Your mum’s coming round and you simply don’t have time to tidy up properly! Here’s a few easy tips to fake a clean house without actually doing any cleaning!

The living room

  • Reserve one side of your cushions for best. If you keep one side clean, they can be flipped so it looks tidy without actually cleaning. (Of course, when you spill spaghetti on both sides, it’s time to put them in the washing machine…)
  • If you have dogs and cats, simply wet the fingertips of a rubber glove and glide your hand over your couch/cushions to rid them of pet hair. The hair sticks to the rubber. This really works!
  • Have decorative baskets around to put magazines/books/letters in. Preferably with lids.
  • Couch throws hide a multitude of stains. A strategically placed throw can make your coscruffy dogsuch look as good as new without paying expensive cleaning bills.
  • Flowers are amazing at distracting attention from messy surroundings. If you have a big, bright bunch of flowers on your coffee table, they will be the focus of the room. No one will notice you haven’t dusted!

The kitchen

  • Hide dirty dishes in the dishwasher. It doesn’t have to be on; it just has to be closed. Then it’s ready to go on later anyway. You really shouldn’t have more dirty dishes than your dishwasher can handle!
  • Put new towels out and hide the dirty ones in thbaked breade washing machine.
  • Put something in the oven to cover smells. Either make bread or boil nutmeg and cloves on the stove.

The bathroom

  • Hide things! Have fancy looking bags for your cosmetics and drop them all in there. Looks much tidier than leaving everything out everywhere.
  • Hang fresh towels. Minimum effort, maximum results.
  • Hang a fluffy dressing gown over damp towels.
  • Cupboards were made to hide things. Put everything that looks messy away.

The kids’ room

  • If there’s any room in the house that people expect to be untidy, it’s the kids’ room, so don’t worry about it too much.
  • Stack books so that they look neat, even if they are still on the floor.
  • Throw the bed covers over, and put pyjamas under pillows, so they’re out of the way but ready for bed time.
  • Arrange stuffed toys on beds. They’ll look better there than on the floor.
  • If your kids have a play tent, hide mess in there.
  • Spritz with deodoriser.

Your roomstorage boxes

  • Just keep the door shut. Simple!
  • Throw the bed over so it looks made.
  • Keep fancy boxes around where you can put things, like extra bedding, cushions, laundry that hasn’t been put away yet etc.