Well at least that has made me tidy up!

I'm the same if visitors are due. OH is very messy, large border collie is very hairy so he is messy too, so I'm on a losing battle re tidyness. I'm don't mind both OH and dog are poorly, l am grateful too have them so l ignore the mess they make.
I think it's more important to spend time with loved ones, including my precious Finn, than worry about cleaning.

I’m certainly no slave to housework but I shall be having a bit of a blitz soon, because guests are coming to stay for a few days. For various historic reasons they aren’t people I particularly like or want to see - relatives I hardly know who’ve more or less invited themselves - but somehow that’s all the more reason for getting going with the vacuum and Mr Muscle.
(Must make sure I have my glasses on, to see the dust. ?)

My lovely cleaner twisted her knee 3 weeks ago, just as I started doing some major outside painting/decorating as we have scafold up for a new roof! So apart from hoovering the kitchen and doing surfaces, not done any cleaning since...

Ah well, no visitors for now! She is starting again next Friday and roof and my hard work will finish week beginning 25th. Then a good week to tidy up and clean before a very well earned holiday to Croatia, and then sort of 'back to normal' until new rescue doggie arrives.

Holidays galvanise me into action, I can’t go away happily for even a few days unless all the washing is up to date, the beds are changed, and the house is up to scratch. I don’t know why, except I’m always sad to end a holiday so it’s nice to not have much to do when I get home.

I don’t Spring or Autumn clean. Kitchen and bathroom are cleaned after every use, the rest is given a dust and hoover once a week, there’s only two of us, no pets.
When we have visitors they’re here to see us I hope, not to inspect the house, they always come back, so it can’t be that bad ?

My husband always says that Jaxjacky. They are here to see us not the house, don't worry. I don't now.
Congratulations Fleurpepper on your imminent new arrival. I hope it all goes well. Enjoy your holiday.

I can honestly say some rooms in my house have not a complete blitz for…. Years! DH does not let me touch his study, though I push the Shark in as far as it will go from time to time. He used to clear his desk when his mother came, but since she died it has not been done. In the bedroom we can no longer move the furniture so only the most accessible areas get cleaned.

An old friend I hadn't seen for over 30 years was coming to visit me a few weeks ago. I went round the whole place like a wild thing, and also tidied the garden up!
Luckily I keep the place tidy-ish most of the time and blitz each room every 3 months or so.
I have to wait 30 minutes each morning after taking tablets before I can have my breakfast. I do some cleaning then and it's surprising what gets done in half an hour so I feel on top of things.

I'm surprised by the number of people that have a cleaner! Personally I wouldn't want anyone else rooting about in my home. Even though there's only myself and hubby at home, I still work and he's messy. I do one chore every day after work. I either do the ironing, change a bed, hoover etc. This way I can keep things down. I do nothing at all on a Saturday.

I also do a big clean at holiday time, though my daughter in law has been known to do a seriously big clean while I’m gone.

It was disconcerting when Alexa asked me if I would like her to give me some cleaning tips.

With a mother who worked full time in the days when everyone else’s mother was at home I yearned for a clean and tidy home, whilst my mother much preferred a cigarette and the Telegraph crossword. I think therefore that I did my life’s worth of housework by the time I was 16 and have had a cleaner for 55 of my 60 married years. My present friend and helper has been with us for 26 years and means reasonably high domestic standards. She was wonderful with DH during his last illness and knows me better than I know myself. My trouble is that I value order and cleanliness, just don’t enjoy the effort involved.

Good question there, Maw! I'm afraid my answer is nothing. Since Covid I have become lazier and lazier. Yes, if someone is coming I do a quick flick round and make sure the downstairs loo is clean-to-visitor-standard. I do keep the used bit of the house up to scratch really anyway. But oh dear! The paperwork!! I need someone up there to say "Right. In four weeks' time I'm coming to get you, so get that lot sorted! Oh and make a will!!"

We have the perfect strategy, if you have the space it works like a dream. We have three reception rooms; a living room, dining room and formal sitting room. The formal sitting room and family bathroom are ALWAYS clean and tidy, so if we have unexpected visitors we go into the formal sitting room and the family bathroom is also clean and available. All the other doors are closed and it doesn’t matter if the rest of the house looks like a bomb has gone off. Obviously this only works if you aren’t open plan and have the space. It certainly saves my stress levels! ?

Usually when guests are expected, but I always say I dont live in a showhouse and i like the place to feel "lived in". This is probably to cover up my embarrassment at being found in a mess! My biggest cleaning shame was when my first grandchild was nearing his 1st Christmas. Hearing my daughter say "take a good look at Grandma's, it only looks this tidy at this time of year"

Sandy73

Elspeth45

I haven't stopped cleaning since my cataract op 3 weeks ago. Am shocked at what I haven't seen before!

Oh, I experienced that last year!! The place suddenly looked shocking!

My aunt had the same effect when_ driving_ after her cataract op

Going away for a week. I have to clean everywhere. Suppose stems from fear of being burgled and the house not being tidy. I know, nowadays a burglary usually means your house being turned upside down. Also when window cleaner has done the outsides and I can see the film of dirt on the inside.

I have just waved goodbye to DS&DDiL and DGS who stayed for a month. I did make up beds and a little advance cooking but I left plenty for them to help with!
We had a family party while they were here so the house is looking quite spruce for a change.
Day to day, I do the minimum but I do have a gardener each week.
When my DC were small I had a cleaner once a week so I could pretend I lived in a beautiful house if only once a week.

Can I have his phone number please, MawtheMerrier? ?

This morning friends and I were discussing having a cleaner/cleaners occasionally, the ones who do a complete deep clean rather than flick a duster and a vacuum around (I can do that still).

Another friend once said that it's surprising what you can achieve in 15 minutes if someone phones to ask if they can pop round! That is so true.

Knowing visitors are coming to stay means a much more thorough clean.

Inviting visitors makes us tidy up, but actually, the place is reasonably tidy, as I happen to like housework.

I have a weekly plan and a fortnightly one that together cover the basic minimum (bathroom every week) hall and wash-kitchen floor washed every fortnight , kitchen bins emptied and washed the day before bin-day- you all know the sort of thing.

Where I need the help of a good old-fashioned kick in the pants is with things like making a dental appointment, cutting the grass, or the hedges or de-freezing the freezer!

I dont encourage visitors but when they come they take it as they find it. If they dont like it I am happy to point out the route to the door.

Germanshepherdsmum

I’d love to have a cleaner as I loathe housework more with every passing year, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask someone else to do what I don’t like doing, even for money. Obviously it would be different if I were disabled. I have always felt this way, doubtless because Mum didn’t have a cleaner. I know it provides someone else with money, but …

My Mum never had a cleaner either but envied her friend Mavis who had. When asked why she wanted a cleaner when she actually enjoyed housework she always said. "So that people can see her scrubbing the steps like Mavis's one does".A step up in the world I suppose.
I am not like my mum but keep things tidy so it looks as if I do. My paternal Gran hated cleaning like me and if someone popped in unexpected she pushed everything under the setee and the cushions. As children, we used to dive under them and find her stockings or granddad's socks which she had been drying in front of the fire.

Going on holiday for me too, 4allweknow. Our neighbours come in to water the plants while we are away and I can't abide the thought of them seeing a grubby house or coming home to one myself either.

Family visits always galvanise me/us into action. But it can take us 3 weeks to get visitor ready as we just do a little bit each day, we find it really exhausting now. It's just as bad when they leave and we have to strip and remake beds. On a day-to-day basis bathrooms and kitchen are kept clean but the vacuum cleaner only comes out when the dust bunnies gather in the corners. As for tidy, if I can walk around the house without tripping over things then it's tidy!

gosh i wish i could be galvanised into action
I am the sort of person who people say in whispers ' iwent round Jane's house and she was in her pyjamas and the house was in such a state' even though it was 8pm and they were not invited

We are having a blitz at the moment as we are planning to move nearer on of my chidren. Although we weren't planning to move until next year, we have someone who is interested in buying it and is coming to view next week! My husband has a lot of books & mags.