So many times when I tell people that I enjoy hosting parties and having people over to my house, they immediately tell me why they don’t.
I don’t mind listening to the reasons behind their lack of desire to do so. It actually gives me insight into how to help even more.
One of the biggest issues people have is that they feel like they have to have a perfectly clean house before people come over.
I think I can help you in this area because I hear a lot that my house is always so clean, organized, or picked up. A party ready home is kind of a point of pride for me. But I’m here to dispel a few myths about that compliment.
My house is definitely not perfect and has its moments of mess. But, it’s also not that hard to always have a clean-ish house.
Today I hope to give you plenty of tips that will help you get on top of your house cleaning so that you can host a party at any time.
Plus, the beginning of the year is when everyone wants to get organized and start the year fresh.
So here are 10 simple ways to keep your house clean so you don’t have to rush around cleaning before people come over and it’s always party ready.
10 Simple Ways to Have a Party Ready Home
Get in the Right Mindset
The first thing you need to realize is that no one is paying attention to how clean your house is. Your party guests don’t care if there are a few dust bunnies or crumbs on your floor.
They will remember how you made them feel more than the cleanliness of your dining room table. Focus on making them feel welcome and get over the idea that they care about how organized, clean, or tidy your house is.
And while we’re at it, don’t let the first thing out of your mouth when someone comes over be “I’m so sorry, my house is so dirty” or “Disregard how messy my house is.” If you don’t bring it up, they probably aren’t noticing it.
Establish a Cleaning Schedule
Now that you’re in the right mindset, one way to stay on top of cleaning your house is to establish a cleaning schedule.
I credit my mom to instilling in me a cleaning schedule that I still use today. Growing up our chores were on certain days. We had to vacuum on Mondays and Thursdays, and clean bathrooms on Fridays. I still to this day clean my floors on Mondays, vacuum on Thursdays, and clean my bathrooms on Friday.
I also throw in dusting on Wednesdays and do a more deep clean of my kitchen on Tuesdays.
Having this schedule keeps me organized. If it’s not Monday, I’m not sweeping, and I definitely don’t clean toilets unless it’s Friday.
Figure out what schedule makes the most sense for you and your family. I also like spreading things out so I’m not overwhelmed cleaning the entire house in one day.
Use “Hiding” Places
One key to making it appear that your house is clean and tidy when people come over is using hiding places.
The dishwasher and oven are great places to toss dishes if you want your kitchen to be picked up.
Move unfolded laundry to a bedroom and close the door. Guests aren’t going to go into a room that’s closed, so toss everything in there and shut the door. Pick up done!
Train your Kids
Having kids (or pets) definitely adds an entire new layer to trying to keep your house picked up.
When it comes to kids, I try to train my kids to pick up anything when they’re done with it. Toys get put away right when they are done playing. They don’t get more things out until they pick up the thing they were just playing with.
Get your kids involved in the cleaning process and make it a game. Use a reward system if necessary to encourage things like putting laundry away, making their beds, and cleaning up the kitchen.
Key Cleaning Places
Any time I host a party I only focus my cleaning on a couple areas.
Because I host so much, I’ve figured out the main places where people congregate. And those are the only places I clean before having people over.
I always sweep floors. Do not mop. The floors will only get dirtier from the party so put off mopping until after the party. I clean the most used bathroom, for us that’s our main level half bath. And I clean the kitchen, or where ever the food will be.
People always hang out around the food so cleaning that area is necessary.
That’s it. I don’t clean from top to bottom. I hardly ever clean our upstairs before people come over with the exception of a quick vacuum. And I don’t feel the need to dust basically ever, haha!
Don’t Touch Something More Than Once
Another way I routinely keep things picked up around my house is a simple trick. I try to not touch something more than once.
If I need to put some papers away, I try not to move them from the dining table to the kitchen counter, then eventually to a filing cabinet. I just take them straight to the filing cabinet.
This trick is difficult to implement because your habit is to keep piling things. But I challenge you to give this a conscious try for a week and see if your house is more picked up and party ready. This trick also leads us into the next cleaning hack.
If it Takes Less Than a Minute Do it Now
Don’t put off cleaning or picking something up if it’s going to take you less than a minute to do it.
So many times we think things are going to take forever, so we put them off and put them off, when in reality if we just did them, it probably wouldn’t take that long and we wouldn’t have the mental burden of feeling like it’s still undone.
Case in point. I had been meaning to put up several 3M hooks inside a cabinet to hang the ridiculous amounts of keys that our English house has and I kept putting it off. I finally just started doing it one night while dinner was cooking and it literally took me less than a couple minutes. Now all of our keys (literally 6 sets!) are in one organized place.
Have Less Stuff
The best way to keep your house clean and organized? Don’t have a lot of stuff.
The minimalist movement is so popular. I don’t follow any one method other than I don’t like a lot of clutter so I don’t have a lot of things out. Less things out=less things to move around when cleaning.
I also try to only keep things we regularly use. If I haven’t used it in several months, it goes.
The Nester and her books (The Nesting Place & Cozy Minimalist Home) are great places to start with figuring out how to become more minimalist step by step while still appreciating having beautiful things in your home.
Fall in Love with your Trash/Recycling Can
One of my favorite things to do is throw things away.
I joke that my kids aren’t going to have any memories because I’m so quick to throw their school artwork, papers, broken toys, etc. away.
I just know that I have never regretted throwing something away. And I bet you won’t either. It’s so liberating to just get rid of stuff. Go throw something away and don’t look back!
Last Minute Quick Cleaning Guide
If you still feel like you do need to clean up before people are coming over, I wrote a quick cleaning guide post a while ago.
It includes a lot of the things from this post. But also a break down of how long each cleaning step should take to have your main floor cleaned in about 5 minutes. I promise it’s something you can do!
Now You Have a Clean House Ready for a Party!
If you regularly follow these ideas you’ll have a pretty clean house most of the time that’s ready for a party.
Was this list helpful? Do you do any of the things on the list to help keep your house clean and organized? Do you have any other tips I didn’t touch on? Share them with us in the comments!
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