Preparing Your Home for Holiday Travelers

During the holiday season, the spirit of togetherness comes over us. People from far and wide travel to celebrate the holidays with their loved ones.

Sometimes, those travelers ask to stay in your home. You’re enthused about it...but the question also makes you a little nervous. You worry your guests will never think your home is up to par.

Well, worry no more! These tips will help you clean up your home for your overnight guests, so you can be sure they will feel safe and comfortable during their visit. 

Don’t Stress Yourself Out

There’s some good news here: your guests won’t expect your home to look immaculate. It’s a home; expecting it not to look lived in would be irrational.

Your guests may not be in your home long enough to look around, so it’s okay to clean for the length of their visit. Tidy their bedroom and bathroom if they are staying overnight, and clean more intensively and in more shared areas if they’re staying longer.

Your guests — no matter how strong your bond is — should limit their visit to three or four days; it’s poor form to make long visits, according to etiquette rules. However, it’s not always possible for your guests to keep their visits short. In that case, tell them to let you know weeks before they arrive at your home, so you won’t have to scramble to get your home together.

And don’t wait until the last minute to clean up!

Keep Everyone In The Loop

I mean everyone who needs to know about the stay.Start a WhatsApp chat group for communication between your household, the guests, and yourself if you have to. You all should be completely forthcoming about their visit — i.e., when they'll be at your home, how long they’re planning to stay, how often they plan to be in your home when they get there, or if they have any allergies.

Your goal is to make their stay as pleasurable as possible without overworking yourself. You may have to involve other members of your household. Either way, you don’t want your guests to have an unpleasant experience because someone didn’t have the information they needed. That reflects badly on you.

Focus On Where They’ll Be The Most

Whether you’re cleaning for your guests’ long visit or just tidying for their overnight stay, focus more on the communal areas (like the living area, kitchen, and all bathrooms). Dust and clean every surface, and vacuum or mop the floors.

Pay special attention to the guest bedroom and private guest bathroom. Your guests are sure to spend time in those rooms, no matter how long they plan to be in your home. Ensure there is nothing lying around, and make sure the linens on the bed are clean. Empty the guest closet or wardrobe, so your guests can have somewhere to put their clothes.

Clean the toilet in the guest bathroom. Even though you don’t use it often, the water sitting in the toilet bowl can leave dirty water rings (caused by mineral buildup from hard water). If your guests are staying with you for longer than one night, leave space on the bathroom counter for their toiletries.

Help Them Get What They Need

At some point, your guests may look for fresh linens or toiletries. You may be holiday shopping, or doing work, or otherwise occupied. You won’t be able to cater to their every need without inconveniencing yourself, so make sure they can get the fresh linens and other things they need.

Keep the linens near the guest room or in the guest dresser/closet and be sure to let them know. They may need to buy things, so tell them what stores or restaurants are nearby.

Remember The Little Tasks

There are some small actions you can take to make your guests’ visit comfortable for them and you.

Do the laundry before your guest comes so you won’t run low on fresh linens for them. Don’t forget to wash your washable shower curtain, tablecloth, and bathroom rugs. If none of those are washable, wipe them down with water and white vinegar and let them dry.

Take out the trash in shared spaces (or in the guest bedroom/bathroom) and clean out your refrigerator! The grime they produce is hazardous to your household and guests’ health, but also spoiled food and trash...stink. Clean the trash cans inside and out to completely get rid of lingering funk.

Your guests will have germs from the outside on them, so it’s important to sanitize the areas they’ll touch often (like doorknobs and light switches).

The greatest part of the holiday season is seeing the friends and family you don’t get to see the other seasons of the year. You want them to enjoy their visit to your home, and more so, you want them to know you appreciate them and their time. You don’t always have time to devote to your guests, and that’s unfortunate. If you contact Andy’s Quality Cleaning, we can do the cleaning for you. You’d be able to put your focus where it should be: making beautiful memories with your guests.