s/o (of my own thread)...if you were to throw a huge party....

[CakeLady]

If you decided to throw a huge party at your house on Saturday, how long would it honestly take you to get your house presentable for a party (I'm not talking about all the food, decorations, etc...just the cleaning part)?

I really don't want to admit that it would take me several hours for it to be worthy of a party.

[BeckaBlue]

depends if the upstairs would be in use as well :lol anywhere from <30mn to a couple hrs

[zak]

Probably 30-60 minutes (including time to mop, vacuum, bathroom).

[Joyful Mommy]

depends if the upstairs would be in use as well :lol


yeah, that's me right now. i was working on reorganizing everything (master bedroom closet, putting away the boys' clothes that no longer fit....0 when I got put on bedrest, and now it's embarassingly messy up there. I feel so bad when people come over to help and see this giant (to me) mess.

[JellyBean]

I would have to have a whole day dedicated to just cleaning. :O But then again I struggle with the horrible syndrome of perfectionism and if I'm going to play hostess I take that role entirely too seriously and I freak if everything is not absolutely perfect.

[hey mommy]

Right now, about a week. And that's in my tiny house...

[HEmomma]

30-40 minutes. That would entail sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, declutterring our hot spots and picking up toys.

[MaybeGracie]

I'd take a whole day and just keep cleaning until I ran out of time - as in, pulling out my oven to clean behind it and other such once-in-a-blue-moon (for me) bits of housekeeping. Half an hour would give me an adequately clean house though. 3 hours would probably be enough that I'd be happy with the level of clean rather than merely satisfied with it.

[CakeLady]

I'd take a whole day and just keep cleaning until I ran out of time - as in, pulling out my oven to clean behind it and other such once-in-a-blue-moon (for me) bits of housekeeping. Half an hour would give me an adequately clean house though. 3 hours would probably be enough that I'd be happy with the level of clean rather than merely satisfied with it.


This is exactly what happens here. When it's time for a party we go crazy cleaning things that never get cleaned (top of the fridge etc)

[WanderingJuniper]

Maybe an hour for our first floor and the second floor bath and hallway. I am not counting any of the bedrooms although if each kid tidied up their own room then it would still be an hour total.

[Mother of Sons]

My house isn't that big but I would never be able to mop, sweep and vacuum in 30 minutes. If it was just our downstairs it would take me all day because I have to clean all the nooks and crannies and closets, wash the baseboards and windowsills, organize the laundry room and pantry cabinets and pull all the couches out etc. etc. I'm weird that way and people DO look!

[GodisGood]

30 min, I have a 4 bedroom 2 story, not including any laundry I may have to do. Which means fold and put away, not necessarily wash.

[MarynMunchkins]

I would have to have a whole day dedicated to just cleaning. :O But then again I struggle with the horrible syndrome of perfectionism and if I'm going to play hostess I take that role entirely too seriously and I freak if everything is not absolutely perfect.


Yep, me too. :rolleyes2

[Anani]

Probably 45 minutes
I wouldn't work on bedrooms as much as the living room and kitchen. Thats where everyone congregates at my parties anyway

[allisonintx]

It's taking me the better part of the last month to make my house party ready. I did refinish hardwood floors and repaint the baseboards as well as one wall though.

[Wonder Woman]

I've learned the art of 'it's no one's business what your entire home looks like' so when I have a party I actually lock all of the interior doors except the bathroom :shrug My bedrooms/offices are private :P

So under those rules, about 2 hours to really scrub everything :yes

[blessedwithboys]

For a big formal party, probably a couple of hours. Like you, I do things that are out of the ordinary like move heavy stuff to vacuum when we're having a party. I make every room company ready though. Our company likes to spread out, and I love to have the whole house open to them. :heart It feels awesome to do that!

If it's just an impromptu gathering it would take me about 15 minutes to just pick things up and check bathrooms, etc.

[MaiMama]

30-40 minutes. That would entail sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, declutterring our hot spots and picking up toys.


Okay, it takes me 20 minutes just to sweep with my little helpers, because of all the clutter on the floor. How in the world do you do that whole list in 30?

[joyful mama]

mopping alone would take an hour for all my floors, so I'm surprised at those who can mop, vacuum and declutter in less than that :jawdrop. wow.

to mop, pickup, and make it 'party ready' maybe 3 hours? it depends on 1. if the kids are sleeping 2. if dh is helping. :)

[hey mommy]

Wow, I must be a major slob... Although I did add in there cleaning C's room( a days worth of work right there), decorating b/c we haven't unpacked any of our decorations, doing all laundry and actually putting it away..

Still, it would take a day or two to get it 'party ready'.. I guess I am a slob..... oh well..

[mom2threegirls]

2 hours. I'm not one to make it extremely white glove clean but that would be all clutter/toys/etc put away, vaccumed, mopped, bathrooms cleaned, dusted, windows/mirrors washed, kitchen and bathrooms clean. I wouldn't be going and dusting the baseboards or places no one can even see :no.

[mamaKristin]

I'm going to say 3 hours. I don't have lots and lots to do, but I'm easily distracted while doing it. :shifty

[CakeLady]

This is very reassuring....DH always complains on how long it takes us to get ready, but I think 1/2 a day is unreasonable. And part of that is food prep.

I like the idea of locking the other rooms (DD's room always gets trashed and I hate having to clean it after the party just to put her to bed).

[WanderingJuniper]

I've learned the art of 'it's no one's business what your entire home looks like' so when I have a party I actually lock all of the interior doors except the bathroom :shrug My bedrooms/offices are private :P

This is us as well except that we use child safety gates since I personally feel that our entire second floor isn't anyone's business unless you live here or are here caring for my children. Even our absolute closest friends as before going upstairs. They don't need to and they know that but they ask anyway.

[tempus vernum]

Well, IIRC, it took us about 2.5 hours this past weekend - we weren't throwing a huge party. it was dd2's b day and our family was coming over. But we are kind of anal people so any even small party requires heavy duty deep cleaningt. DH did most of it - I only did the bathroom :shrug

THat includes my normal weekend cleaning which takes about 1.5 hours (dust, vacuum, sweep, mop, scrub bathroom and kitchen)

How it takes such a short time is that we have gotten rid of SO much stuff. So much. We don't have stuff to lift or move anymore in the kitchen except the shoe basket, dog bed and throw carpets. For dusting, we don't have much to lift and move. ANd mopping, since having brand new kitchen floors put in, it only takes about 10 minutes to mop our laminate floor in the kitchen (about 300 square feet). Mopping upstairs (hardwood bedrooms) - it takes about 15 minutes for 400 sq feet. Honestly, since starting to clean my mom and aunt's houses last week, I have realized how little stuff we have LOL I came home and told dh = we really don't have much stuff :giggle and we have more people than both households (2 in my aunts, 3 in my moms, 5 in ours). We have very few things to lift and move and keep clean. I think that is the secret to speedy cleaning. That and keeping on top of it. Scrubbing my bathtub only takes 1 minute because I do it every week. At one of the houses I did, it took me over 15 minutes on one tub :phew

2.5 hours did not count the food prep -- we did that before church on sunday :grin


Also, I read Jeff from the Clean Team's book "speed cleaning" and so I tend to move VERY quickly now even as I am cleaning DECENTLY . ;)

Oh, and I don't include pick up in cleaning time. BUT unless we are "off schedule" and the house is TRASHED, it should only take about 15 minutes to pick up ;) And since we do the pick up before bed, we clean in the a.m. the next day and let the kids watch TV so they don't trash the house :P~

[joyful mama]

good tips :tu

and yeah we do the tv trick too. and last minute errands are run w/dh AND the girls :giggle

[mommyTay]

To get my house company ready for any reason takes 3 hours to a whole day, depending on the schedule of the previous days. Any time someone visits, it feels like a party, I don't get much company. :no2
We all woke up yesterday with a nasty stomach virus. Only 2 of the 7 kids went to school and dh is home again today. Sunny's birthday party is tomorrow afternoon. I need to clean and thoroughly disinfect everything today, probably all day. We are only expecting a couple little girls, but after a sick day, this place is a wreck!

[Drew]

I would have to have a whole day dedicated to just cleaning. :O But then again I struggle with the horrible syndrome of perfectionism and if I'm going to play hostess I take that role entirely too seriously and I freak if everything is not absolutely perfect.


Me too. I've been in panic cleaning/decorating/organizing mode all week because MIL is coming to visit tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be up til 11 again tonight. :blush