Your next family gathering is coming up and you’ve offered to host this time. Unfortunately, you forgot how stressful it can be to prepare your home for guests! You have to cook, plan some kind of entertainment, and worst of all: clean up.
You want to show your guests a clean house, but what should you prioritize? How can you get your home guest-ready?
Let’s talk about it. Read on for a few quick tips on preparing your home for guests.
Start Earlier Than You Think
This might be the most important tip when it comes to getting ready for your house party or family gathering. You should always start before you think that you have to.
How many times have you waited for the last minute? You’ve rushed around trying to vacuum, dust, and declutter all at once. You’ve stuffed things into any available closet instead of actually tidying them.
It’s in your best interest to give yourself a full week to prepare. This way, you can do a small amount of work every day and then just do quick touch-ups when it’s time for the actual gathering. You won’t be exhausted when you welcome your house guests!
Get Rid of Clutter
Clutter is the easiest thing to remove when you’re getting your house ready for guests, but it might seem like an overwhelming task. You never realize how messy your home is until you’re getting ready to have people in it!
Focus on the areas where people will be spending their time. You’re on limited time, so don’t worry about the bedrooms right now unless you’re having guests stay overnight.
Resist the urge to push things into closets. Instead, we recommend having one box dedicated to each room. Put clutter in the appropriate box (for example, you might find a toy in the living room that belongs in the nursery) and then put the boxes in the appropriate rooms.
This is a quick and easy way to tidy up.
Focus on the Entertainment Areas
Remember that your guests aren’t going to be spending time in your entire home. Focus most of your attention on the living room, dining room, foyer, or any other room that might have guests meandering about.
This isn’t the time for a full-house deep clean.
Conquer the Kitchen
If you plan on cooking for a family gathering, make sure that you spend some time making your kitchen presentable. There may be people helping you cook or venturing in to talk to you while you’re cooking alone!
Cleaning up the kitchen will also make cooking easier for you. You won’t have to run around searching for ingredients or utensils, so you won’t waste time.
Take this opportunity to clean out the refrigerator, wipe off the stovetop, and make sure that all of the dishes are clean. It would be unfortunate to go to serve dinner just to realize that all of your plates are dirty!
Make Your Home Smell Nice
Did you know that it’s possible to go “nose blind” to the smells in your home? That’s right, you don’t notice the lingering smells of pets, food, and other grime lurking around. Other people, however, will notice.
There’s only so much that you can do to get rid of smells that you don’t notice. While cleaning will help, it’s a good idea to light a candle or spray scents in the air or on your linens.
There’s nothing nicer than walking into a home with scented candles burning!
A note: make sure that no one at your gathering is sensitive to smells. If someone is, you should skip this step and just do your best to keep things fresh. Opening windows before the gathering will help.
Keep Party Essentials Nearby
It’s a good idea to set out everything that your guests might need when you’re preparing your home. Remember, you don’t want to have to go searching for anything.
Set out all of the necessary utensils and plates so they’re easy to reach. Keep a wine bottle opener on hand if you plan on serving alcohol at the family gathering.
It’s also a good idea to have available hand sanitizer.
Make sure that you’ve set up somewhere for your guests to put their shoes, even if you don’t normally use a shoe rack for yourself. Also, provide somewhere for your guests to put their coats and bags (even if it’s just a designated space in a bedroom).
Don’t Forget the Bathroom
The last thing that you want is to have a dirty bathroom when it’s time for your party. The bathroom is the one area where you might actually want to deep clean.
While your guests won’t likely be using your shower, make sure it looks clean enough from a distance. It’s a good idea to put up a clean shower curtain as well.
Make sure that you scrub the toilet so it sparkles and clean under the seat if you have guests who will need to put the seat up to use the restroom.
Clean both the sink and the faucet and look for any grime on the counter and mirror. If you have messy toiletries hanging around, like your toothbrush, skincare products, and hairbrush, tuck them away so they’re out of sight.
Leave out hand towels and fresh soap for your guests for a nice finishing touch.
Hire a Professional Cleaner to Help
Let’s face it: planning a family gathering is stressful. If you’re already overwhelmed, why not hire a professional cleaner to make your life easier?
A professional cleaner can make your home sparkle while you deal with all of the other responsibilities associated with your gathering. You can also hire them again when the gathering is over if your guests have left your home a mess.
Planning a Family Gathering? No Problem
Make your next family gathering a success with these helpful tips. Your home will be ready for guests in no time! Have fun!
Are you looking for professional cleaning services to help you make your house look its best before your guests arrive? We want to help you! Contact us to schedule a cleaning today.
