To think you need to clean for “guests”

[CleanHouseForNow]

We have family visiting tomorrow for lunch. A planned meal with about 15 people. We see them regularly but not often at home.

In the interests of full disclosure we have a cleaner who does 3 hours once a week. I think in addition we need to:
> Deep clean the kitchen
> Mop the floor of the whole downstairs
> Deep clean downstairs toilet
> Remove all clutter from downstairs
> Wipe all downstairs surfaces
> Empty downstairs bins
> Hoover upstairs
> Deep clean upstairs bathroom

This is the minimum. I would actually do more if time permitted.

DH thinks it is WAY too much and would probably just wipe down the kitchen and spray some air freshener in the bathrooms. AIBU?

I have someone come in weekly. I do all the downstairs stuff before they come in. Not upstairs because they don't go up there.

What do you mean "deep clean"? The loo is either clean or it isn't. And the kitchen is probably fine already - I'm assuming you're not actually planning to eat your lunch off the floor. Just do a bit of tidying up, open windows, get rid of junk etc is probably sufficient. They're coming to see you, not your house.

@OnTheBoardwalk shit I don’t change the towels. I am going to do this going forward runs to the bathrooms to throw the old ones in the wash.

Id have added wiping down the skirting boards

YANBU

A meal for 15 people is quite a lot in your home and you want ti feel like you can be proud of it

But your guests won't be pulling out the sofas, so doing that to Hoover is pointless!

Yes I think so. Would you want to put a sanitary towel in a full bin? Ok so maybe it wouldn’t be ‘full’ but I would make sure it was empty so they didn’t feel uncomfortable.

Tbh I feel like it’s a good way to get the ‘deep clean’ houses need evey so often done and out the way. Having visitors is great motivation.

And this is family that you have visiting?

Two or three times a year I have that number of family members here. I focus more on the catering than cleaning. And I can guarantee that my family members will be far too busy enjoying each others company to notice a hair in the sink (or any other imperfection, frankly).

You have a cleaner. It's not going to be gross. The kitchen and bathroom/toilets need checking over, and if your children have strewn things around, they'll need tidying. Then a quick hoover, and you should be done.

A place that is throughly cleaned smells completely different to somewhere that has had a quick once over with a hoover.

It just helps with the freshness.

Oh dear. It's not necessary unless the hand towel is really dirty or damp and it was just a suggestion.

Id have added wiping down the skirting boards

Yep, they'll definitely be getting down on their knees to check the skirting boards, rather than chatting and generally socialising. 🙄

I wouldn't do any special cleaning for guests-if it's good enough for me and my family, why should I do any more for others? Obviously I would get in any special drinks/foods they need for religious/allergy needs, and to show I care about what they like, but why should I need to do any special cleaning (exceptions if someone is especially vulnerable/things need to moved to suit their mobility needs).

So those of us living in flats are automatically inhospitable? As long as the bins don't smell I don't see what the problem is...

The thing is, I don’t expect her to deep clean anything in that time. I prefer her to whizz through the whole house and make the beds, she does a little tidy of the kids rooms and makes the house feel nice. She mops the floors but doesn’t focus on any area. It’s a nice to have rather than a ‘real’ clean.

Fortunately most people are not as judgy as you.

"if it's good enough for me and my family, why should I do any more for others? "

Because we're used to our own mess.
In this case, I don't think Op needs to do anything, but in general people are more grossed out by others' dirt than their own.

If you have a regular cleaner or regularly clean yourselves you never need to 'deep clean'.

If you want to do a bit of cleaning and tidying before guests that's great but 'deep clean' is not the terminology

It only smells different if you spray air freshener (or similar) around. hoovering behind the sofa is not going to make a blind bit of difference.

For me its toilets clean, bathroom sinks clean, floors hoovered and mopped
Anything gross or sticky like a smear of jam on a side table too..
Thats all I would bother with. But I would also shut doors to some rooms like bedrooms.

Our cleaner comes for several hours once a week however it looks like she hasn’t been after five minutes!

Id tidy up; clean the surfaces and sweep up. I’m not sure I’d bother hoovering but always make sure the bathrooms are presentable!

Remove deep from your list and you’ll be grand.

So will you be checking the bin between uses so that it stays empty or this will only work for the first person?

I have to admit I have never checked the contents of a bathroom bin before putting items in one. Although if I was uncomfortable about putting a (presumably wrapped) sanitary towel in a bin, I would prefer to have items to hide it under.

I voted you WNBU but changed my vote when I realised you have a cleaner for 3 hours every week. Wtf are you paying for if you need to deep clean before you have family over??

Yes you should do all that.

yes it’s exhausting.

yes I’ve pretty much stopped hosting

Make sure toilets are clean. If your house is usually messy,give a quick tidy up. Otherwise bathrooms and a tidying up is enough. Your kitchen and downstairs will be pretty messy after hosting 15 people. Save your efforts for after they have gone. Unless the house is a complete tip and the loos filthy remember people are coming to see you. Not house inspectors.