You’re having a lazy day when suddenly someone texts to say they are in the area and they ask if they can pop in in 15 minutes, you look around and see the unwashed dishes piled up, the clean washing basket ready for folding is overflowing onto your dining table, and you haven’t cleaned your bathroom in a week! What do you do? How do you prioritise what to do first? What do your guests really notice when they come to you home?
OK so for some of us this would send us into an immediate melt down, for others it won’t even register in the Richter Scale. For some of us it depends on who is popping in, our parents, in-laws, a work colleague, a friend, or another parent from our child’s school.
So here are a few tips to quickly make your home more appealing.
- Take a deep breath, know that the person is coming to see you because they like you, not because they want to judge you. If they feel comfortable enough to just call by then most likely they feel they have a good relationship with you already. If you don’t feel comfortable with this person then quickly suggest you meet them out.
- Bad smells are always off-putting to any guest, so quickly light a lovely candle, or give the room a spritz with room spray. Or alternately cook a piece of toast, or brew coffee, that always smells great. If it is not freezing cold, open a window, or at least open the blinds to allow natural light to filter. Empty your garbage bin.
- Keep some disinfectant wipes handy in your bathroom, with a few quick wipes your sinks will be clean, maybe not perfect but clean enough, a quick toilet scrub and done!
- My advice is don’t waste time doing the dishes or washing. Making your home smell nice and having a clean toilet matter more. Shut doors to other rooms. If you still have time, pile your dishes neatly, or throw them in a dishwasher.
- Laundry can be quickly popped into the laundry room, or just start folding, it won’t matter if your guest arrives and you are in the middle of folding washing, it is something we all have to do.
- Don’t stress! Enjoy the company of your guest, if someone is judgmental of your home then that is their issue. We all deserve some down time, and somedays the cleaning can just wait. People notice far less than we think. It is not worth getting ourselves stressed over what our home looks like.
Do you have any advice? What do you prioritise if someone is popping by? Is there certain people you clean more for? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so pop a comment in the section below.
Thanks for joining me, love Mackenzie xx
10 comments
Such simply pointers. I often find myself scrambling too when someone drops in suddenly. But like you said most of my close friends do understand the pressures of being a mum and it’s alright for the house to not be in mint condition all the time.
OMG this is so useful! I am such a last minute tidier – and you’re 100% right, a candle makes all the difference. We have a dog, who smells of, well, dog – the candle really helps make our home more welcoming when we have guests. Visiting from #SharingtheBlogLove
#SharingtheBlogLove helpful tips – let’s be honest we all like a good nosey don’t we and whilst it’s not good to be judgemental, sometimes you just can’t help it!
We get lots of unexpected visitors. The front room, Rev T’s study and the loo tend to always be tidy – as that’s where they go. The doors to the other rooms are kept firmly shut to discourage peeking. (This is working out less well now we’ve got a cat as he just barges through doors and doesn’t close them behind him. I may have to extend the circle of tidy!)
This would send me into a complete meltdown and I would have to tell them I wasn’t home!! Thankfully I don’t know anyone that would do this 😀 Thank you for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove
These are such great tips – I have to admit I get thrown into a panic with unexpected visits! Mind you, you’re right about it depending on who’s visiting – last time my inlaws announced they were coming by after lunch we spent the entire morning cleaning and tidying (and had actually been doing the same thing the day before too, so a mega clean!), and we still got a snarky comment about how our house was dirty! I think there’s something there about accepting that you’ll never please some people and just being ok with that! Thank you for joining us at #SharingtheBlogLove
Great tips. I can handle 15 minutes notice, it’s when people just turn up on the doorstep that sends me into a spin. Not a lot you can do about it by then of course 😂
#SharingtheBlogLove
I don’t think I’ve thought that much about smells when people come over…good tip #Stayclassymama
Great tips. I have written some in my notebook. Deffinetly book marking your post! Thank you 🙂 #sharingthebloglove
This is great. I’m normally quite good at shoving everything and anything inside cupboards and out of sight (don’t judge 😉 ) I definitely agree with the smells and always have candles handy. I hate the lingering smell of cooking in the house. Also cleaning wipes are a life saver. Thank you for sharing with #StayClassyMama xx
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