1. Vacuum the important parts.
No time to move furniture around and vacuum under beds and sofas. Get the vacuum cleaner and go over the carpet in the living room or the room in which you will be entertaining the guests, the area around it, and the hall.
2. Push papers under the carpet.
If your kids’ drawings are around, or you have some mail fumbled on the floor, then no time to pick it up and look for a proper place. Just kick them under the carpet and try not to forget where they are after the guests are gone.
3. Mop the bathroom floor.
You need to have a clean bathroom or you will never hear the end of it. Mop up the floor, and if you have time, put the toilet scrubber to use with some detergent to kill any possible odours.
4. Kill any smells with baking soda or lemon juice.
And speaking of odours, if there are any lingering ones that you won’t have the chance to get to before your guests are here, just find their source and sprinkle some baking soda or lemon juice. A small amount of rubbing should take care of that problem.
5. Don’t separate the rubbish.
No time to stop and think if the lettuce leftovers should go in the compost pile outside or the recycle bin for organic rubbish. Just throw everything in the emptiest bin you have and if you want to do it that desperately, deal with it later.
6. Quick-brush the hairs from the carpets.
Hairs can be noticeable, especially if your family’s hair colour is in contrast with the dye of the carpet. So take a medium-stiff bristled brush and swipe it a few times over the carpet to collect the most obvious bundles of hair found on the floor. No time for carpet cleaning, so this will have to do.
7. Quick-brush the upholstery.
No time to get the hairs out of the sofa, and no time for proper upholstery cleaning, so instead just take a brush to the sofa and chairs and scrub the most obvious problematic spots.
8. Use the cupboard for bigger clutter.
If you have any of your kids’ toys lying around, or a few newly bought items that you still haven’t found a place for, just stick them into the cupboard and deal with them at a later point.
9. Clean what you can see.
There is no time for thorough home cleaning, so you cannot get picky. They way fast cleaning should work is simple – enter a room, scan it, deal only with the stains and trouble spots which you can see. Hopefully your guests are not so nosy as to start looking for the dust under the table or the coffee mark on the underside of the carpet.
10. Fast-scrub the windows.
The windows should have some freshness about them, so it would be good to save a few minutes for them as well. Clean only those in the room in which you will spend time with your guests, and be quick about it – spray a proper cleaner and brush for a while with a newspaper. Then rinse and let them dry by themselves.
With this you should be ready to welcome your guests to your nice and seemingly clean home. Don’t worry, they have come over for the company and the entertainment, so they will not spend time looking for flaws in your cleaning. Now you should enjoy the company as well.
