How to Clean Your House with Only 10 Minutes Notice

Our family tends to get a lot of drop in company, most of whom call when they hit the freeway exit some 3 miles away. Since we aren’t particularly neat people, I always use that 10 minutes to quickly tear through the house to make it as presentable as possible for visitors.

Yes, they should love us for who we are instead of how tidy our house looks, but still, there’s a certain amount of embarrassment that comes with a sink full of dirty dishes and stuff thrown all over the floors & furniture.

Since guests tend to stay in the main areas of the house such as living and family rooms, bathroom and kitchen, I only clean those rooms where company might reasonably expect to visit.

Countdown to Company

While still on the phone, start a strong pot of coffee using those expensive Colossal Fudge coffee beans. Not only is coffee a sociable thing to offer guests, it helps to mask any unpleasant odors in the house.

Minutes 1, 2 and 3 should be spent in picking everything up that doesn’t belong in the right place ~ newspapers, clothes, toys, books, DVDs whatever. Don’t worry about putting them away! Just grab a couple of empty laundry baskets instead, and scoop all the stuff inside. Hide the baskets in the laundry room.

Spend minute 4 in cleaning up the guest bathroom. Hang towels, straighten the rug, scoop everything on the counter into the drawer, and wipe down the counter, sink, and faucet with Windex. Spritz the room with Lysol and run down to the kitchen.

Minutes 5 and 6 should have you grabbing up the dirty dishes and piling them in the sink where they should be covered with a clean dish towel. Wipe down the counter with Windex, shove the chairs back into position, and sweep up crumbs in the traffic pattern. Anything that shouldn’t be where it belongs can be stuffed out of sight in the oven.

Take minutes 7 and 8 to run a vacuum through the traffic areas. Don’t worry about being thorough, just hit the areas that are the worse. Throw the vacuum cleaner in the nearest closet when finished, and save coiling the hose & cord for later.

For minutes 9 and 10 grab a feather duster and dash through the living and family rooms to knock the dust off major pieces of furniture and rearrange throw pillows. Pull the shades partially closed or turn off extra lights; the goal is to slightly dim the house so the cobwebs and dirty fingerprints aren’t quite as obvious.

While it’s impossible to do a thorough job of cleaning in such a short time, it’s surprising how much you can get done in only ten minutes. Picking up clutter, shining the faucets, arranging the pillows, and knocking off the dust goes far in making the house look a whole lot better than it did when your friends first called.