Do you have to tidy up your house if someone is coming round?

[MayasMum]

My friend says if she is having anyone over she has to spend the morning tidying, but I always keep my house nice so people can drop in any time.

I think my friend is odd but she says loads of people do this.

God, yes. I am so anal about this. If I know someone is coming for a visit I have to empty all the wastepaper baskets and clean the loo's.
My dh thinks I am weird. He may be right.

No. Just check loo for unflushed gifts from dd2 ....

Yes, I am odd too. Have a whizz round - esp checking the loos (which is more important as I know sby whose loo always has sh*t marks in it . (I try not to go there)).

My aim in life, is to keep the downstairs constantly presentable... I am starting to improve, and am now the proud owner of a shiny sink, thanks to flylady!

I always try to keep my house looking nice, but will often have a quick whip round with the hoover etc if someone is coming over.

My place is usually clean and relatively tidy but having a 5 year old, 3 year old and a 16 week old there is lots of toys lying around during the day. If I know someone is coming I'll have a clean hoover, tidy and make sure everything is clean. If it's my parents I don't bother as they've seen it all anyway

I have a sliding scale of friends ranging from Kaloo20 for whom I have to hoover and sweep the kitchen floor to Essbee for whom I do chuff all

Huh! Just remembered, once ILs were coming to babysit - so I tidied downstairs, the bathroom, and kids' bedrooms. Can you believe, they went in the study which was a total MESS "because it was raining hard and they wanted to check the window was shut". Then, we got home, they reported that the study "was a bit of mess, don't you think?" GRRRRRR . They weren't supposed to go in there!

i do have a mad dash round to make sure everything is done, but its normally all done

We have a tidy round although if I chuck junk/ironing and crap into one room one of my dc will be sure to make the extra effort and take the guest along for a look

If people just arrive unexpectabdly then I'm afraid we are what we are - family of five and three of us are very young and make a mess while the other two moan about it

We too have a small house and i also think it is harder to keep tidy, two children share a room so this is always cluttered. I need about a week before a party or social event to get everything looking ok and then i still stuff loads of crap into one room which is then out of bounds!!
If i have a few friends coming round in the afternoon, i will, hoover dust clean kitchen bathroom empty all bins clean lounge kitchen windows stuff all strange items in the 'messy' room - thing is it still looks a tip after all that!!

mayas mum, you would think i am a freak then, i would have to spend ages tidying my house if people coming over if i gave a fiddlers fart about what people thought of my house. If the bathroom is a bit dodgy i make sure that is clean and i might hoover, but im a bit of a slut when it comes to housework - i simply have better things to do with my time, like playing with my dd. Well ive always been lazy, i hate housework!

I just do lunch - out!

I do - I don't necessarily have to clean but I do like it tidy so will rush around loading the dishwasher, picking up toys, plumping up cushions. Actual dust etc doesn't bother me so much as long as the place looks tidy. I do feel it reflect badly on me but at the same time I know that's wanky, and actually I wouldn't give a flying fart if someone else's house that I visited was untidy.

It's the only time mine gets tidied!

no.

my house is always fairly tidy, certainly clean. i also have a nice big under the stairs cupboard where crap can be thrown at a moments notice