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?

This. I have ADHD and a job that’s slowly killing me.

@Canyouanswermyquestion

Huh?

If you share a home with a man then your home is also his home?

Isn't it?

I am not naturally organised, but I feel stressed when there’s shit everywhere, and I feel I’ve finally found my holy grail.

every Friday DP dies a full house hoover abs I thoroughly clean the kitchen…. Door fronts, polish the oven fridge the whole kaboodle.

then each day I clean and tidy just one room, really really well. Damp dust, polish etc etc.

each day I also do a project. Currently I’m mid cleaning the kitchen floor, the grout is filthy. It’s a bit kitchen, so I just do a few flag stones a day.

I’ve also gone through the house decluttering.

I do a small pile of ironing every day.

beacuse the whole cleaning thing only takes about 30/40 mins a day, it’s totally doable and each room is always very clean at least once every 10 days (we have 10 rooms).

im religious about it though, and if I’m out all day, I’ll get up half hour earlier.

I’ve also invested in tech, so eufy goes on downstairs every day, sometimes twice, and I’ve got a mechanical mop and also a flash mop. Basically anything to make a quick clean easier.

I feel so much better and in control.

Not in the least. We especially look like we’ve been burgled in the Summer because so much time is spent working on the garden. Also, I live with who I believe to be the most untidy man in the world. He walks around leaving everything where it lands. He doesn’t even close cupboard doors and drawers. After 14-years, I have concluded that he won’t change and I can’t keep picking him up on each thing, or we’d both be miserable. He does have attributes that make up for it though. He is an excellent cook and does all the cooking.

No my house is not always guest ready for unannounced guests. If they come unannounced then they have to take me as they find me. The toilets are always cleaned, surfaces wiped and hoovered, but it depends on when they arrive, as to if it's been done. I'm a single mother of a 12 &13 yr old, both with additional needs. I work and I have my own chronic health conditions, so I can tire easily and experience pain, so I may do these things of an am before work or after dinner in the PM. My friends are great, they get it, they understand. My family as judgemental as hell, but you know what, I have reached a point I don't care what they think now. I don't go to people's houses to judge the house, I visit the person. I get life can get in the way of of things you want to do, cleaning, tidying etc. And the bottom line is, my house could be great, but If one of my children went and did a big poo in the toilet just as a guest arrived and it didn't flush awsy properly and I didn't know about it, what can I do? Am I to be judged on that?? Life happens, don't worry and don't stress so much. No one is perfect and floaters happen‼️🤣🤣

Depends. I'd let friends (proper ones, not acquaintances) in but not e.g. Mil. I'd need notice of that so I could leave because she's massively judgy and my friends are not. But I prefer notice of having someone round so it's not usually an issue.

Hmm, I would say yes but only if your idea of 'visitor ready' doesn't mean spotlessly clean and tidy. We live in a big old farmhouse so we enter and leave via the kitchen / dining / sitting room, hence I try to keep that room relatively clean and tidy as most dropping in visitors don't progress past that room. Also being on a farm we have a lot of popping in visitors which I love, but they don't ever expect a spotless house (there are always a range of wellies and rugby boots kicked off by the back door, some evidence of cooking / baking on the island and the floor often has strands of hay from the children's socks when they've been up in the stables, but stuff is generally put away, no washing up left out etc). I also keep the downstairs bathrooms and loos clean in case a visitor needs to use one, but the playroom, sitting rooms, study and utility are usually in a state of cheerful disarray. We are great 'poppers in' and so I love it when friends and family 'pop in' to see us too.

HahahahahA. Frack no.

Yes in that no one would say “this is filthy!” but I have as my OH puts it “middens” - a balancing pile of papers and books and crap on the floor, that type of thing. I’ve never been normal with the perfect house thing. I’d LOVE to be. Sometimes I wonder if I have undiagnosed ADHD tbh.

I am lucky enough to have 2 sitting rooms. The one with the view is always guest ready but the other looks as though the proverbial bomb has been detonated; untidy but apart from a bit of cat fluff not dirty. When I lived in a house with only one sitting room unexpected guests could like it or lump it. Uninvited visitors must take pot luck. My SIL was the only one who noticeably looked down her nose.

Ha ha ha Lord love ya, no. It's not even long-expected guest-ready. I just can't motivate myself to a routine. When I go mad for a few days, in expectation of guests, it looks FAB and I think I'll stick to my new system, but then work, life, family just overwhelms and away we go...at this point in my life I'd be surprised if I could change....

If you come yo visit on spec, you take us as you find us! Otherwise I do a wee bit of a tidy up but as my partner works from home permanently, the house is never really tidy. Don't like it, don't visit! There is always the pub across the road!

I've aspired to this standard for many years but I'm slowly resigning myself to the fact that I'm a messy person.

Guest ready on the surface. if you open cupboards its not.

😂Nope. It’s relatively clean, as in nobody has died of food poisoning yet and we don’t have vermin, but looks like the house has been turned upside down and shook. Everyone who lives here is pathologically untidy and/or too tired to care.

Our house is lived in, I don’t like unexpected visitors and my friends know this. We do clean and tidy our house but we have Guineas pigs and hay gets everywhere so it can get attached to socks and shoes so bits can appear everywhere. I’m a bit of take me as find me.

Our house is never visitor ready unless we have deliberately blitzed it for expected visitors!

2 small kids and both working, it gets in a real state and things like dishes etc tend to get left until the evening.

I don’t massively care, I just say “excuse the mess, I’ve been too busy to sort it!” and that’s about it.

Very rarely visitor ready and I dgaf. The people I'm happy to have as unannounced visitors don't care about the mess (mess, not dirt). The people who visit unannounced only to be judgemental and bitch about it can fuck right off. I do make certain it's visitor ready when I expect them, but if I don't expect them then, yes, it's going to be a mess. If you want tidy, be polite enough to tell me you're coming.

To me ‘guest ready’ should mean welcoming, and not just focus on cleanliness.

I've been in some houses that are guest ready in that they’re very clean and there’s no mess, but you’re constantly nervous as you just know your host is on edge in case your toddler touches anything! Or I forget to use a coaster (we’re a non coaster household!).

So as long as a house isn’t filthy I really don’t care if it’s ‘guest ready’ or not. A welcoming attitude is much more important.

God no never 🤣 I have dogs so there's always hair that needs hoovering up, again as it gets done once a day. Plus dishes that need washing but my friends are the same so it's not a huge problem 🙃

Mine used to be, I like being able to welcome people. Now we have 2 Ukrainian guests and it’s absolute chaos constantly, everything is everywhere. It’s nice though and it won’t be forever so, ce la vie!

Tell people you leave it like that so they feel better about their homes 😉 my house always looks like a bomb had gone off but like you, I feel all I do is tidy! We're just too many people in a too small house so it's kind of tough really. If people don't like it, they don't have to come or they need to give a weeks notice 😁

the kettle is always ready to be put on for a cuppa, but might be hard pressed to find an unopened pack of biscuits though!

We are both terrible for leaving jumpers on the back of chairs but being rural I suspect those who drop in for one reason or another don’t even see them.

Those dropping in expecting a lengthy stay though are few and far between, and one in-law and partner got a surprise when I continued with my plan to get to the grain merchant before they closed, leaving them with DH. I’m not unsure why they thought my plan should change with their arrival, and obviously as they have gone NC since, it ruffled their feathers. Tough.

I’ll be honest, I don’t understand how ppl can live in bad mess! I have 3 kids age 14,11,3 and the only thing messy regularly is the living room floor eith toys but at the end of every night all
toys get put away. Suggestions to keep clean are load the dishwasher as you use pots, don’t leave any pots in the sink then put it on every night before bed. Put toys away as soon as kids have gone to bed. Don’t let young kids eat in living room or on sofas etc, put everything back in its place as soon as it’s done. Never leave clothes or anything else just sat on the side. I won’t even leave wrappers, bottles, books, pens, letters or anything on my kitchen side, it all gets put away. You just have to stay on top of it. Also if you have older kids make them help you, teach them to clean up after themselves. Far too many parents just allow their kids to be messy then moan when their house is a tip.

Mine is almost never guest ready unless I know guests are ready. I have some close friends I could have over with only half an hour or so notice but I would probably need a few hours for most people as I’m bad at staying on top of things like the kitchen and bathroom. Bedroom is always a tip, I probably only manage to get it looking presentable and clear of piles of laundry about twice a year!