We are all busy, but there are simple tips and startegies to keeping your home looking presentable for those moments when you have unexpectedly entertain. Whether it’s a person just dropping off a card or gift or a group coming over for tea and cookies, you can make your home look like you spent the whole day cleaning it. In fact, it’s not that hard to do.

Merry Maids, a leading home cleaning company, knows how important it is to have a clean home this busy time of year. Their home cleaning expert has some Merry Maids “Season’s Cleanings” tips to help keep your home spic and span and most importantly, ready for guests!

I’m sure we’ve all had this happen to us at one point or another. You get a phone call or text message asking if you are home and that a friend or family member wants to know if it’s ok to stop by and drop off a card. You don’t want to be rude and say no, but you also don’t want to be embarrassed by the state of your home. For me, I seem to be hit by Murphy’s Law quite a bit. When my house is immaculate, no one ever drops by unexpectedly. When it’s a mess, that is when everyone wants to pop over for a visit. What do you do?

Debra Johnson’s tip is to take 15 minutes to simply make your home appear like you’ve been slaving away all day with a broom and bucket. I set the timer on my oven and tried it myself and it can be done! I’ll show you how easy it is and if you run into this scenario over the next month or so, you can do the same too with your home.

1. Clean only the rooms that the guests will see. This normally includes your front entrance way, kitchen, living room and bathroom. Don’t worry about the rest! I took some before shots of my house in a state of disarray. I wouldn’t want someone coming over to see all my clutter and dirty dishes.

2. Wipe down surfaces in the kitchen and put your dirty dishes in the sink or dishwasher.You want it all out of sight! I have a dishwasher so it’s easy to make make my kitchen look 100 times better by hiding all the stray plates and cups in there.

It’s amazing how much better the kitchen looks when the counter and table are clean.

I usually always start cleaning with the kitchen since it’s the messiest in my home. Then I work from room to room so I’m not jumping all over the place.

3. Make sure your front entrance is clean and swept. This is the first room guests see when they walk into your home so you want to wow them right away. First impressions and all that jazz right? I had Bridget’s huge hockey bag in the front entrance way and a bunch of her toys. It was way too cluttery and crowded! I moved those items into a bedroom and swept the floor and it looked a lot better.

 4. Put items that don’t belong in a laundry basket as you work from room to room. The key here is minimizing the clutter. Don’t worry about putting these things away or trying to find a home for them. Put the laundry basket in a bedroom where it’s out of sight.

I’m bad for using my kitchen buffet as a drop off for things I’m working on. It’s handy because then I know what I need to do, but looks awful. You can’t see any of my decor. With these items gone (for now), I can see surfaces again!

 5. Vacuum (and sweep). You can instantly make a room look cleaner with a quick vacuum of a rug or sweep of a floor.

 6. Fold throws in the living room and fluff your throw pillows. Again, this looks a million times better than a couch that looked like it was someone’s bed.

 7. Don’t forget the bathroom! If your guests plan to stay for a visit, more than likely they will have “to go”. I hate dirty bathrooms especially ones that aren’t mine and I don’t want anyone to be grossed out by my bathroom. Take your cleaning supplies and quickly spray down the toilet, wipe out the sink and give them mirror a quick spritz. I don’t want them seeing hair or globs of toothpaste in the sink. Put out a fresh stock of toilet paper and clean hand towel and voilá – your bathroom is ready for business. Pardon the pun.

 8. Shut the doors of the rooms that are”off-limits”. These are the rooms you didn’t have time to clean and where you stored the clutter. My bedroom is a mess, but the rest of my house looks great!

With a clean home, you can breathe easier when the door bell rings and your guests show up.  They’ll wonder how you do it and will never know that cleaning your house took only 15 short minutes. The holidays are about celebrating with friends and family and a clean home is all part of making those memories extra special. And your place will look fabulous in photos too!

Source: www.simplystacie.net