Company coming Saturday-Help me get ready!

[MisaGoat]

I have company coming on Saturday to stay overnight plus we are having my son's birthday party here on Sunday so I need to get the house ready.

I keep getting sidetracked or distracted. So help me out and list things I should do before they get here! The house is reasonably clean. I am trying to clear off our clutter hot spots and make the place ready for company.

Shoot! I'll check them off as I get tasks done.

[dbsam]

I tend to get distracted if I try cleaning too far in advance; knowing I’ll be doing it again. I would concentrate on areas that won’t get re-messed prior to their arrival…

Make up the guest bed and clean/stock the guest bathroom – and then keep it off limits from the family
Make sure all laundry is caught up
Clean the fridge and anything else in the kitchen needing cleaning
Stock the kitchen with items needed for your guests and the party
Organize the playroom
Have all party items ready (including serving bowls, etc.)
Run all errands so you have Friday free to clean and prepare
Then, the night prior to their arrival I would vacuum, dust, wash floors and bathrooms, etc.

We tend to stay up all night the night prior to company cleaning like nuts. Cleaning areas that haven't been touched in a while (like ceiling fans) or areas they will never see. My husband is the same and we feed on each other thinking more cleaning is needed. So...don't do what we do because you will be exhausted when they arrive.

[swd12422]

First I would declutter all the common areas. Then give everything a good cleaning, so on Friday night you can do a quick wipe-down and be done. You'll have to work to maintain the decluttered areas between now and then, but it's less stressful to just see a sock and put it away than to wait and have to collect random shoes, socks and toys from all over. If your company is staying over, get the linens into the wash ASAP and then make up the beds when the sheets come out of the dryer, instead of folding them and putting them away first. If you can get all this done today and tomorrow, you'll have Friday and Saturday to do party errands and last-minute cleanups. Good luck!

[MisaGoat]

dbsam-you must have a much larger house! Playroom? Guest bathroom? Guest bed? (we have a futon and an old mattress-not really old we were using it last month)

The downstairs is: living room, dining room, kitchen and half bath.

The upstairs is: our bedroom, my son's bedroom and the full bath.

Our guests will be staying in my son's room and/or the living room. I don't know if we can fit both the futon open and the extra mattress in his room, if not the futon is in his room and the mattress will be in the living room. He has the larger bedroom upstairs, it used to be two small bedrooms at some point.

Today I have:
thoroughly vacuumed the first floor
Dusted and decluttered the living room
Scrubbed the stove top and kitchen sink
Put away extra stuff in the bathroom
Filed paperwork
put away one load of laundry/washed another

For the party:
Ordered the cake
snacks and beverages
party cups/plates/favors

Still need to do for the party:
Pinata
yard work (my husband is doing this on Friday)
confirm guests

[MisaGoat]

Originally Posted by swd12422

First I would declutter all the common areas. Then give everything a good cleaning, so on Friday night you can do a quick wipe-down and be done. You'll have to work to maintain the decluttered areas between now and then, but it's less stressful to just see a sock and put it away than to wait and have to collect random shoes, socks and toys from all over. If your company is staying over, get the linens into the wash ASAP and then make up the beds when the sheets come out of the dryer, instead of folding them and putting them away first. If you can get all this done today and tomorrow, you'll have Friday and Saturday to do party errands and last-minute cleanups. Good luck!

I am trying to do a good deep clean between today and tomorrow. I have to get the upstairs done tomorrow because we'll have someone from verizon in our bedroom Friday morning. I should definitely locate all the extra pillows and linens and make sure they smell fresh. I always put them away clean but they sometimes smell stale if they haven't been used in a while.

I do need to clean out the fridge! I don't want to tell guests they can't eat something or that it is stale!

The company is my husband's cousin, her husband, their 5 year old son and 2 year old daughter. This is the first time they've ever been to any of our places. We usually go visit them but now we have a house not a tiny apartment so we can actually have more company. My son's 4th birthday party is Sunday. Then on Monday my FIL and his wife are coming by on their way to VA from NY.

[ChristyMarie]

Realize that as soon as your guests arrive it isn't even going to look like you cleaned.

I do normal cleaning with guests.* Make sure the linens are fresh and out. Decorate as you will for the party.

Do a quick touchup of floors/bath/kitchen the day before they arrive.

Don't make yourself crazy - try to relax and enjoy your guests.

*But my house is decluttered. If yours isn't, closets and bathroom vanities are awesome hiding places for crap but the garage is even better. You can sort through it and declutter after they leave.

[swd12422]

Originally Posted by ChristyMarie

...

*But my house is decluttered. If yours isn't, closets and bathroom vanities are awesome hiding places for crap but the garage is even better. You can sort through it and declutter after they leave.

This! My sister saves shopping bags and sweeps everything (mail, bills, dog toys, laundry...) into them when company's coming on short notice and tosses the bags in to the walk-in closet in her bedroom. Then she can get everything clean, and once everyone leaves, she tackles the bags one by one. Sometimes.

[busymama77]

Originally Posted by dbsam

I tend to get distracted if I try cleaning too far in advance; knowing I’ll be doing it again. I would concentrate on areas that won’t get re-messed prior to their arrival…

Make up the guest bed and clean/stock the guest bathroom – and then keep it off limits from the family
Make sure all laundry is caught up
Clean the fridge and anything else in the kitchen needing cleaning
Stock the kitchen with items needed for your guests and the party
Organize the playroom
Have all party items ready (including serving bowls, etc.)
Run all errands so you have Friday free to clean and prepare
Then, the night prior to their arrival I would vacuum, dust, wash floors and bathrooms, etc.

We tend to stay up all night the night prior to company cleaning like nuts. Cleaning areas that haven't been touched in a while (like ceiling fans) or areas they will never see. My husband is the same and we feed on each other thinking more cleaning is needed. So...don't do what we do because you will be exhausted when they arrive.

I'm the same way and that's just with local family coming over the next day. I usually do most of my major cleaning on Friday night's - after DS1 is in bed and DS2 is watching a show or asleep.

I clean:
The bathrooms (2 1/2)
Swiffer/dust all furniture (upstairs and downstairs)
fold laundry/do a small load
unload/load the dishwasher
clean out the fridge

I wait to do vaccum and clean the wood floors in the morning so that they are nice and fresh.

Heck, this has basically become my routine weekly just so that I'm not spending most of my Saturday cleaning!!

[MisaGoat]

Ok, I am almost done.

The downstairs is in great shape, I just vacuumed the whole downstairs again and washed the dining room floor (I did the living room and kitchen the other day).

Upstairs I need to pick up my son's room-saving this for last because it is going to have toys pulled out again within minutes of picking everything up. Wash the bathroom floor and freshen everything up. I scrubbed the tub yesterday. I am going to throw the towels in the wash after we shower in the morning.

Our guests aren't coming until the afternoon so I have time to do stuff in the morning.

I am beat though, I bought the last of the party stuff today. Pinata, stuff to put inside, goodies and more groceries. I think I may make a quick run to the grocery tomorrow for a few things but that should be it.

My husband was awesome today and did a bunch of yard work so it is ready for the party. He trimmed the ivy and bushes, weeded and trimmed the edges of the yard/driveway. Two weeks ago he leveled and seeded the backyard so we have pretty grass now. (The yard was a pretty disaster, overgrown, a pond with a crack, a falling over raised bed that didn't get enough light, tons of rocks, overgrown bushes flowers, huge poison sumac bushes and poison ivy)

I am going to wrap some presents and veg for the rest of tonight.

--our house is fairly decluttered, definitely still working on it and we do have a bunch of stuff stashed in the basement. We don't have medicine cabinets or vanities (although we are planning on putting one in upstairs) and only 4 closets for the whole house and they are all on the small side.

I am really excited that the house is looking so good, I need a deadline to get things done!

[ChristyMarie]

Originally Posted by MisaGoat

I am really excited that the house is looking so good, I need a deadline to get things done!

Good for you! I'm convinced you need a party scheduled every other month to keep the house and clutter in check.

[MisaGoat]

Everyone left today and we had a great, busy weekend.

The house was so thoroughly cleaned that it should be easy to maintain. We both were so happy to have a clean, clear house and want to keep it that way. I also really liked having overnight guests and a party so I think we will try to have people over more often. Which makes for more deadlines to get projects/cleaning done.

There were only a few things I noticed we need or need to do-

Hand towels-I don't have any nor do I have towel holders for hand towels in either bathroom. Downstairs I dry my hands on the kitchen towel and upstairs on my bath towel.

We need more glasses when we have company and more place mats. We have six pint glasses, six juice cups and six place mats.

I should finish putting things away and take pictures now that the house is pretty much together. I did a minimal amount of stashing stuff at the last minute.

I feel like there were other things I wanted to do/get but I can't remember now.