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?

Just tidy as you go along. Instead of putting something down next to the dishwasher put the item in it! It's not difficult to put things away and clear up mess etc as you go. Teach your kids to do the same

Upstairs prob not as tidy as I would like with kids toys etc but I keep downstairs tidy and ready. We live in a very friendly close which is great but it does mean we have neighbours always popping in for a brew and a chat so it keeps me on my toys. most people come to see you not your house so don’t worry.

My hubby drives me mad because he never closes drawers and doors!

Nope. It's a house, a home. It's mostly clean. But we have three young kids and a dog that thinks he's a Womble and collects rubbish from wherever he can salvage it. So it's often not guest ready. Although if you come after 10 am any day I've usually put it all straight!

Well it depends what they look like when I look through the 'Spy Hole' on the door.
😱

don’t under estimate the ability of your guests to accept you as you are ❤

No, I don't let people in. Reasonably clean, no dirty dishes but clothes hanging on table chairs, backpack from teen son camping trip still on the floor waiting for me to shout at him to put it away. I always clean on Saturdays but by Tuesday it is already messy. I've given up keeping it it tidy. It was easier when they were small

No. Take me as they find me. But then again I don’t ever get visitors. The very rare occasion I do it would be pre planned. I don’t have much family locally and I meet friends out of the house for coffee, not very often though as we are all busy.

Oh yes. Absolutely. As long as this guest comes for an hour on a Saturday and doesn't go on the utility room ever.

Downstairs is almost always visitor ready, I have lots of people that drop in and wouldn't ever be embarrassed by my house. School holidays may be slightly different with 3 teenagers at home and us both working but they do tend to tidy up most of their dishes!

Personally I hate dishes left out and pots not washed after using so I would never leave any of that out, i can't relax if I can see mess.

Life is too short to keep a house guest ready. I always regard people who have guest-ready homes suspiciously….. what are they missing in their lives by spending all their time cleaning and tidying. and if someone coming into my home judges me for having crumbs on my floor then they can bloody well bugger off.

that said I would love to actually have time (or someone else preferably) to Marie Kondo my life and not have cupboards that are in openable because you might never fit everything back in……

Yea of course my house is always “guest ready” and sparkling. Isn’t everyone’s?

Im in the process of decluttering- stuff everywhere. My friends don’t care though!

You don’t really have to spend all your life tidying to have a clean and tidy home. It’s a simple as washing dishes then putting them away/not letting clutter accumulate etc. Plus of course having a family who all chip in! I’m not keen on the ‘dust if you must’ frame of mind. It’s perfectly possible to enjoy life and spend time with your family while still maintaining a clean and tidy home.

There's a reason why scurryfunge is mine and DH's favourite word

The dishes get done, the laundry is cleaned, but mess and clutter reign supreme!

Er no. I mean it depends what you class as guest ready?
The kettle is always on, the bathrooms are always clean but there is (clean) washing up on the sink drying, and some recycling that needs taking out and a bin bag

God, no!

Absofuckingtely not

My kitchen and bathroom are clean. MOST of my house is pretty tide, other than the side table next to my chair (I'm disabled, and pretty much LIVE in that chair. But there is a layer of dust on everything...and a sign on a shelf that says, "DUST TESTING IN PROGRESS, PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB SAMPLES!" I do not give a flying rat's hind end about dust. Once a quarter, I dust and sweep down any cobwebs.

I had a similar conversation with my DB recently. My DS wants to have a friend over and I was telling my DB that I'd have to make sure the house was blitzed beforehand and he commented that teenage boys do not care/notice. Urgh. It sucks.

Have a guest ready home doesn’t mean cleaning and tidying endlessly, it means you keep on top of everything and it doesn’t take forever to clean.

if you can find the thread about growing up in a messy house, you’ll see how much it affected some people and why having a clean, tidy home is so important to them.

long post alert…

i voted YANBU as ours is not always ‘guest ready’ as in sparkly and spotless but it’s okish most of the time and sometimes needs about 15 to 30 mins to get back into shape ie when dishwasher is full, plates on side, clutter and toys strewn around…sometimes we are tired and a bit lazy.

Because I was MUCH worse at cleaning/tidying years ago, I have worked on this quite a bit over the years. I think people pretty much fall into two main camps, the ‘born organised’ and the ‘frazzled’ (technical terms 😆😆) and I am very much of the slightly frazzled variety who has worked at being more organised as it makes me feel better. Also, my DH is born organised so it was driving him a bit crazy so I had to meet him in the middle for our marriage, really.

So… some posters asked for tips and this is what I try to do:

• work out if you actually care about this stuff first and how clean/tidy you would like your space to be! What are your priorities eg clean plates etc, loos, kitchen. Do a quick clean of those every day or on rotation. Take into account if you have any disabilities or illnesses etc and be realistic about what you can get done. Also, working hours.
• tidy little and often ie ten minutes every day is better than leaving everything to pile up and doing one hour at weekend.
• kitchen clean down every (most…) night.
• get rest of household involved as much as possible.

i follow an adapted TOMM with a few Flylady ideas thrown in and it works pretty well. There is a guided clean on being visitor ready on Patreon by the lady that started TOMM that is very helpful to me - I listen to it on headphones and she tells you what to do with timings and music. Never thought I would be doing that but it is really effective and motivating. 😆

My husband! He mops the floors nearly every day 🤣

My sitting rooms are always guest ready but my hallway and kitchen never until around 10am. And then only until the children come home at 3pm and it all goes wrong again.
some days it’s not guest ready at all.
When the cleaners have been I always hope an unexpected guest turns up… but they never do 🤣

My house is fairly tidy in main living areas, but then I live alone, so no excuse to be untidy. Personally, I prefer a relaxed homely atmosphere and a few times I’ve been told my house is homely, so I take that as a compliment! I went to visit a friend yesterday and never felt relaxed at all, everything is sooo tidy and clean, even the mugs were in saucers and of course it was a planned visit, could never just drop in! Believe me, life is far too short for all that angst.