Your Guide to Welcoming Visitors to Your Home
With life getting back to “normal”, many people will be traveling to visit family and friends this summer. If you are expecting house guests, you will want to prepare your home so that is comfortable and welcoming. Here is a list of things to do before your guests arrive:
- Buy Fresh Flowers - Even if you don’t keep fresh flowers in your home all the time, it’s nice to splurge a little to have them for your guests. You don’t have to spend a lot of money. You can often find lovely bunches of flowers at your local grocery store. If you have a green thumb and grow flowers in your yard, that is even better! Just clip some and place them in pretty vases around the house.
- Clean Out and Restock the Refrigerator - Get rid of any lurking left-overs as well as any condiments that have passed their expiration. Plan your meals for the duration of the visit and Stock the Fridge accordingly. Make sure you know your guests’ dietary needs and allergies prior to their arrival.
- Make a Spare Key - Unless you plan to spend every second of the visit with your guests, you will want to give them a key so that they have the freedom to come and go if you are not home.
- Have Extra Toothbrushes on Hand - You will be doing your guests a great favor by having extra personal items on hand in case they have forgotten something. There is nothing worse after arriving from a long trip than having to go back out to purchase forgotten items. Other items to have on hand: razors, deodorant, feminine hygiene products etc.
- Clean Out the Guest Room Closet - If you’ve been using your guest room closet for storage, now is the time to clean it out. Even if you don’t clear it out completely, make sure there is enough space for your guests to store their bags and hang clothes.
- Declutter - Having a cluttered home might be ok when it is just you and your immediate family, but you will want to have a neat and tidy home for your guests. You don’t have to go overboard. You can leave out things you use daily, like the bag of dog food or the tv remotes. But put other extraneous items away for the duration of their stay.
- Wipe the Ceiling Fan Blades - There are some things that often get overlooked in your normal cleaning routine. Make sure to wipe down the ceiling-fan blades along with other nooks and crannies you might have missed before. It is also a good time to change your air filters if they have not recently been changed.
- Replace Shower Curtain Liner - If you have not changed your shower curtain liner in the guest bathroom recently, check it to make sure there is no mildew. Liners are inexpensive and new one will give the bathroom a fresh feel.
- Prepare Guest Bath - Speaking of the Guest Bathroom - make sure it is fully stocked with plenty of toilet paper, facial tissues, shampoo, conditioner and body wash. Splurge on some fragrant fancy soaps to place on the sink. Provide a stack of freshly laundered towels so that your guests do not have to go looking for them.
Having guests in your home can be a little stressful sometimes. Preparing for their visit ahead of time will alleviate some of that stress so that you can enjoy their visit to the fullest!
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