Clean it fast with these easy-to-follow quick housecleaning tips!
Keeping a Tidy Home
While the easiest way to keep your home ready for unexpected guests would be to practice daily maintenance tasks and utilize a regular cleaning schedule, I do understand that even those can fail us from time to time.
For example, I’ve had many seasons in my life where my daily tasks are getting completed, and the house always looks amazing and presentable.
Then, life hits us, and we spend 3 days with an overextended schedule, sick kids, or some type of struggle that leaves the house in complete disarray.
I swear that is always when I get the news that someone is on their way over.
Seriously, why couldn’t you have come visit 4 or 5 days ago when everything looked perfect?
That’s just life sometimes, though, you know?
How to Tidy Your Home Fast
All that said, if you have found yourself in a pinch and only have 15-20 minutes to get your messy house in order, these are the things I would focus on first.
While it may not get your house (or mine, for that matter) magazine-perfect, following these quick housecleaning tips can make your home more guest-presentable in a matter of minutes.
Purge Public Spaces
First, I would do a quick run-through of the spaces that are easily seen in my home.
For example, I would likely put away any shoes scattered in the entryway, pick up dog toys from the living room floor, place random dishes sitting on the counter in the sink, and make sure my kiddos didn’t leave anything random on the porch.
Those are the first areas my guests will see, and doing a quick purge or pick up in those spaces makes a world of difference when it comes to first impressions.
Since I’m a huge believer in practicing daily cleaning habits and teaching daily maintenance, our home is rarely at the point where a quick pickup or purge doesn’t do the trick for unexpected guests.
That said, if you are dealing with a serious clutter problem, you may need to take a slightly different approach when purging your public spaces.
For example, you could utilize the basket method to make this task quick and efficient.
Simply grab a basket and toss in all the excess items you need to purge quickly.
Then, tuck them in a closet or a room that can easily be closed off to guests.
Lastly, empty your basket once guests have left.
This step is essential, you guys, because leaving these items in the basket will only create a brand new problem!
Take your time removing items from the basket and return them to their actual home.
Clean Off Surfaces
Once you’ve done a quick purge of the first areas guests see, you need to take things to the next level by focusing solely on the surfaces.
Depending on the current state of your home, you can either do this while purging your public spaces or do these tasks separately.
For example, since my house is fairly clean and I tend to pick up multiple times a day, our surfaces are typically already pretty clear, meaning I can easily purge my public spaces while clearing off and wiping down my surfaces.
However, if you have tons of random items not in their place, such as clothes on the floor or lying across chairs, dirty dishes in multiple rooms of the house, and all your surfaces are fairly covered, you will want to focus on purging those types of items first, and do a more thorough run-through of just your surfaces second.
That said, if you are in a serious time crunch and there is a lot to do, you may want to return to this one as your last step instead, and only focus on it if you have spare time.
Why? Simply because there may not be time to fully clear all your surfaces before guests arrive.
So, focus on the gross and the excess first, then come back and work on clearing those surfaces even further if you have time.
Once you’ve purged the easily seen areas of your home, take a few moments to clear the extra surface clutter (using the basket method if needed) and give a quick wipedown or dusting to the easily noticed areas.
Thankfully, I follow a pretty strict cleaning schedule and dust weekly, so with the exception of wiping down the bathroom, I never need to do a wipe down or dusting for quick visits.
*Bonus quick housecleaning Tip: If you have a ton of excess clutter and want to keep this task as your second task, consider setting a timer to focus on it for only 5 minutes! This allows you to clear the most important areas or items, quickly moving on to step 3, and then returning to this if you have extra time!
Straighten Linens
Yes, yes, yes! This is definitely my favorite quick housecleaning tip of all time.
I totally feel like this is one of the most forgotten home tasks when it comes to welcoming guests, but it’s definitely what I consider to be one of the most important.
Fluffing couch cushions, folding blankets, and making beds can all have the power to change the appearance of a room in a matter of seconds.
Call me insane or extreme, but this is the cold, hard truth I’ve experienced, you guys!
Seriously, though.
Don’t believe me? Go into your bedroom and make that bed, or go to the couch and fold all the blankets and fluff the pillows.
Then, take a step back and examine your area.
It totally looks better and more put together, am I right?
Once you have purged and cleared surfaces, give all your linens a quick facelift and watch the magic happen.
This really should take no time at all, and honestly, it does not have to be perfect; simply focus on the areas your guests will see to create a more put-together home aesthetic.
Check Bathrooms
Ok, I’m going to get really honest with you guys for a moment.
Bathrooms are just gross.
I hate using other people’s bathrooms, and I avoid public bathrooms at all costs.
That said, sometimes you (or your guests) just gotta go.
So, if you value your guests (and their comfort level) at all, you should totally give your bathroom a quick look over before they arrive.
No matter how clean my home is, this is always something I do before any guest arrives!
While I tend to wipe down my bathrooms multiple times a week and do a deep cleaning once a week, I think checking to make sure there is extra toilet paper and giving the toilet and sink a quick wipe down is one of the most considerate things I can do for a guest.
Now hear me out, you do not need to spend an hour deep cleaning your bathroom, but you can spend 2-5 minutes (especially if you clean it regularly) giving it a quick refresh for guests!
Swapping towels can be a quick fix for this area as well, especially if you have kiddos (or a husband) who frequently wipe their toothpaste-covered mouth on the hand towel.
Not saying I have one of those in my family, it may just be the toothpaste fairy who has been mysteriously leaving marks on mine lately, who knows.
Clean Floors
Finally, if there is time, do a quick sweep and vacuum in your high-traffic areas.
This doesn’t have to be perfect, and you don’t need to do the entire house if you don’t have time.
Simply focus on those first seen areas or public spaces your guests will see.
To be completely honest, I don’t typically do this one, but if I do, I always leave it for last, and it’s usually only the entryway since we live in a rural area and stuff is always getting tracked in!
That said, I sweep and vacuum my home almost daily anyway, so I doubt anyone would notice a few specs and hairs on my floors as much as they would the excess clutter on the counter or the shoes scattered in the entryway.
If that’s you, you can totally skip this one as well, giving more of your time to the bathrooms or surface clutter instead.
That said, I know that we aren’t all the same, and we are all in different seasons of life.
So, that is why I chose to put this one on the list for those who need to hear it.
While clean floors may not be something your guests will notice, dirty floors definitely are.
If I went to someone’s house and saw dust bunnies sticking out from the furniture, caked on food stains all over the kitchen floor, and animal hair everywhere, (as a bit of a clean freak), I would probably be pretty uncomfortable, and feel like I’m hanging out in an uncared-for space.
That said, please know I’m not judging those who are in that situation!
Some seasons are dark and hard. I’ve been there too, my friend!
Just last year, after my dad died and we spent 2 months without water, let’s just say, my house wasn’t the cleanest, and the floors were not getting mopped on the regular.
Either way, whatever your current cleaning situation, giving your floors a quick clean is always a good idea when guests are coming over!
Bonus Quick Housecleaning Tasks
While the above 4 tasks are the main areas I would focus on to give a cleaner appearance to your home, there are other forgotten zones you can concentrate on if you have time before your guests arrive.
Check out these bonus quick housecleaning tips!
- Doors and windows – the main ones guests will see, such as glass on front doors or main living room windows.
- Trash – Obviously, if they are already overflowing to the point of being seen, this should be taken care of when you’re purging. However, if they are simply near full and you have extra time, a quick swap to a new bag can be nice (especially for that gross bathroom trash).
- Dishes – Again, if overflowing onto the counters, this should have been taken care of already, but if you only have a handful in the sink, toss them in the dishwasher or handwash and put them on the drying rack real quick.
- Aromas – Lastly, I love to toss something good in the diffuser when I know a guest is coming! I don’t always get the chance to do this (or think of it), but I just feel like there is something extra welcoming about a fresh scent being the first thing you notice when entering a home.
You may have noticed that my method for tidying a home fast is to focus on a task rather than a room (aside from the bathroom, that is).
I do this for one simple reason.
If you purge and clear surfaces in all your public spaces, even if not perfectly or thoroughly, but don’t have time to make it to the floors, all of your main areas are at least slightly cleaner than when you started.
However, if you focus on one room at a time, sure, your entryway or living room might be perfect, but your kitchen will still be a disaster!
It’s all about creating balance and making everything just a little bit cleaner than it was before.
Quick Housecleaning Tips to Live By
All that said, the best and most efficient way to tidy your home fast is by following simple house cleaning habits every day!
Because yes, even the cleanest of homes can get messy from time to time, and those tend to be the times when the unexpected visitors drop by!
Seriously though.
While the above list may seem daunting and undoable, you can tidy your home in about 10-15 minutes if you practice some of these useful tips for everyday!
- Practice daily maintenance — I’m not talking about chores or extras, I’m simply talking about finishing tasks and cleaning up after yourself as you go! Clear surfaces when you are finished using them, put dishes in the sink when you are done eating, etc.
- Schedule quick pickups — If you live by a to-do list (as I do), you can easily schedule 5-15 minute pickups throughout your day. I actually do this all the time, you guys! I fill my list with x amount of work tasks followed by a handful of home tasks, one of those tasks being a quick pickup.
- Utilize a cleaning schedule — 100% this! If I didn’t follow a cleaning schedule and laundry schedule, I couldn’t do this work-from-home and homeschool thing without my house turning into a disaster zone. For example, I dust and mop on Mondays, wash a handful of windows (whichever ones need it most) every Wednesday, and clean the bathrooms on Friday. Those are just some of my non-negotiable weekly items that keep my house feeling clean and cut down on my cleaning time when guests are coming over!
- Declutter regularly — As a busy homeschool mom who loves to shop, collect, decorate, craft, write, and do all the things. I understand how hard this task can be! However, decluttering on a regular basis is one of the biggest things that keeps my house functioning!
The point is, yes, you can tidy your house fast, but you can tidy it faster (and more thoroughly) if you keep up with specific tasks throughout the week.
Also, doing these tasks allows you to avoid using quick-fix tactics like the basket method.
All that said, I hope some of these quick housecleaning tips prove useful in your own home cleaning journey!
Happy cleaning and decluttering, you guys!
