Housework, cleaning and organisation, hate it or love it, the one constant is that it has to be done and seen as I can not afford a cleaner it mostly falls down to me.  In the past we have gone from control freaky clean, to total mess depending on my mental state!  Now we are somewhere in between.  The house is not always clean and tidy, but it is lived in and can be tidied in a flash.

Want to know my secret?

Today I am going to let you in to my tips for what I call a chaos clean.  You know the manic clean that you have to do when someone is coming to visit (and no, not shoving it all under the bed and in the cabinets)!

How to Chaos Clean your home

Remember we are only making things presentable, not doing a deep clean, so focus on the surface.

Set the timer – I do things in 15 minute chunk and work against the clock.  There is something about trying to beat the clock that makes you go faster.

Start on the right – go a room at a time and work from the right hand side of you and work around.  Put anything that doesn’t belong in that room into a laundry basket and take this room to room with me.

Dirtiest room first – I do the most challenging room first, it will make all the others seem a breeze.

Work down – Start at the top of the house and work your way down.  Dust settles, so wet wipe, then polish before vacuuming.

Worry about the bits people will see – For me this is the entrance hall, downstairs rooms (we are pretty open plan) and the toilet.  I shut the door on the rest of the house!  Life became so much better when we had a conservatory put on the house as a playroom, so I can just close the door on the clutter and chaos.

Delegate – It is amazing just how much work the family can do.  We all make the mess together, so we tidy it together.

So this is how I make my home presentable for visitors on short notice when we have visitors.  Six tips that make life easier when my home is untidy.