Preparing for Guests

When out-of-town guests are expected it can be quite stressful to get the house prepared for them. Of course, starting early can eliminate most of those hurried day-of cleaning jobs a majority try (and usually fail) to pull off.

While it is still a week and a half away before my partner’s mom and sister arrive, it is time, nonetheless, to start top to bottom cleaning of the house in preparation. By spreading out the cleaning duties over the course of a week, you are almost guaranteed to have a clean home to present. Then again, some of us just like to say we are going to clean the house and at the last minute when they call and say they are in Troutdale and should be there in about fifteen minutes start to frantically vacuum and do dishes and sloppily clean out the toilet.

Even though they will have a hotel room I still want to make sure the house is clean for them while they are here. Plus, any time you are going to have company it is a good excuse to clean the places we generally forget about, like the dust on the window valences and Wades of England miniatures and the bookcase. As much as I abhor dusting it seems like not such a horrendous job if the big job is done a week early and again the day of your guests’s arrival (and yes I realize I put the s after the apostrophe, and yes, this is still correct English and actually preferred despite what your word processor’s grammar checking device may say.) Of course if we simply dusted once a week we wouldn’t have the hideous amount of dust, thanks mostly to our dog's constant skin allergy flare ups and ever present yeast infections. It is especially troubling that after completely vacuuming the house it looks as though it hasn’t been vacuumed in weeks within minutes of putting the Filter Queen Princess III back into the coat closet.

Things like washing the windows, mopping the floors, tidying up junk mail into Keep and Toss piles and keeping up on laundry are all easily accomplished when done ahead of time and kept up on. Washing or dry-cleaning the drapes, or simply vacuuming and Febreezing them if they aren’t dirty can also be done a few days before. By giving your sofas a good vacuuming and spot cleaning and a good spray of Febreeze a couple days before means only having to quickly wipe them off before your final vacuuming of the floors on the day of arrival. Keep up on dishes daily and wipe down all surfaces in the kitchen thoroughly, including those rarely used appliances. You can have a spotless kitchen, but your blender may show signs that you neglected the Island of Less Used Appliances. Most of the time a slightly moistened hand towel will be enough to wipe off the excess dust and moisture spots of these appliances, and if done a few days before should keep them looking nice.

Don’t forget about the underused areas or, in our case, the highly used yet often forgotten while cleaning areas, such as the office and bedrooms. Most of the time when we have guests, we simply close the doors to these rooms and pretend like they don’t exist. The big challenge will be the office, as we both seem to just park crap that won’t fit elsewhere in the house in this room whether or not it should belong in it.

Now as for the main bathroom, I’m not sure if we will be able to spruce it up and repaint and at least put in a new tub & shower surround, but we can still make sure the counters, sink, toilet and floors are cleaned as best as they can be. The day before or day of is best for most bathrooms as these are areas that receive a lot of traffic. If you have bath mats, especially light colored bath mats that show dirt easily, wait to put them out once they’ve been washed and dried until right before your guests arrive.

And now if you are actually having guests stay at the house, having a clean and relaxing guest room is important. Wash the sheets if it has been awhile and Febreeze any soft surfaces to freshen them up. If the room is a multi-purpose room, like for me it is a craft room, a cake storage and decorating room and a guest room, have most if not all of your various stuff put away for your guests. This isn’t always possible, but keeping a majority of it stored out-of-sight will help your guests to feel welcome. Of course, having a few things out will also let them know that you are allowing them into your space so they don’t feel so welcome they stay for an extended amount of time. Then again, sometimes this doesn’t make a difference and you have guests stay for two weeks longer than they anticipated and funnily this doesn’t bother either of you if you need to get a few things out of the room. Also, don’t underestimate space under a bed or futon in a guest room as temporary storage while you have guests.

By doing a majority of the cleaning ahead of time, you can save yourself a migraine on the day that your guests arrive. Make sure the dishes are washed, do a quick wipe down of hard surfaces and vacuum and both you and your guests can relax when they get there… unless you’ve got plans for being out of the house practically the entire time they are there!