To think most houses aren't 'visitor ready'?

[Pandrawerschangedmylife]

Got friends coming to stay this weekend. MIL just phoned to speak to DH, I explained he'd taken the kids out so that I can get the house sorted (change bedding, put the hoover round, clean the bathroom etc...) She sounded very surprised and made a comment along the lines of the house being pretty untidy if I need a few hours to clean it, as she just cleans hers as she goes (of course she does, there's only two of them living in the house!)

AIBU to think that most houses aren't tidy enough for overnight guests? There always seems to be things to sort and put away. Or am I actually living in squalor without knowing it?

Ours is usually visitor ready but I still run around like an headless chicken a little bit before people turn up.

With me it's usually making sure there's loo roll in the bathroom,there's 7 of us but I'm usually the only one that thinks to put more in there when it's run out,that an lighting some scented candles and giving all of the rooms a quick spray of air freshner.

Day Visitor ready - 99% for "posh" visitors (would probably just take out any cups and plates, move any shoes in the hall etc). If family then come as you find me.

Overnight ready not in the least as the spare bed is covered with boxes and junk! Let alone the spare duvet/pillows needs taking out of bag and covering etc

Mine is okay ...we have 2 golden retrievers so always abit of fur etc around...if we were having people to stay I would be okay but only if they gave me a couple of hours to put the Hoover round, and generally tidy up......as I don't like anyone enough to want to speak to them for any more than about 5 mins visitors are not likely lol hence won't have this problem

We have visitors often at the drop of a hat. Our house is always visitor ready. In that I don't care what visitors think so they take us as we are. They get clean sheets and that is about as far as I will go.

One of my friends always rings before she comes over because she knows I like the time to put a bra on....

I wonder what your MIL would say if you were out with the kids and DH was changing beds, vacuuming, cleaning bathroom in preparation for the visitors!

Don't compare yourself to other people OP but please don't feel all the above are your tasks!

It's better now than it was. We were living in a small 2 storey + attic conversion Victorian terraced with seemingly infinite capacity for mess and dirt.

Now we're in a 2 bedroom flat in London (conversion) and it's SO MUCH EASIER. It's probably the same size but fewer and bigger rooms, no stairs, no back door onto garden/front door onto street etc.

I could prob. be visitor ready in 5 mins at any given time. We don't have a spare room, but the bedding for our (large/comfy) sofa is kept in a suitcase of its own, ready to be whipped out at a moment's notice, and there is a spare mattress under the bunk bed too, if need be.

The bathroom is always clean and one of us does the kitchen every morning after school run.

I think it depends a LOT on the format of your home, as much as your own level of slovenliness v Martha Stewart.

My house is far from being constantly clean/tidy but I don't think I've ever spent "several hours" cleaning. So I sort of see where your MiL is coming from - surely running the hoover round, cleaning the bathroom and making up a bed takes under an hour?

"Visitor ready" ?

My house is my house and anyone who wants to visit can take as they find.

I read somewhere something that describes my life: C.H.A.O.S (can't have anyone over syndrome)

Scurryfunge

A new word I learnt a few weeks ago that definitely applies to me.

"(Verb) Old English; to rush around cleaning when company is on their way over.
Usage: I scurryfunge when I see my mother in law coming over."

I’ve just invited friends round on 2nd dec. I’ve booked a days a/l on the 1st.....YANBU

Ha! Ha! I am such a slattern that if I start a major clean I'm asked who's coming? I'm guessing therefore that the only time our house gets a thorough clean is when we are expecting visitors of some sort. [Quite often - so house not that bad!] Glad I don't have a MIL to make me feel inadequate! Enjoy the company of your guests OP and ignore MIL.

It depends on the amount of visitors. For friends who come with their 3 big teens it needs more prep and washing/moving bedding and children to accommodate everyone.

11 people to sleep requires some planning!

Then getting extra shopping in and planning meals which are good for large numbers and appetites whilst also being able to entertain (day out etc) and not breaking the bank.

We have a big house which does take some time to hoover, and several bathrooms which guests might use.

Two guests is fine, guest room and bathroom ready and food is less of an issue .

I had a visitor last weekend. I changed the sheets on the bed he was going to sleep in, and ran the hoover around his room.

My house was then approximately as clean and tidy as his house generally is, and as far as I was concerned we were ready.

Blimey, have I somehow slipped into a parallel world populated by step ford wives?

With me it's usually making sure there's loo roll in the bathroom,there's 7 of us but I'm usually the only one that thinks to put more in there when it's run out,that an lighting some scented candles and giving all of the rooms a quick spray of air freshner.

Scented candles and air freshener would just set off my allergies and probably a pretty huge migraine if you did that before I arrived...

Well mine certainly isn’t visitor ready. I find myself drifting closer to Quentin Crisp’s view that ‘There is no need to do any housework at all. After the first four years the dirt doesn't get any worse.’

No way. I tidy as i go, AND deep clean once a week, that takes me about 3-4 hours. Although I don't have time to clean as I go (apart from the kitchen everyday)

I feel like ours is visitor ready if someone dropped by and was just staying for a cuppa in the kitchen or lounge.

However, if we were having people to stay, or even come for the day, then I'd have a cleaning frenzy before they arrived. By Friday night my house feels like a shit tip. I can't do more than the very basics when I'm working.

I don't get how anyone who works or has young children would be visitor ready all of the time.

There's a wide spectrum. My MiL thinks we're pretty slobby and my SiL thinks we're uber-houseproud, so I reckon we must get it about right .

I'd be pretty embarrassed if someone came over right now! Not unclean but it's untidy!!

My house is always visitor ready.
(as long as visitors have low standards)

Mine currently looks more visitor ready than it ever has before, because it's on the market and our estate agent likes to surprise us with unexpected viewings (bastard).

Unfortunately this means that it is, in reality, very un-visitor ready: the cushions are stuffed with random crap that I've had to hide at a moment's notice; the bathroom taps are currently only "decorative". I wouldn't be able to find the guest bedding because I put it somewhere very tidy indeed (it's probably in a box in my MIL's garage).

But it looks beautiful.

Visitors staying over. OMG my worst nightmare!

Have done it a few times but the time taken to get the place ready is just not worth the hassle anymore. I am older now and couldn't be arsed.

I love seeing long lost friends and those from up or down the country, but as there is a cute little hotel a five minute walk away, I now offer to pay for their stay there. TBH most have got the hint and paid for themselves in the end, it is not expensive but it is nice.

The visitors can call for dinner, tea, coffee etc. but that's easy enough.

Everyone has their own space and I can continue to live in my hovel!

I know some will go WTF? Not even family can stay with you? That's right. But all my family live within half an hour so they never need to stay.

It is different for everyone I know that.