HOUSEKEEPING TRICK NO. 2: YOU TOO CAN HOST A PARTY AND ONLY CLEAN ONE ROOM!

If you want to end people asking
you to host an event at your
home, post this sign in your
guest bathroom!

Here is another housecleaning trick from me to those of you who are brave (or masochistic) and do like entertaining: Other than clearing off the kitchen counters (into a box which is hid in your bedroom) and running a cloth (a dirty sock you picked up off the floor) over the dust, there is only one room you must, and I repeat, MUST, clean well. No, it’s not the kitchen. If your event involves eating, then most guests will assume you didn’t have time to clean up after making that fabulous food you are serving. No, not your floors. Most guests never look down and if they do, they will assume the rest of your guests brought in dirt on their shoes and have messed up your clean floors. Of course, you have to hope that no one drops a “wettish” food product and beats you to the damp paper towel to clean it up. The color of the paper towel after wiping the mess off your “clean” floor will announce just how dirty it is.

The one room you must clean? The bathroom that all your guests will be using.  This is the only room where a guest will be sitting, or standing, alone, without distraction, and will have the chance to really look around. Women sitting on the toilet will always look around them: they will check out the floor, the baseboards, the tub (if there is one), the cleanliness of the towels, the sink, even what kind of soap is offered.  Men, I’m not sure they see anything, but I could be wrong. Regardless, the toilet must be spotless so that when a male guest lifts the seat there is nothing to see. Especially if the male guest was not raised right and leaves the seat up for the next guest (who will always be a woman)!

In conclusion: the bathroom you have the guests use must be immaculate. If this bathroom is clean, it sends a “clean” message over your whole house. And, be sure there is plenty of toilet paper! If a guest tells you, hopefully quietly, that you are running out, and they looked everywhere (egads, did you clean “everywhere”?) then you will be forced to get another roll. Depending on where you store your toilet paper, retrieving another roll could totally jeopardize your “clean house” mirage. I have had to open the under the stairs closet in front of my guests, step gingerly over the mess piled up on the floor, and bend over to dig out another roll hoping I didn’t lose my balance and need help getting out. Unless your closets are ready for inspection (are anyone’s?) this is not a dignified way to interrupt your hosting duties. So, be sure a spare roll of toilet paper is available, either in the bathroom itself, or within easy reach of your hand through a partially-opened closet door.  

Oh, and another, not so wonderful chore you, as hostess, must perform during your event...Periodically, go into this guest bathroom and do an inspection.  This means lifting the toilet seat and wiping it off with some toilet paper. Even though the toilet was clean at the beginning of the evening, after several people have used it, there is no way it is still “visually clean”. No, I don’t mean go in with the toilet brush. Check your toilet paper supply, take some toilet paper and wipe around the seat and rim (yes, the rim could be gross), wash up, arrange the towels, and go enjoy the rest of your party.