i have 47 hours to make my house a show home

[IAmBooyhoo]

and anthea turner i am NOT!

landlords are paying a visit on friday evening. i am a messy person, my children are messy and my dog is very hairy. they are coming to inspect the place (even though i am not leaving until july) and things have been strained between us this last week so i want to give them no reason at all to either withhold my deposit or refuse to give me a refernce for future tenancies.

thankfully ds2 (2) is at nursery tomorrow and friday and a friend has offered to collect and look after ds1 (6) after school if i need her to so i can get on with stuff but the whole task seems really over whelming. my bedroom is coming down with washing, the spare room has literally space to open the door and that's it, i need to paint the dc's bedroom, one wall in teh kitchen and the kitchen door and i need to clean the whole house top to bottom to a standard it hasn't seen since i moved in. there are no carpets except on the stairs and it is just new so doesn't need shampooed or anything. my room is quite messy besides the washing. i dont know what to tackle first or how to get it all done on time. i need a plan and any tips you can throw at me.

any advice?

it's OK. You're going to be fine, it'll look great. So, how many rooms are there?

bin bags

fill them

shove them in the car

feet up

your welcome

2 bedrooms, spare room, bathroom (filthy ) living room, kitchen and downstairs toilet, i also have to clear the garden of any dog poo, crap my kids have dropped out their bedroom window and fill in any holes my dog has dug.

petit the washing is all going in the car

ooh roofspace. i can shove a load of crap in there too can't i.

A women/girl/lady/man (?) (delete as appropriate after my own heart.

Yes shove junk out of way sort out at a later date and clean while listening to very loud music.

Shove everything you can into cupboards, cars, sheds. Spray air freshner everywhere, spend half hour hoovering and wear a low cut top

I second petite's advice ! Works a treat and you quickly clear the space so that you can get on with the cleaning and painting. Stick dirty clothes in a separate bag and bring to laundrette if you can. Flylady flylady.net has some good advice on crisis cleaning as well. Bleach down the loo, clear surfaces and a washed floor will instantly transform the place.

i'm a laydee

low cut top check

what do i put in the low cut top?

Ok, the bathroom needs scrubbing down - spray bathroom cleaner over all surfaces and leave to work - in the meantime, chuck bleach down the loo, give it a scrub and leave brush in the loo to sit in bleach solution (cleans the brush y'see!) Chuck towels/bathmats etc in washing machine, clean mirror, tidy things that are lying round the bathroom, then wipe off the cleaner, remove loo brush, flush loo etc. Mop floor on your way out. Done :)

In the rooms, focus on hiding stuff rather than sorting - clear everything then work from top down, dust surfaces, dirty washing in laundry basket, clean washing put away, make beds, vacuum etc

Then when you've got it looking as good as you can get it, apologise when the LL arrives saying you haven't had time to tidy up

Yes go for bleach, smells of cleaning, always good when LL being nosey visiting.

what do i put in the low cut top?
Any left over crap that you have run out of places to hide it?

This thread is why I Love MN!

You need to clear the decks, so get bin bags and do a couple of runs to the dump. Be ruthless throw out everything.

Open the windows to freshen up the place in general.

Get thick good quality rubber gloves, thick bleach, heavy duty paper towels, that blue stuff that comes on a roll is ideal, and lots and lots of hot water.
Bathroom--
Put bleach under the rim of the loo, round the top rim of the bath so it dribbles down, fill the sink with hot water and a bit of bleach. Dribble bleach on tiles on walls. Leave all of the above to get working while you-- Get a scourer and scourer the sink, any surfaces, taps etc. Get some paper towels and dampen, go round the skirting boards. De fluff. Now scrub your loo, your bath, tiles and then rinse. Lastly drain the sink, scour. Rinse. Use paper towel to shine everything. Vacuum then mop the floor. Will take you less than an hour.

Bedrooms. Be systematic. Gather up everything off the floor, dump on the bed. Vacuum the floor. Then put away clean clothes, make a laundry pile for dirty. Get baby wipes, and "dust". Make the bed. Job Done.

Living area. Go around the room with a empty laundry basket. Dump everything in there that does not belong. Vacuum, dust. Straighten up ornaments etc. Then go through the laundry basket putting everything away in the right place.

Matalan do 2 for £8 storage basket things in a variety of colours. Get a couple to dump toys in.

Kitchen--wash all the dishes, put them away. Put away everything you can. Fill the sink with bleachy water, as hot as you can stand it. Vacuum the hob top, and the oven. Get a couple of cloths in there, then lay damp on your hob, leave, go back to them in a few minutes, they will have lifted alot of the gunge off. Wipe all the surfaces down, then the cupboard fronts. Vacuum, then sweep then mop the floor with bleachy water.

Paint walls when the kids are in bed.

i bought zoflora today specifically for the citrussy(sp?) smell

i dont have a laundry basket. it just all goes on a pile on the floor. the stuff waiting to be put away (there's shitloads of the stuff, i'm so lazy) is in two of those plastic baskets you take the washing from the line in so i can set those inside the bottom of the wardrobe, it would take too long to put it all away. em, kitchen is basically okay, except for all the big toys (toy kitchen set, trike, push along trolley, rocking snail thing) that i dont really have anywhere to put. my kitchen chairs are covered in paint that the dcs got hold of one day but they are my own chairs so that's ok, it just makes the place look bad. living room really only needs swept and mopped. dcs room the same. ok it doesn't seem all that bad now i'm thinking it through. i can do this.

i think it looks worse than it is.

i hope!

Seriously I bet it will be fine. They aren't going to care about paint on your chairs or anything like that. They will only be looking at things that might cost them money.
It is amazing what you can achieve once you set your mind to it, especially when you have a deadline to meet.

Put clothes in bin bags and put kids' toys in the washing baskets and cover with a cushion/throw/scarf