I usually do a little bit of cleaning each day the week leading up to one of our dinner parties so I'm not running around like a crazy person the night before or day of. There are certain things that I want completely finished by the day before and some things that need to wait until the morning of. If I were a perfect human I would follow my cleaning list that I made, but sometimes life happens and we just can't get to everything like we would love to all the time. Making sure our house is clean and tidy when guests come over is a big deal to us. So below I have listed what I make sure is 100% done before our guests arrive. Matthew is always so great to help me get everything done in a timely manner. Teamwork gets the job done quicker! Here is a look at our usual checklist...
Deep clean bathrooms
- Clean mirrors with Windex
- Wipe down counters with Lysol wipes
- Wipe down shower with disinfecting spray (with bleach.) I usually use something similar to this
- Vacuum the floors and bath mats
- Clean the toilet thoroughly
- Empty trashcans and put new bag in
- Make sure all guest towels are clean and folded
- Make sure to add air freshener.
Clean guest bedrooms
- Vacuum the floors
- Mop if needed
- Dust all furniture
- Make sure there are fresh sheets on the bed
- Make sure there is an extra blanket on each bed
- Make sure each guest bedroom has an air freshener in it
Downstairs
- Dust all of the downstairs area (living room, study, dining room)
- Vacuum/mop all of the downstairs area
- Pick up/straighten up anything that needs it (fluff pillows, fold any blankets, put up any shoes)
- Add air freshener in designated areas (entry way, hall way, kitchen, study, & dining room)
Kitchen
- Sweep/mop floors
- Wipe down appliances
- Clean counter tops
- Clean microwave
- Clean our refrigerator
- Get out any dishes that I will need for our meal
- Make sure dishwasher is empty the morning of our dinner party
- Make sure trash it empty on the morning of dinner party
That looks like a lot, but really it's not at all. We usually try our best to clean our whole house every week, but like I said, sometimes life happens and things just come up. Or in these cases, when we have a dinner party coming up I am usually working on some type of decoration or planning for it that I don't get to stick to my usual cleaning schedule so I make up for it another night.
If you just break it up over the week of your dinner party then you should be good! So here is a tentative schedule at what the week of our dinner party would look like for me, cleaning wise:
Monday night : Clean bathrooms & wash towels
Tuesday night : Clean guest bedrooms
Wednesday night : We have church on Wednesday nights so I usually don't do too much, I might fold the towels and/or start washing the guest sheets, if not that gets rolled over to Thursday night.
Thursday night : Wash guest sheets and put back on the beds, Clean downstairs areas.
Friday night : Clean kitchen, make sure everything else is done and then add air fresheners to each guest bedroom and designated area. Friday night I will also do as much food prep as I can Wash/cut/mix anything that needs it. Sometimes I can go on and make a dish and then put it in the refrigerator until Saturday when it needs to be thrown in the oven a couple of hours before our guests arrive.
Saturday morning : Clean kitchen after I have all or most of food prepped/ready. Make sure dishwasher and trash are emptied. Start setting up anything that needs to be up for our dinner party (printables added to frames, any decorations, washi tape put on plastic cups, etc.)
So there is our usual week before a dinner party, We usually have our dinner parties on Saturday afternoons. Occasionally a few friends will come over on Friday night and stay the whole weekend. We love it and it doesn't phase my schedule much at all! Like I said, we love having people over and get excited planning for it! Just like in this post, planning ahead is always a game changer for me. If I don't plan ahead and make to-do lists then things won't get done in a timely manner.
To see all posts in this series so far, go here.
My mom engrained having a freshly cleaned house when guests come - just shows you put in a little extra effort!
ReplyDeleteI'm loving all your posts in this series! A clean house for guests is super important to me, even if I normally procrastinate. haha You're such a good hostess!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, I really appreciate that! I think having a clean house makes everyone feel better lol especially me!!
DeleteI love cleaning lists :) My OCD self loves anything in a list! I love having a fresh house for guests, it makes me much happier having people over when I know our house is clean!
ReplyDeleteKelsey
www.thepeacockroost.com
I need to print a cleaning list like this and spend like ONCE a month doing all of it! Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteGreat list/tips! I like starting a few days early and hitting the guest bathroom is easy since we don't have kids in there now lol I feel like I always have to wait until the day of to do the floors and kitchen. Evening parties are the best since you have all day to get ready lol
ReplyDelete