Guest ready in how long?? - Page 2

[KaliShanti]

About 1-2 hours. It's about 20 minutes away from being "friend" ready.

[ABand3]

I voted 6-12 hrs, thinking it was an overnight guest.

A dinner guest who would not go upstairs? 1-3 hours

[nolansmummy]

I put 6-12, if i was doing it all myself while the kids were home. Because they'd be following behind me making messes, so it would take twice as long.
If dh was home to keep the kids occupied, probably 3 hours. The only person i clean like that for is MIL, she is super critical.

[xekomaya]

I put 1 hour since I've been nesting like crazy

Ordinarily, I if I had to clean every room in the house, not just the main space, it could be 6 hours.
We're just about always "friend" ready in 15 minutes though

[velochic]

0 - they could drop in anytime. Overnight guests, too.

[DreamsInDigital]

15 minutes or less.

Before I got into a good cleaning habit, probably 2-3 days of backbreaking, hardcore cleaning to be guest ready.

[Zach'smom]

About 15-30 minutes to be important guest ready. It depened on how many toys, craft projests, etc have migrated through the house.

Always friend ready.

I'd need about 24 hours to be overnight guest ready.
I've been doing a lot of deep cleaning around the house this week. My mother and father-in-law, sister-in-law and grandmother-in-law are coming for the weekend. I need time to get the guest room ready and turn the playroom and our recroom into guest bedrooms!

[GooeyRN]

If someone was able to take care of the kids while I cleaned, I would need less than an hour. With no one to watch the kids,I would need one day.

[mommaof3boz]

velochic 0 - they could drop in anytime. Overnight guests, too

OK now that is of interest. Is the time 0 because the house is always neat and clean or because you simply would say to heck with it I'm not cleaning this place? LOL. If its the first would you please care to show pics to the rest of us for inspiration?

[sunnysandiegan]

I answered this earlier today and I guess it didn't take. Hmmm...

Anyway, here's the scoop:

Friends, family, and neighbors can drop by anytime. Our home is fairly neat, or we're working on home improvement projects, and I am just not bothered by anyone seeing our house.

For a dinner party, the house would be ready in less than 30 minutes. I'd just need to do a 5-10 minute sweep of the downstairs from the front door to the backyard. I may pull some weeds if we'll be eating during daylight or sitting outside. (View from table is backyard.) I'd also do a quick cleaning of the powder room and I'd sweep the front walk and doors.

For overnight guests, the biggest challenge would be figuring out where to put them and rearranging our rooms and routines to accommodate this decision. We have several options and utilize them according to what type of guests (kids or adults, family or friends, how many, etc), but we don't have a specific guest room. In addition to the above-mentioned house-specific tasks, I'd do a deep cleaning of DD's bathroom since that doubles as our guest bathroom and I'd dust and vacuum the whole house top to bottom. (I don't typically do this BEFORE a dinner party. I wait until AFTER.) I dust and vacuum regularly anyway, but not every single square inch every single week...the whole house gets done in a given month and is very livable. I typically lay down wherever our guests will be sleeping and add some decorator touches in their line of sight. This whole process could take as little as 30 minutes (kids can sleep in our playroom or one adult can sleep in DD's bed and she'd sleep in a sleeping bag on her floor or ours, depending on who the guest is) or as long as whenever DH had time to move a bed downstairs or help me move furniture in DD's bedroom to accommodate her trundle being out and up across the room from her regular bed. An air mattress could be blown up for a short stay for younger adults (not elderly family members, like we typically have). The cleaning is the least of it for overnight guests! LOL

Under most conditions, the room that would take up the most time is our office. We each have a desk in there and this room sees a lot of family activities. Straightening up this room is always last in my priorities. LOL I don't like closed doors, so I rarely employ that method. I will when young children visit, though, for safety reasons since we no longer have baby gates. (DD is 7.)

In any case, I could be ready for a VIP in less than an hour under most conditions. Overnight would be tricky depending on if DH was around to help with furniture moving, but the rest would be ready.

[velochic]

Originally Posted by mommaof3boz

OK now that is of interest. Is the time 0 because the house is always neat and clean or because you simply would say to heck with it I'm not cleaning this place? LOL. If its the first would you please care to show pics to the rest of us for inspiration?

It's always neat and clean. I've posted pix before, but here are some again. They're old pictures, but nothing has really changed in the house. We're just a naturally tidy family. Even dd is good about cleaning up her messes when she if finished playing with something.

[Knittin' in the Shade]

less than an hour, for either dinner or overnight guests. I keep the house pretty darned tidy on a regular basis, so it would just be a matter of running the vac and sweeping up a bit if it hadn't already been done that day; and then for overnight guests, changing the sheets on the guest bed.

[Justmee]

I said 1 - 3, but it would be closer to 3, and I am assuming ideal working conditions (ie: I could just work because the baby was sleeping, the kids were out, and I didn't have work to do from my WAHM job).

[newbymom05]

I put 1 hr or less but that's assuming my DH were home to help. If not, 1-2 since I'd have to mop/vacuum and that always takes more time than I think it will.

Even at the height of cleanliness, no one would be allowed in the spare room/office, tho'.

[texmati]

I'm amazed to say it, but about an hour. (for it to be really nice) I admit though, that I have done it in 15, when really panicked. That did include minor stashing (ie, throwing dirty table cloth in hall closet.)

gottaknit... I *love* flylady!!!

[thewaggonerfamily]

:A month? Maybe more?

[bwylde]

lol, I posted thinking overnight guests too. Close people I don't care if they see how bad it is. An acquaintance or casual friend would warrant a couple hours of cleaning, a very important guest or someone who intimidates me since they're perfect housekeepers would be a few hours and having some bedroom doors closed in case they have to go upstairs to the washroom

[~Megan~]

We have one of those terrible, IMO, open floor plans. So I'd have to clean everything to make it presentable. And worse than that is the tiny apartment with no room aspect.

[LionTigerBear]

On a good day, 15-30 minutes, on a bad day (somebody sick, very busy, or whatever) more like an hour.

P.S. We have a pretty small apartment, that makes it all much quicker to whip into shape.

[eurobin]

I voted 1-3 hours. I'd be ready for a good friend in 15 minutes though. It's little things, like clean dishes in the dish drainer or art projects out that would take a little more time. Plus, I always make sure to empty the trash and other stuff like that if anyone "important" is coming by.