I suppose my question really is for messy people, and less so for the neat; I’d imagine if you’re normally tidy, cleaning for guests means putting those few things that were out of place in place, and you’re done.
The Question: When cleaning for company, do you purposely try to make your place neat, but not so neat that it looks like you tidied up specifically for their visit?
I’m a bit messy. Not complete dive messy, but I’m certainly not one of those “…and everything in its place” people. Those slotted silverware holders people have in their kitchens? Yeah, what the hell for? I throw my silverware in a drawer, and if I need, say, a fork, I will find aforementioned for by opening my drawer and, well, seeing it. I do not need it to be in a slot. But that is probably a poor example of how messy I am. My couch, perhaps for a better example, serves as a coat and sweater hanger. I put outerwear that I don’t use very often in my closet, but the four or five sweaters I rotate just about everyday stay draped over my sofa. On the way out, I grab the one I want, leave, then toss it back on when I get home. My shoes aren’t in pairs in the closet. They’re just sort of around the apartment, and I grab the ones I want and put them on.
But enough about that. What I’m asking is if other people do what I do when cleaning for guests.
My rationale (and this is almost certainly bullshit): By the time I’m at the point of inviting you to my place (which I almost never do), you know me well enough to know I’m disorganized. You’ve seen my desk, you’ve been in my car, the 2,000 lb file cabinet, you know I don’t safety pin my socks together when doing laundry. I think if anyone came to my place and saw an immaculate palace, they’d think it incongruous. So I straighten things out, because no one wants to see the box from the book shelf I bought five weeks ago in my living room, but making the place look pristine would be total bullshit.
I tidy up for visitors, of course. It shows that I value and respect that person.
But I have people in and out of my house many times a day, often unannounced. So I can’t really tidy up much for casual visitors. But when an out-of-town guest is coming or I’ve invited someone to dinner, then of course I make sure the house is neater than usual.
I tidy up for visitors - I was raised right. Our normal living conditions are messy but not dirty - there are always a dust bunny or two under the couch, but the kitchen and bathrooms are clean. Our ongoing struggle is against clutter and things piling up on flat surfaces - other than that our house is basically clean.
My poll was based on the assumption that you clean for guests. Perhaps my OP was unclear; I’m the queen of that. “What do you mean you don’t know what I meant? I might not have explained fully, but I know what I was thinking, so what is wrong with you?” What I mean is, when inviting over people who you already know, do you strive for that perfect “Look, my place is neat, but not obnoxiously neat” effect?
I just spent all day today cleaning and tidying up, because my brother and SIL are coming to spend the night in a couple days. Not only do I want them to be able to get to the guest bed without having to clear off random things, I want them to feel like they’ve gotten a mini vacation by coming here.
I try to follow the ABCD rule. Ashtrays, beds, clothing, dishes. Everything else is a sign of a lived in home.
However, more than respecting guests, I enjoy coming home to a clean apartment and while it never lasts very long I enjoy having EVERYTHING put away for those few days after a burst of cleaning.
I know exactly what you mean and yes, I do it. If it’s for a party or an event, everything is pristine. It’s like I’m trying to make it look like nobody lives their daily lives here.
But when it’s supposed to be a casual thing- hell yes, I clean. But I still want it to look like people live there. The textbooks I’m using get stacked neatly and put off to the side, not hidden away. Cluttered surfaces get organized, anything really junky is cleared off, and usually they get dusted. But I usually leave them so that there’s some empty space, but stuff still sitting there.
Part of it is intentional- to kind of make it look like I really didn’t clean at all and this is just how my house always looks. Part of it is just that I’m doing kind of a lazy cleaning job and putting some stuff away is too much of a hassle- nobody is going to care if they see my backpack by the door or the bird’s night blanket folded on a chair.
My SO was raised in Germany - does that give you a hint?
This is the guy who insists we pull out the refrigerator at least twice a year to vacuum behind it.
He insists on washing our windows, from the outside, four times a year - he does the inside about once a month on average.
He doesn’t settle for just dusting the baseboards in every room of the house - he repaints them about once a year.
Living in Las Vegas, we get visitors coming on an annual basis - and I always dread it. Not the visitors, but my SO kicking into “extra clean” mode when he knows company is coming to stay. By the time the visitor(s) arrive, they usually don’t notice, but we have that house clean enough to perform open heart surgery in any room, on the floor or furniture.
BTW, when I first met him, I found out he ironed his jeans, t-shirts and underwear! I have since convinced him that folding them neatly after removing them from the dryer is ample…but I still catch him eyeballing the ironing board every once in awhile.
I have about half a dozen baby blankets scattered around the house, on top of bookshelves, cabinets, and of course on top of the dryer. This is because the cats are going to sleep there ANYWAY, and the blankies catch the loose cat hair and we can throw them in the washer and dryer occasionally. If you had cats, your sweaters would be covered in cat hair.
Our place probably looks like that’s what we do, but it isn’t intentional. We clean the place up a bit but we’re pretty lazy about it. I’m trying to get our apartment really clean since I’m not working and hopefully that will become the norm.
I said no, because I go full bore balls out cleaning. I don’t tidy up a little. Then again I don’t get many visitors, so it’s easy to do.
The other extreme to that is I don’t even bother. So I guess no applies in both cases.
I have blankets and towels on the backs of the couches because one of my cats like to scratch them. It’s hilarious to see her try it, and see her expression go “WTF? It’s coming up in my paws!”
Yeah, this is what I do as well. Our place tends to be disorganized but not dirty, yet I do still go full out cleaning if I have enough notice that someone is coming over.
Depends on who’s coming, and for what. I keep the place pretty clean and uncluttered all the time, so my daughter’s friends coming over for girly tv night merits no more than my standard after work tidying. A friend or two of mine coming over gets a more thorough de-fuzzing of the place. Dinner for eight means I will make this place sparkle.
I picked “no” only because I clean up much more than just “tidy.” I try to make my house more or less spotless. Pristine. Except maybe my bedroom. Somehow, I never quite get around to that one.
I want my house to look perfect when I have guests. I don’t want them to think that I’m a slob. So total top to bottom cleaning.
Totally depends on occasion. Friends coming by to watch a game/hang out, I don’t bother cleaning anything. Friends coming for dinner, probably tidy up, but no full-out cleaning (they know what it normally looks like). My parents or my GF’s parents coming for a visit, we’ll go the whole nine yards.
I do this when my mom comes. I pick up the clutter, leaving a few items strategically strewn around (a few magazines/books on the coffee table, kids toys on the family room floor, etc.), then I do the actual cleaning…vacuum/mop, do an extra thorough bathroom cleaning, etc. When my folks arrive, I say something like, “sorry, mom, I didn’t have time to clean the place up.” I’m hoping she will think I keep it that neat all the time, but I’m not sure if I’m fooling her.
I don’t strive for it, but it’s what I end up with because about halfway through my extensive cleaning project I say “screw it” and decide to do “enough” instead of everything. And if people care that the place still has mail on the table and cat toys in the corner and I haven’t mopped the kitchen floor, they’ve never said so.
Of course, now that I’m trying to fancy the place up to put it on the market, “enough” won’t cut it, and it’s killing me. I’m cluttery! I have tables so I can put stuff on them!
Our normal living conditions are messy but not dirty - there are always a dust bunny or two under the couch, but the kitchen and bathrooms are clean. Our ongoing struggle is against clutter and things piling up on flat surfaces - other than that our house is basically clean.