Is your home always 'guest ready'?

[Bigbonesmeatandgravy]

If someone drops by unexpectedly would you be happy to let them in or would you feel embarrassed about the state of it? My house is always a bit of a mess and I feel conscious of unexpected visitors more often not. Things like the bin needs emptying, crumbs on the floor, dishwasher needs loading, clothes strewn around randomly. I feel like I spend half my life tidying so it's not laziness, it just gets messy again straight away. I also have one spare room that is a dumping ground and such a mess at all times that I would be mortified if anyone entered it.I have 2 kids under 4 so that's my excuse! YABU My house is always visitor ready YANBU My house is rarely visitor readyAnd if your house is a bit of a mess, do you care what people think?

Don't you think that some markers of success are highly gendered and it is rarely prized among men to have a box fresh house for guests and neither is it a source of anxiety when they fail to meet the assumed standard?

Fuck no

My house looks like the National Archive just exploded in it

Mines neither!🤣🤣

Manic tidy up for mum arriving. Friends get told to excuse the mess!

My bathrooms are kept clean. The living room is kept tidy (I never use it).

My cupboards are always tidy. It's the general clutter that I need to sort.
I know it needs done but I never seem to really get round to it.

Yes but that is because I myself like that when I walk into rooms I find it like that. Things put away and everything tidy and neat. So its more for me than anyone else lol

I should comment my mum is Mrs Tidy and a manic declutterer. Raised us in a 2 bed flat. It was always spotless and visitor ready. Her current house is exactly the same.

Yes, my home usually looks immaculate. I don't though, so I still need a 4 minute warning to get out of my oodie, put on a bra and some mascara.
My house looks nice because we only ever do things using wifi these days (teenagers!) though it was different a decade ago when it was littered in Lego

Nope, and very unlikely an unexpected visitor would get through my front door. Have (adult) kids living at home and they know this applies to their guests as well. I’d make an exception for ambulance officers having to come in obviously if the need arose but that’s the only ‘unexpected guests’ I can think of crossing my threshold.

Yes. Both my dad and FIL are very house-proud.

This topic on mumsnet is soooo boring, nearly every thread is a man bashing thread.

Please get a life

Ummmm, if I had 15 minutes warning I could whip the downstairs in to shape. Livingroom usually fine but kitchen is open plan and I've got two messy cats (I have dogs too so cats eat on the island). The dining area also open plan but is ok, though the animals do seem to drag in a lot of dirt from the garden!
Upstairs would need longer and my teens room about a week!

No, never. No one calls around without arranging it with me first.

No. My staff keep having a day off. (single parent)

Are you telling me I'll miss the Lego?

My kids are 11 & 5 I've a lot of lego years still in front of me.

I’m always visitor ready in the fact that the beds are made, the bathrooms and toilets are clean and the kitchen is tidy. There’s always coats slung over the bannister, shoes kicked off in the hall, a pile of washing just brought off the line is slung over the sofa waiting to be folded. The kitchen, although clean has a couple of pots waiting to got into the dishwater, (yet to be emptied from the last load).
My mother used to take great pride in telling people “Thinkings house can be untidy but it’s alway clean and her whites (washing) are never grey” Praise indeed. .
My sister on the other hand, her house was always clean and tidy…dunno how with five kids to my two. But open the big cupboard in her hall and you be buried under a mountain of ironing.

I have a toddler who is in the habit of stripping to his pants the second he walks through the door and a DH who hangs jackets and jumpers on anything other than a hanger.
We also live in an apartment so there's often clothes drying on airers and bedsheets flung over doors to dry, although I would quickly whip them down if someone turned up!

The living room, kitchen and bathroom are passable or can be made so in less than 10 minutes.

I have a spare room of shame though, like Monica's closet.

Yes. And you'll miss the costant "mum"...ing too. My teens rarely speak to me now unless they want food, money or a lift somewhere, so I guess the tidy lounge (teen bedrooms are another matter, but no guest has asked to venture therein) is some consolation for being knocked off my pedestal

Those living in chaos, messy and probably a bit unclean (because how can you properly clean if things are covered in mess??)… isn’t it a bit…. Depressing living like that? And doesn’t it make family life a bit… difficult?

i suppose because I’m a working single parent - my motivation for having a “guest ready” home isn’t for “guests” it’s for the comfort of me and my children AND to make our lives easier AND… my home is also far and away my biggest asset… so I damn well want it looking nice and me enjoying it!

@oohyoudevilyou surely family life with teens isn’t just all on WiFi? Dinners? Weekends, holidays, then doing chores etc?

I was being lighthearted

Oh I didn’t get that impression from your posts at all! Sorry

Same here! 😂

But isn’t “minging” pretty much the definition of “filthy”?! 😂

Nope, not depressing at all. What bit of "family life" is more difficult?

We always have a house full despite the mess. It can be messy and comfortable. A home isn't just a house, it's the people in it that make it feel homely.

Is kitty glitter a real thing or a euphemism? <<dreads answer>>