People with tidy guest ready houses. What is your tidying up routine?

[freshstart24]

I'm inspired by the thread asking how many people have tidy, guest ready houses.

Our home is never as tidy as I'd like it to be. I do feel like I'm forever clearing up and DH is pretty good at doing his share. DS (11) is getting the hang of putting things away too.

But then life gets hectic, we are always busy, dashing around.... and the house turns into a tip almost instantly.

I then spend ages and ages clearing up and the cycle begins again.

The answer has to be to keep on top of it, yes?

I'd love to hear how other people do this.

Personally I think chores need to be divided up, and the house is my chore. As such I get to make the rules about what goes where and to take it as a sign of disrespect f someone messes up my work. OH will clean up after himself if he brings in dirt or makes a mess. As for the rest I do a clean once a week and tidy a little bit here and there. Mostly though:
If you take it out, put it back
if you open it, close it
if you wash it, hang it
if it's dry, fold it and put it away
and so on. Just do it as you go along. But it is easier as the house is my chore and I call the shots meaning that no one's uncleaning behind me as I go!

I get rid of anything that isn’t ‘useful’, don’t have any clutter, everything is put away and if it doesn’t have a home, find one for it or it goes.
I spend a lot of time just pottering and tidying little areas, emptying cupboards etc.
I do housework daily but it’s not as laborious as it sounds. Surely everyone cleans their kitchens down daily (ie, deal with dirty dishes, sweeps/vacuums, wipes sides down etc)? Coats/bags/shoes off and away when we come in although we aren’t a shoes off house, it just makes sense when we come in to take them off and put them away immediately after coming in.
I do washing every day and make sure it’s put away too.
It’s just plugging away at little things often.

I agree mybrexit, everyone has different ideas of how clean and tidy they like their house and what is acceptable to them. The OP started the thread because she wants to see some change. Our family likes to do lots of projects and crafts and I have three teens so plenty of stuff still makes it’s way into our house, so it is not immaculate but it is clean and any untidiness can find a home quickly. I never want to feel overwhelmed by how much needs to be done in the house, I like it feel warm and welcoming but not cluttered.

Ok, except my bedroom clean clothes pile, everything else is tidy and organised.

What is it that is messy in your house? Children’s toys? Clothes? General clutter?

Have less stuff, everything has a home. I decided the cost of re-purchasing the occasional item outweighs the stress of keeping things just in case.

Tidy as you go. Don’t leave things lying around waiting to be put away, just put them away straight away.

Bathroom, everyone has a tub for their products. Doesn’t fit in the tub? Not staying in the bathroom. Anything gets left out in the sink or side and I sweep it into their tub. Takes 2 secs.

Got rid of 98% of my adult books and kindle. Children keet their books obviously.

At the end of every meal surfaces are wiped down, dishwasher stacked.

Before bed make sure nothing is left out.

Nothing ‘personal’ to be left lying around the kitchen or living room unless it is directly in use. Other people’s stuff gets dumped in their rooms.

I have a box to put general crap into that I then sort it every now and again.

I don’t keep much paperwork. Everything is stored on a password manager and secure note app and I photograph any important corospondamce eg latest annual pension statement and delete the previous years on (stored in the program accessible from any Si outer or my phone).

School stuff - action straight away. Anything I want to retain in the short term like concert tickets gets pinned to a note board.

I’m trying to keep mine tidy but I do remind myself that a bit of mess is normal. If I visit friends and they have immaculate houses it puts me on edge a bit

Conversely I find a tidy house very relaxing.

Things can be messy whilst in use - big craft project all over the dining table - but it needs to be cleared up when you’ve finished in my house!

following...

Working is a lot of it too! When I was a SAHM / on maternity leave, even with sleepless babies and more time in the house I could keep generally on top of life by doing little bits throughout the day, but once you're working it's harder and you're tired by the end of the day. Id choose whether it's more important to you to volunteer or keep the house guest ready - we all have our preferences, there's no right answer!