7 Easy Ways to Clean up before guests arrive: It seems like there are so many more parties happening during the winter people take less time to work and more time to relax and enjoy kids are off school and there always seems to be a barbeque or a pool party happening and if you’re having guests come over you want to make sure that your house is clean and ready to receive them I know for me I’m having a party here next week and there are some things I’m going to do that you would expect vacuuming and cleaning the kitchen the bathroom that kind of stuff but there are some extra things that I like to do and I’m going to share them with you this week to show you how you can really get your house prepared for a party.
If a winter barbecue is one of your favorite things your first area to prime is your front entryway because that’s what people are going to see and remember you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression not a original quote but definitely meaningful one you want to make sure that your front entryway looks clean and welcoming so clean those windows if you have them make sure that there is no grime or dirt on the floor and the vestibule also ensure that there is enough hanging space if for whatever reason people need to hang something up as well as ample shoe space whether it’s in the closet or out in the hallway and one thing that I think is an absolutely brilliant idea because I’m always looking for one is to have a DPA or a designated purse area that way anyone bringing a purse with them knows exactly where they can put it it’s safe and they’ll know where to find it.
I’m not saying you have to do this in every room but look at the space that your party is going to be in and clean the windows in those rooms on the inside and the outside when people come over they want to peek around they want to look out and we don’t often think about windows but when there are fingerprints or splatters or dirt on the window it really does affect how clean and beautiful your space looks so I have a article on how to clean your windows really quickly, I do it it literally takes seconds and it makes a huge difference there’s no doubt that your guests are going to use your bathroom and if you have multiple bathrooms and you have a powder room where your guests are going to be amazing you’ve got less work to do but you still have stuff but if you’re in a smaller space and you have one bathroom you have a little bit more homework.
First up check your medicine cabinet because if you don’t your guests will and you don’t want them finding that blah blah blah cream or those special pills you can just put those away next up and this goes for every one hand towels make sure you have clean hand towels nothing’s worse and this just happened to be on the weekend then going to someone’s house seeing a big bath towel and using that to dry your hands because you know what people do with bath towels I don’t want to be touching that you also want to make sure that you’ve got a lot of toilet paper because people are going to go through that so don’t make them search for it ensure that you have a plunger there in case there are any slow toilet moments you don’t want people having to peek their head out purple in the face asking for one awkward and of course ensure there’s enough hand soap so that way people can always wash up and feel comfortable.
Stay on top of your clutter when people come over they don’t to be tripping over things and you know what even if your house is in pretty good shape it’s still a good idea to go through and remove any visual clutter this is something that I do before we have guests over I mean our house is pretty okay but when people come over we just want it to look streamlined and clean so we’ll take a few minutes we’ll put stuff in a temporary holding zone not a permanent holding zone and then once the party’s over we’ll put it back or put it in a different spot where it actually belongs as well you want to remember to get rid of anything that is expensive or pretty or that you might not want broken because at parties people tend to get a little clumsy for various reasons and the last thing you would want and I’m sure the last thing they would want is for that special thing of yours to get broken stained stained or damaged so just put it away if you really love it and then bring it out once the party’s over.
There are two kinds of parties there are the fancy formal parties where you break out the china and there are sort of more informal parties where you eat on disposable dishware and you know those ones are good because you tend to not run out of things clean ups a lot easier and it’s a great way to just save yourself some time for me I always like to look for more environmentally responsible options but really when I’m throwing a party it does make things easier and I also find that people are quite respectful if you lay out your garbage you’re recycling and your compost bin they’ll certainly want to help ensure that they put the food where it belongs in the compost bin and anything that’s recyclable so long as they can see the recycling bin they’ll know exactly where it goes and same for the garbage so if you clearly line that stuff up it’ll make things a lot easier for your guests and a lot easier for you and if you are using formal dishware it does look beautiful but you do need to spend a couple of extra minutes making sure that it looks nice so if any of your silverware is spotty or has like an old piece of cheese on it just make sure that you dip it in some hot water and vinegar and give it a good cleaning with a flat weave microfiber cloth that will really polish it up and get rid of anything that shouldn’t be there because nothing is grosser than picking up a fork with a chunk of something on it or drinking out of a glass with some weird floaters or lipstick seen.
The way your house smells definitely affect people as soon as they walk in the door and you want to be that guy that has the house that makes people smile when they walk in not the one that makes them do a little extra so what you can do have some fresh flowers light a candle defuse some essential oils all the favorites I have lots of articles about how you can make your house smell great, but other things to think about if you have cats like I do we make sure that our litter box is empty enough a litter is changed because no one appreciates the cat pee smell and if you have pets linkage for pet beds you might want to launder those too you can also spray a fabric refresher on any upholstery and make sure that you vacuum it just to get rid of any gender to be respectful people who have pet allergies well you don’t want to expect the worst you certainly have to be prepared for it recently when I had a party a friend of mine had a few of these and dropped one of them on the floor but thankfully it wasn’t too much of a challenge because in the next room we had a big pile of microfiber cloth we ran in grabbed one and the mess was cleaned up in second it really helped our friend not feel bad about the spill and obviously we made sure that our hardwood floors did not get ruined so when you’re having guests over make sure that you have a little cleaning emergency preparedness kit somewhere easily accessible so you’ve got stain removers you’ve got things to blot up spills and thrills.
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