In an ideal world, friends and family would give us plenty of notice before coming to visit, but the reality is often very different! For those of you who may not be particularly house proud, this probably isn’t so much of an issue, in fact some of you may thrive off such occurrences, but for those of us who prefer to at least have a days’ notice if guests are coming to stay, these quick tips for prepping for the place should help:
- Get your carpets and rugs smelling fresh
Deep cleaning your carpets and rugs in preparation for last minute guests takes too long, but sprinkling baking soda over them, leaving it for 15 minutes and then vacuuming it up, will help to make them look, and smell, much fresher.
- Keep lemons handy
Lemons are great for helping to make chrome shine and for eliminating nasty odours. Slice one in half and give your faucets a quick buff, then sling them into the garbage disposal to help get rid of any pongs that might be emanating from it.
- Eliminating unpleasant aroma’s
If you cooked fish the night before and the smell is still lingering, simply fill a saucepan with 3 tablespoons of vinegar and a cup of water, and boil it for a few minutes. This will help to dissipate the smell, you could even swap the vinegar for cinnamon or orange rind.
- Focus your cleaning efforts
If time is of the essence, then focus your cleaning efforts on those rooms that you think will be used most when guests are with you. Spare bedrooms, studies and other areas not frequented by guests can be closed off. Pop a sock onto your hand and skim it over furniture, sideboards and trinkets, to quickly get rid of dust and stash items that aren’t being used in drawers and cupboards.
- Use ambient lighting
Everything looks better when not in harsh light, so use candles or other soft effect lighting to help disguise any dust or grime that might be lurking about the place! Candles can also be very effective in bathrooms to help make them smell more inviting and soften the whole tone.
If you want to make sure that your home is always prepped for unexpected guests, why not use the services of a cleaning company, who will keep on top of things on the days when you’re too busy to clean? You could even employ them as a one off, and simply have them come in for a day or even just an afternoon, and blitz the place from top to bottom, preventing any guests from being appalled at the state of your home! Most have flexible schedules that will fit in around you, and budgets to suit every pocket.