Have you ever had one of those moments when your house is a mess, you haven’t had a chance to clean up but then suddenly you get a call to say you have visitors coming over soon. Uh oh! There isn’t time to do a complete cleanup, so unless you are one of those totally organised people who stick to a cleaning schedule week in and week out, chances are your house needs a bit of guest prep.
Lucky there are ways to create a guest-ready house on short notice with these speed cleaning tips.

TIDY KITCHEN
Put dishes in the dishwasher or wash up. Wipe over benches. Put away appliances that don’t belong on the benches. A guest ready house starts with a clean kitchen.
SURFACE CLUTTER
The main places in many homes that accumulate surface clutter are the kitchen bench and the dining table. Clean the clutter from these spaces if you need to, and if you are really short on time, throw them in your washing basket and hide the basket in the bedroom until your guests have gone home.
VACUUM
One of the first things most of us notice when entering someone’s house is a messy floor. Unless you are in the routine of vacuuming often anyway, or you have a robot vacuum to save you time on cleaning, then a quick vacuum in the areas your guests will be is a must.
Kids, pets and general household traffic can make floors untidy very quickly so if you have the time, a quick run over with the vacuum cleaner should be high on your speed cleaning list.
THROW ON A CLEAN TABLE CLOTH
If you are likely to entertain at your table, indoor or outdoor, a fresh table cloth can give the appearance of a clean home. This also takes all of 30 seconds to do so it’s a great quick tip to get the house looking well kept.
PICK UP EXTRA CLUTTER
If there is time, put away any really obvious clutter such as kids toys or the messy shoe pile at the front door to give the place a neater look overall. Again, the washing basket may come in handy yet again for a quick clutter fix.
This is a good chance to get the rest of the family involved too. Make it a bit of fun and see who can clear their clutter spot the quickest.
Don’t forget, if you have too much clutter, you can always join the Simplify My Life declutter challenges – after you guests go home!
FRAGRANCE
And the final quick tip is to do something that will leave your house smelling great. Even when things are a mess, having fabulous smells can really improve the vibe. Light a candle, spray some air freshener. Anything to give your house a pleasant smell is a good option.
If you are really super at speed cleaning, a batch of cookies would be even more impressive, baking away while you clean.
Your guests will think they walked into somewhere pretty special, and with any luck, any lingering mess will be forgotten anyway.
These Speed cleaning tips aren’t a solution to a clean house, but they give a quick fix to avoid giving your friends and family a heart attack when they walk into the mess it potentially was beforehand. Like most things, the best solution is prevention… but we’re human and humans can be messy creatures!

Have you been forgetting to clean these things in your home? Take your deep cleaning to the next level and have a house that is spotless from top to bottom!
What is the first thing you do when unexpected guests are on their way?
Fukuda
Thursday 27th of August 2015
Great tips! This is very timely since I'm going to receive a visitor this coming week and because of my busy schedule, I don't have much time to clean my entire house. Thanks for sharing these tips.
Holly
Friday 28th of August 2015
So glad I could help. It can be hard when things are already hectic but hitting those really visible spots will make it look way tidier overall ;) enjoy your visitor.
Bec Senyard
Thursday 20th of August 2015
Great tips Holly. I wish my house stayed clean all the time!
Holly
Friday 21st of August 2015
So do I Bec. I'm shocking but working hard on reforming my ways. Too much fun stuff to do instead of cleaning lol
Erin
Thursday 20th of August 2015
First thing? - Panic! Jokin, actually I have little shame these days, sometimes they have to take me in all my messy glory.
Holly
Friday 21st of August 2015
Haha same. My parents are used to it so they don't get the special treatment... Or they don't give me enough notice anyway, if any!
Nicole @ The Builder's Wife
Thursday 20th of August 2015
Excellent tips! We keep a tidy house, but the first thing to slip, that I always fix, is the shoes at the front door.We have a basket at the door to put the shoes in, but the kids never seem to get that far, so a quick clean out there and a little blow with the blower/vacc, is such to impress from the minute they walk through the gate. Thank you for linking up with us on our very first #HIT, we hope to see you again soon. xxx
Holly
Friday 21st of August 2015
Wow I don't even think so far as to worrying about outside lol I'm too busy clearing the indoor clutter. That is the ultimate guest prep! Thanks for hosting x
Mrs Tubbs
Tuesday 11th of August 2015
Great tips! We often get unexpected visitors so my main tip is to try and keep the place vaguely clean so there isn't much to do at the last minute. I always clean the loo before visitors come. If the loo is clean, people tend to assume the rest of the house is okay.
Holly
Saturday 15th of August 2015
Yes, the loo is always one of the first things I do too. I forgot to add that. Mostly because I don't use the main one since we have our ensuite one but hubby does... And men seem immune to cleaning toilets lol mine is, anyway!