Tidy Your House in 15 Minutes

Guest have a tendency to arrive unexpected with just one quick phone call to tell you that they are on their way. Fifteen minutes is all you need to tidy up the areas that your guest will see so that you can rest assured that they probably will not catch you when your house looks like a tornado has hit it. This is a quick guide to making your house look clean in fifteen minutes.

1. Neaten up

Do not try to clean your house unless you have time, just tidy the place up. Pick up things that are lying around the house and through them in a basket until you can put them up. This works great for when your mother is coming over and you don’t have time to actually clean your house. If you do this it will also make it easier to clean later because you will have everything in one spot. I keep a basket in my garage that is especially for cleaning in a hurry. My grandmother likes to call this cleaning at it and not actually cleaning. Your guest will not usually see what is under the service of your couches and in drawers so it is not necessary for you to clean these areas when you are trying to clean in a hurry. This will save you a lot of time and it will allow you to move on to the next part of the cleaning business.

2. Spot dust

This is important because a lot of people will put their hands on places like coffee tables or end tables. I wouldn’t want a guest to get a hand full of dust. It is best to use a electrostatic or microfiber cloth, these pick up dust much faster and will allow the dust to cling to it so that it traps the dust inside of the cloth. Focus on areas that most people will likely see. Don’t worry about dusting pictures unless they have spider webs on them. Dust only surfaces that they will see. It is best to take a step into the room and look around to see what needs to be dusted.

3. Clear the clutter

Clutter can make a house look dirty even when it is clean. Clear out the clutter by placing it somewhere else like in the basket that we talked about earlier. If you have things like magazines that are lying around, put them in the basket along with clothes.

4. Prepare the kitchen

If you haven’t done the dishes yet, stack them in a pile by the dish washer or sink. Better yet, make your dish water and stick some of the dishes inside of it. This will give the illusion that you were about to do the dishes so the guest won’t think much about it.

5. Spot vacuum

Only vacuum areas that have high traffic like the living room. Don’t go through the trouble of moving items just vacuum around them instead. This will be a quick way of making your house look clean. If you don’t have time to clean the other rooms then close the doors to the bedrooms so that no one will see them.

6. The bathroom

Take out the trash, scrub the toilet bowel, and pick up any clothes that are in there. Bathroom has now had a quick go over and your friends will never notice.

These are quick tips that I use for cleaning my house in a hurry. I have five kids so making time to go through the house and clean is an all day process. If I have family or friends that are about to come over, I go through the main parts of the house and clean at it so that it will appear to be clean.