We all know that when your house is freshly cleaned and polished that no one visits right?
And we all know that when we’re overwhelmed with chaos and haven’t had time to clean someone calls unexpectedly right?
Whether you’ve got five minutes to dash about, or whether you need to pop
This post contains affiliate links, and The Organizer UK may earn commissions for purchases made through the links in this post. For more details, see here. Thank you so much for your support!
How to quick clean in a hurry
Time needed: 30 minutes.
Very quickly do as many of these as you can.
- Open the windows
No-one likes to walk into a house smelling of last night’s curry, fling the windows open and the doors wide and change the air and get it circulating!
- Add some fragrance!
It is important to get your house to smell clean, as this can trick a visitor into thinking you’ve been cleaning all day!
Fill sinks with disinfectant and allow it to disperse a fresh scent around the house. - Wipe areas near the front door with disinfectant.
this will make the house smell nice as guests arrive.
- Wipe radiators with a disinfectant
in the winter this will help a fresh fragrance to circulate to all rooms.
- Quick clean the bathroom
If your bathroom is dirty, unexpected guests will assume the rest of the house is too!
It’s challenging to keep the loo clean when you have small kids but keeping a toilet cleaning routine helps avoid the emergency toilet cleaning in a hurry!
read my post on how to clean your toilet properly here - Wipe down the toilet, sink and shower doors
super fast and use this
Ecloth glass cloth for a super fast shine every time! - Put out fresh towels
Super important to give the impression of a clean bathroom
- Pick up anything from the floor
Clear floors imply a clean house!
- Spot clean mirrors
Read my post on how to get streak free glass here
- Close doors
Close any doors to which the unexpected guests will not be entering, don’t worry about the rooms they won’t be going in, use your time to clean the rooms the guests will be using most, such as the kitchen, bathroom and communal areas.
- Tidy up
Apart from the bathrooms, tidying up is the thing which will have the biggest impact on your cleaning and tidying efforts.
A house will never look clean unless it’s tidy, pick stuff up off the floor and put stuff away! - Straighten cushions and books
This can instantly make the room look cleaner and put together.
- Discard magazines
Grab any old magazines or newspapers and throw them in the recycling!
- Put all toys away.
Grab a huge basket and tidy away all the toys, this will instantly give any room a quick makeover!
- Serve some nibbles!
I always keep a jar of olives and some cheesy crackers and crisps to serve if I’m caught out by visitors, this helps people feel welcome and at home.
Some garlic bread slices in the freezer are also great for serving in a hurry! - Quick Clean The kitchen
The kitchen is a priority to clean or at least to tidy before anyone comes round.
Try to get into the habit of keeping your kitchen clean all the time, find out how to keep your kitchen clean and tidy here so it’s one less thing to clean in a hurry! - Put away the dishes
Dirty dishes make the whole kitchen look dirty!
- Empty rubbish
Overflowing trash cans can look and smell bad!
- Sweep the floors
Quick clean the floors by giving them a speedy sweep
- Change dishcloths and tea towels.
to give the impression of a freshly cleaned kitchen
My favourite disinfectant for emergency cleaning is Dettol I always carry this in my cleaning kit it makes the whole house smell clean and fresh!
If you’re struggling to find motivation to clean regularly click here
Keeping your house clean and guest ready.
The easiest way to avoid having to do a quick clean before guests arrive is to try to establish daily routines which will help you stay on top of the housework, so if you are caught out by visitors, a quick tidy round and straighten up will be all that is needed. Read how I use my daily routines to keep my house guest-ready here
If you’re overwhelmed with housework and need some motivation to clean read this post
Get the kids to help you quick clean
Try to get your kids to help by setting a timer and asking them to tidy up as much of their stuff as they can before the timer goes off. give a reward at the end if they’ve done well. If three people are tidying for ten minutes each then you’ve got 30 minutes of tidying done!
Speed up your cleaning time with the cordless Shark Duo you’ll be amazed at how much it picks up that your old vacuum cleaner leaves behind. the Shark Dou picked up a full tank of pet hair and dirt that my Dyson missed.
Quick clean checklist

Do you use a house cleaning service or services to help you stay on top of your housework? Let us know how you stay guest ready in the comments.
Pin for later!

Thank you that’s very kind!