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?

Why are you paying for a cleaner to come for three hours a week if you need to deep clean again before you have guests?

I wouldn’t do any of that before a guest but our home is always clean and presentable anyway.

I would do that and more. It's not excessive. It's courtesy and hospitable.

Personal preference. Neither is wrong.

I do focus on the food too, which DH is responsible for because he is much more level headed than me. He buys all that he thinks we need and then I run to the supermarket to top it up! I don’t want anyone to feel disappointed with what is offered.

Maybe I freak out because my Mum was like this so I worry my wider family expect the same standard.

I would do this. We clean the entire downstairs if we have friends round for a drink. Probably sad.

I would expect that the cleaner left the toilet and the upstairs sufficiently cleaned from one week to the next. Same for the kitchen but obviously I would wipe the surfaces down and do the washing up. Quick hoover downstairs if it was visibly bitty or bitty underfoot.

I would tidy up downstairs but that wouldn't put me off hosting as I view being forced to tidy as a positive thing. I wouldn't be spending more than 20 minutes on it, so maybe 30 in total.

Hoover downstairs ans check downstairs loo is clean. No need to scrub tiles

Too much. If cleaner has been i wouldn’t be worrying

It all seems 🦇 💩 to me.

If you keep on top of having a clean and tidy house there’s no way you need to do a deep clean for your family coming round for lunch.

Sounds like a very stressful way to live.

This^

Is your house dirty? I don’t do anything extra when someone is visiting. There are 4 of us and we have animals so it’s never going to be a show home and I wouldn’t want it to be. It is kept clean and tidy(ish) by us and our cleaner. I don’t worry if there is washing to be put away or something like that. They take us as they find us or they’re not welcome. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Our cleaner comes for several hours once a week however it looks like she hasn’t been after five minutes!
@Papersquidge same. It makes a difference to us but in terms of visitors, not so much.

I think this is normal. Not sure what deep clean in bathroom sense means but clean the bathrooms sure.

See, I'd say the opposite of this. If I'm visiting someone, the last thing I'll be doing is judging the cleanliness of their house. I'd just be happy to spend time with them.

I would tidy away clutter whizz around with the hoover and clean the toilet and sink but anything else would be left

Is my idea of a deep clean different to other people's? When I last 'deep cleaned' my kitchen, about 3 or 4 years ago, it took three days. Everything was cleaned from the ceiling down, appliances pulled out, every inch scrubbed.

A thorough clean takes about 6 hours.

I usually do a normal clean which wouldn't take longer than an hour or two at most but wouldn't involve cleaning out the cupboards. Probably usually takes 30-45 minutes.

You don’t need to do that. You do need to clean the toilet and mop the floors, remove clutter and empty bins. The rest is you being dramatic.

I'm with you.

My DH thinks I'm excessive though.

I would feel the same. I love guests feeling comfy in a clean environment.

He just doesn't want to help you obviously
So just do what you can

I would do most of this but probably not deep clean the kitchen because it would be all over with cooking stuff by the time they arrived. I would clean it round a bit but not deep clean it (imagining moving the oven out, wiping out the cupboards???).

Clutter all into a (couple of) large shopping bags and stashed upstairs 😄

i remember my young son asking in all seriousness who was coming who was coming when I started tidying up and cleaning one day. Yes this is something I would do if I had lots of people coming to visit.

This. Our cleaner comes Wednesdays, and we had friends over for dinner on Friday night. DH cooked. I didn’t clean other than checking the downstairs loo was clean, and that there was a fresh handtowel and plenty of toilet paper.

I would always clean before hosting guests. Even if the house was ‘clean’ anyway. Dusting, hoovering, clean toilets and bathrooms and washing floors would be the minimum.

Yes, this is what I do for guests. And this is also why we very rarely have guests.

I will say, I don’t care if a house seems lived in. So Dh thinks it’s ridiculous to clean the floors (hoover and mop) for guests, but he will spend an hour clearing off the entire kitchen counter so it looks like a new build show home with no one living in it. People expect a stack of magazines on the counter. What they don’t want is last week’s shit splattered all over the toilet. I have visited some friends before with actual like tumbleweeds of pubes in the corners of the downstairs loo, and felt very ick! It takes 5 minutes to sort that for guests. 😳