At some point in time, every homeowner has been left red-faced, standing at their door with surprise visitors in front of them, and a messy home behind them! The thing about random visits from friends or neighbours is that they are pretty rare, hence, most people don’t think to prepare for them. Well, after that first experience, you’re probably looking for the best ways to keep your home ready for “surprise!” visitors; fortunately, you’ve come to the right place because CleaningBest knows best!
These are simple tips and habits that go a long way in maintaining a clean and tidy home that is always ready to impress and entertain people who decide to pop-in unexpectedly. Read on to find out what they are!
Declutter Daily
You will never be motivated to keep your home clean if it is cluttered. Why? Because it doubles the amount of time and effort required to clean a room. More importantly, clutter causes mental stress and makes an otherwise clean room look untidy.
The best way to maintain a clutter-free home is to declutter daily. While most working individuals struggle to find time to clean every day, the benefit of doing something daily is that it cuts down the amount of time you spend on a task. For example, when you declutter your home daily, you will only spend a few minutes on it before the work is done. So, the extra time you spend decluttering your home for the first few days will be well-worth it in 5 days tops!
Spot Clean When Needed
The more often you ‘spot clean’, the less overall cleaning you will need to do. More often than not, small spills in the kitchen, dust on the coffee table, and stains on the floor are not given immediate attention and hence, accumulate to the point where the whole house needs a thorough clean.
When you spend 5 minutes (or less) to spot clean a stain or area in the house, it makes a world of difference to the overall cleanliness of your home. So, the next time you see crumbs on the counters, wipe them up; and if there is a surface that needs dusting, don’t wait until later to do it because it will only take a minute of your time to do it right now. A great way to stick to this habit is to make sure that your cleaning supplies and products are kept in easily accessible places so that you are more motivated to spot clean immediately.
Adopt Daily Bathroom Cleaning Habits
Nothing is more embarrassing than having a surprise visitor ask to use the guest bathroom when it is anything but clean! Nevertheless, that can easily be avoided with these simple, daily and weekly practices that will keep your bathroom clean and ready for anyone to use. Take a look below.
Once a week, pour your chosen cleaning product into the toilet bowl and leave it overnight; in the morning, give the interior a light scrub and turn the flush on to rinse off the bowl.
After you shower, spray the floor to rinse it off, and then squeegee the water into the drain. Not only will this clean off mild bathroom floor stains but it will also help the floor dry up quickly which will keep future stains to a minimum.
Keep a microfibre cloth under the sink which can be used to wipe away toothpaste splatters from the mirror as soon as they occur.
Spray the bathroom sink with all-purpose cleaner and wipe it down with a designated sponge/scrubber every day after you brush your teeth.
Give your bathroom a thorough clean once a week on your day off. This won’t take much time or effort if you stick to the cleaning tips/habits mentioned above.
Keep Your Pantry Stocked
You may not always be prepared to offer surprise visitors a hot meal right away, but you should be able to bring out a tray of snacks and a cold beverage, at least. Even if it’s chips and store-bought dip along with a glass of juice, your guests will certainly appreciate it.
Now, you’re probably thinking nothing ever lasts in your pantry (especially when you have growing kids), nor is it advisable to store packaged foods for too long; well, the trick here is to purchase fresh items, store them at the back, and bring the older foodstuff forward so that they are consumed first. This way you’ve always got a fresh backup of snacks and beverages ready to offer to your surprise visitors!
If the tips above sound super simple to you, that’s because they are! Yes, that really is all it takes to keep your home ready for surprise visitors so make the effort, spare those few minutes, and we guarantee that they will go a long way in maintaining a clean and tidy home!
