Organize Your Home for Visitors

It’s great to have friends and family visit from out of town, but the days leading up to that visit are often stressful as you realize that your house is not ready for other people to see.
 
Your house is not a hotel, and your guests probably are not expecting perfection, but that does not mean you should skimp on cleaning and other tasks to get your home organized. Here are a few easy things you can do for maximum return on your investment of time and energy.

Make a Fresh Bed

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of getting into a fresh, clean bed, especially after a long day of traveling. The last thing you want is for your guests to find themselves in a bed with dirty or musty sheets.
 
You should always strip the guest bed or beds a day or two before your company arrives and make sure it is freshly made for their first night. Even if no one has slept in the bed since you last washed the sheets, they can pick up whatever smells are in your house and lose that fresh feeling over time.

Declutter

The arrival of visitors is a great time to remove some of the junk that tends to build up around the house. This includes everything from stacks of unopened junk mail to the clothes you’ve been meaning to donate to kids toys that never seem to get put away.
 
Effective decluttering does not mean shoving everything into a closet or other out of the way place. Instead, separate items into things that you want to keep, things you want to donate, and things you want to throw away. Then make a plan for getting rid of whatever you are not going to keep.

Set the Temperature

Consider whether your guests’ temperature preferences may differ from yours and adjust your thermostat accordingly. You’ll need to do this at least a few hours ahead of their arrival in order for the temperature to adjust as needed.
 
As an extra courtesy, set out extra blankets in the bedroom if it’s cold, or place a fan in the guest room if it’s hot. That way, your guests will have the ability to control the temperature beyond what you set.