routine will calm your mind when that doorbell rings. Instead of dread, you’ll feel settled and be able to enjoy a relaxing visit with your unexpected guests!
You’ll notice I didn’t mention anything about making the beds during this quick tidy. Why? That’s because I know you’ve already done that as part of your morning routine. As soon as you get out of bed, you make it. Right? …right??
This daily tidying routine will also come in handy when you have planned guests coming over. Since you’ve now mastered the tidying routine, you will have no trouble adding a bit of extra time to this just two days in advance of your gathering to tackle the four main guest-ready cleans left to be done.
Two days before, you’ll need to vacuum and dust. As with the ‘quick tidy’, you’re not dusting the entire house here…just the extremely obvious. One day before, you’ll want to mop floors and clean the bathrooms. The day they arrive, be sure to give the bathroom another quick wipe down – focusing mainly on the toilet, toilet seat (lift the seat and clean underneath too!) and sinks. If your toilet is looking a bit worse for wear, you might want to read this best toilet guide and buy a new one. Now you’re home is guest-ready and you can enjoy your party!
Of course, the best solution to prepare your home for yourself, your family and for guests (including the unexpected ones!) is to book an Organization Consultation with me. I know I will have solutions for you. Solutions to organize your life!
