It happens to all of us.
It’s midmorning on Sunday. The baby is pulling the Tupperware out of the cabinets, you’re in a robe flipping through TiVo, hubby is on the laptop updating his status, older kids are gaming or actually starting their homework.
The dishes are stacked to ceiling, toys and clothing litter the floors, no one is dressed and the house smells a little like wet dog.
……..Then the phone rings……
It’s in-laws or old friends – someone you may actually want to see, but not like THIS!
There is no way in heck you’re going to get this house within “company tolerance” in under 15 minutes – this is how you’re going to Fake It!!
1) Get everyone dress.
Put on sweats (or sweat shorts) and pull hair back. Skip the makeup.
Make sure everyone is wearing cleaning clothes, not necessarily clean clothes.
Start with the areas people will see.
2) The kitchen.
If your kids are old enough to do the dishes, get them to take everything out of the sink, stack the dishes, back into the sink, according to size, then fill it half full with water and soap – You don’t have time to wash the dishes, so make them LOOK Like they are soaking. Obviously they are not all soaking, but stacking them by size makes them look orderly.
3) Send younger children into the Dining room with the broom.
Pull all the chairs out from the table and leave them that way. Bring all dishes to the kitchen to be stacked, everything else stack neatly on the chairs.
You’re making the dining room Look Like it’s being cleaned. If something isn’t clean, make it ‘Look Like’ you’re in the process of cleaning. If there is time to sweep, great! If not, leave the broom in there against the wall or the chair.
4) The Living room. Pull the vacuum out into the middle of the room and plug it in – leave it there.
Move any light furniture around, maybe to one side of the room.
My house is all open, so I move things like the hassock (ottoman) into the kitchen, along with any fans and the kids play table and chairs – it makes it Look Like I’m moving things around to clean.
5) Bedrooms. Get smaller children to strip the beds. Take the sheets and blankets and pile them out side the bedroom door. Don’t take them any further than the bedroom door so you can put them back on the bed later.
It takes far to long to pick up and put away toys – kick all the toys into the middle of the room. Any bins which usually hold the toys bring to the middle of the floor also so it Looks Like the toys are being sorted.
6) Bathroom.
May sure everything is dry. Countertops, floors, rim of the tub, all dry. Wipe down the seat and outside of the toilet then dump some blue stuff in it and leave it there.
Do you see a theme here? You’re Faking It! Make it “Look Like” you’re cleaning. Because Looking Like you’re cleaning, makes your house Feel Cleaner than it actually is.
What Not To Do.
Don’t hide your dishes in the oven! NEVER! My dearest friend did that and forgot. The next day she turned on the oven to preheat – that was an interesting smell!
Don’t put dishes in your shower! Never! Someone is going to have to pee before they leave.
Don’t think you’re going to get away with closing the bedroom doors. It’s appropriate to close the master bedroom door, but if you close all the doors it looks like you’re hiding something, instead just air your dirty laundry – it makes it look like your cleaning.