Sometimes a last-minute guest or an impromptu get-together calls for bringing people into your home when you’re least prepared. Or maybe you want to do something quick and easy to relieve the visual noise. While we all would prefer to have our homes deep-cleaned on a regular basis, cutting a few corners in a pinch can really save the day. And when we say “save,” we mean save you from embarrassment as well as save you from stress. Yes, you will actually have to do some light cleaning, but nothing heavy duty.
Choose the most do-able items from this list according to need and time and leave guilt for another day.
1. Focus on the entrance. Put away shoes, boots, coats, umbrellas, and other items that tend to pile up in the foyer. Even if they are necessities, throwing them behind a closet door will get them out of sight. The less clutter, the more unoccupied space to trick the eye into thinking it’s cleaner than it is.
2. Dust only where dust is obvious. Attack only the most offensive areas of dust where you spend the most time. That means televisions, side tables, desk tops, lamps, and any other place you frequently notice the gray yucky stuff.
3. Take out the kitchen trash. Even if the trash is hidden in a nice pull-away lower cabinet, odors can make their way in the room every time you discard something. Removing the trash will eliminate the sense of uncleanliness when guests are nearby.
4. Clean key areas of the bathroom. Nothing is grosser to a guest than having to use a dirty bathroom. This is a place for private, personal hygiene. If your bathroom isn’t reasonably clean, here’s the quick way to make it acceptable:
∙ Wipe down the mirror, faucet, sink, and countertop.
∙ Put all accessories such as brushes, combs, hair gel, toothpaste, and razors into a cabinet or drawer. Organization will be a task for another day.
∙ Hang a fresh hand towel.
∙ Throw a fizzing toilet bomb into the toilet for a quick bowl refresh.
5. Put the dishes away. This applies to clean and dirty dishes. If dirty ones are piled up in the sink, put them in the dishwasher. If clean ones are out on a drying rack, put them in the cabinets. Dishes and pots create a cluttered vibe. Getting them out of sight will help your mission.
6. Throw clutter into storage bins. A few stylish canvas storage bins can help hide miscellaneous junk that you don’t have time to organize. Just remember that one day you’ll have to tackle the stuff in those bins to make the most out of them.
7. Add a pleasant scent to the air. Spray an air freshening mist in the room or light a seasonal candle to give the house a clean, inviting scent.
8. Vacuum pet hair. Sitting on a layer of pet hair is a turn-off for many guests. Keep a heavy-duty hand vac for quick and tough pick-up jobs on furniture. Run the larger vacuum over the most-frequently treaded areas of carpet.
Real Estate Term of the Week
Blind Offer: A purchase contract written by a buyer without seeing the property. It is most commonly used in a highly competitive area and/or circumstance and used as an attempt to be first and win quickly.