- 1). Gather the trash. The worst offender when company is on its way is rubbish. Take garbage bags around the house and gather anything that could and should be thrown away, including empty takeout boxes or cardboard coffee cups, napkins, food wrappers and any other refuse. Empty the bathroom and kitchen garbages and take your bags of trash outside.
- 2). Perform a clothes and linen sweep. Take a laundry container around the house in your second sweep. Stuff any clothes lying around into your laundry hamper or basket. Unless you will need an item when company is over, throw both dirty and clean linens and clothes into the container. The purpose is to get clothing and linens off floors, doors and couches and into one consolidated place to deal with later.
- 3). Move dishware to the kitchen. Make a third sweep of the house to gather any misplaced cups, dishes or utensils that have migrated into other rooms. Move them all into the kitchen sink, add liquid dish soap, run a little water and let them soak. Even if you don't have time to wash them, it will look create a clean look.
- 4). Hit the floor running. Remove visible litter from the floor by hand. Make a fourth quick sweep of your house as you keep an eye out for large bits of paper, dust bunnies and the like on the floors. Simply grab up any offending litter and place it in a trash bag. Once you have removed the larger problems, run a vacuum quickly through each room with carpeted floors. Without worrying about properly vacuuming, simply make three passes across each common room to create vacuum marks.
- 5). Break out the multi-purpose cleaner. Starting with the kitchen, spray the cleaner on your counters and on any noticeable spills on the kitchen floor and wipe up with paper towels. Continue this method on any large surfaces, such as the kitchen or dining room table, coffee table, bathroom sink or toilet lid.
- 6). Straighten your sundries. Without worrying about truly organizing, create neat piles around your house. It doesn't even matter if you are mixing books with school projects and random household objects. Simply stack things as best as you can on the surfaces they are already resting on. Remove any out-of-place items and put them in closets or drawers to organize later.
- 7). Create a clean scent. Take a paper towel and put it over the opening of the pine-scented floor cleaner and turn the bottle upside down. Quickly wipe portions of your kitchen and bathroom floors with the cleaner, aiming not to clean, but to create a clean scent. Move through the house at a fast pace, spraying air freshener as you go. This will create the scent of a freshly cleaned house for anyone who enters.
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