My Strategy for Keeping the House “Ready For Company”

A few weeks ago I talked about my desire to be “that woman” who has a house that’s always ready for company.  If you read that post, you’ll remember that my motivation for this is the desire to treat my family as well (even better) than I’d treat an honored guest. Working a full time job and driving an hour commute round trip each day doesn’t leave me tons of time to clean the house during the week. I thought I’d share 3 simple things I do to keep my house in “ready for company” shape during the week.

1. Keep the kitchen clean

• Clean as you go. As I’m fixing supper, I often fill the sink or a small bowl (that I’ve dirtied in the cooking process) with soapy water. As I’m waiting on water to boil, bread to toast, etc., I wash a few prep dishes here and there. The kitchen isn’t spotless when we sit down to eat, but it helps to have a good start on the cleanup.

• Finish cleaning immediately. I get up as soon as supper is finished and put the dishes in the dishwasher, wash the pans and wipe down the counter tops/microwave/stove area. If I don’t do it right away, I get comfy on the couch and quickly lose my desire to do any work!

2. Schedule 10 minute de-clutter/clean-up sessions. I have two of these in my day:

5:30 PM – as soon as I get home from work, I usually do some or all of these things:

• empty litter box
• sweep kitchen floor
• put dirty dishes in the sink
• wipe counter tops
• put away any stray items in the kitchen

10:00 PM – right before I go to bed:

• empty litter box
• straighten living room (fix sofa pillows, fold blankets on the couch)
• put away stray items in the kitchen or living room

I have found that these two daily de-cluttering and quick clean-up sessions make a huge difference in the state of my house!

3. Make chores part of your daily habits. Here are two examples from my home:

• My husband makes the bed every day. That alone makes a huge difference in the look of the room!

• After I get out of the shower in the morning, I take a lysol wipe and run it over the sink basin, handles and counter. Then I take the other side of the rag and wipe down the top of the toilet seat (it gets covered in hairspray every day. ahem) and finish by lifting the toilet seat and wiping the bottom level (whatever that’s called…). It’s so nice to get ready for the day in a sparkling clean bathroom, and it takes less than a minute to get it that way.

Do you have any tips for keeping your house “ready for company?” I’d love to hear them!

And there’s more! I’m co-hosting a link-up today with two lovely bloggers! There’s no theme to this link-up, it’s just a little celebration of the coming weekend. I’d love for you to link up with us below. 

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…