Home: Preparing for Summer Visitors (Cleaning, accommodating, stocking up, etc.)

My favorite summer vacations as a child always involved visiting loved ones. The excitement of playing with cousins was the most thrilling summer adventure. Now that I am an adult I realize that it can be just as much work for the host as it is fun for the guest. Let’s make it enjoyable for everyone by preparing now so that you are ready and able to enjoy your guests once they arrive. When having company over for the summer you want them to feel comfortable and welcome. Let’s make this stress-free and enjoyable visit for all by putting forth some thought and effort beforehand.

Let’s break it down by starting with sleep accommodations. My family didn’t have a lot of room growing up, so oftentimes guest meant sharing a room with my brothers or sleeping on the couch during the visit, which was fine with me. I just loved having people come stay! Once you have decided the area in the house that the guests will be staying in, you want to make sure that the sheets and blankets are clean. If you can do this beforehand (if none of your children sleep on the bed that will be used for the guests) I suggest doing it this week. Some people like extra pillows so, if available, allot at least two pillows per guest like a hotel does. I don’t keep a ton of extra pillows on hand, so I just put my extra personal pillows on the guest bed with clean pillow cases. Now that the bed is ready make sure the room is straightened. You don’t want your guests to trip over toys or have a difficult time distinguishing the items in their own luggage from the clutter on the floor. Of course I recommend putting the items away where they belong, but if time doesn’t permit then just put all the stuff in a box or laundry basket to deal with later. You don’t want to get caught up in organizing the whole house—the goal right now is to make the guestroom comfortable.

When it comes to cleaning the house in anticipation of guests, start with the most important areas first. Prioritize and stay focused. After the guest room feels ready, next on my priority list is cleaning the bathroom your visitors will be using. Enlist the help of your children if they are old enough. My philosophy is that if they help dirty the house (or dishes or clothes) then they need to help clean it. This helps prepare them for the real world and does wonders for their sense of self-worth. Imagine how they must feel, knowing that the world is a better place because they contributed something to it! My 3 year old squirts the Windex on the mirrors and counters and then I give him a paper towel to help wipe. Cleaning together is a great opportunity to teach life skills and share a loving moment. I show him how to wipe in circles and to wipe everywhere it is wet with Windex. He misses spots, but he is improving, and patience is crucial. Recognize and appreciate their efforts and try to find specific praise such as, “I saw how you kept rubbing that really dirty spot until it came off. Way to keep at it even though it was hard! You must be strong!” It’s okay to “trade” spots if they are too young to do an adequate job so you can make sure their area is clean for your guests. While we are cleaning together I tell him how nice it is to be able to make our house clean for our family and guests. Now I hear him say how much he loves making a nice home for his family as he cleans. It’s amazing how much our attitudes can affect our children’s. If we’re going to do something anyways, we might as well enjoy it. It’s up to us.

While in the bathroom, you’ll want to make sure you have plenty of toiletries on hand. Get out your grocery list (and I highly recommend having a running grocery list that other members of the family can add to) and make sure you have enough toilet paper, women’s hygiene supplies, soap, shampoo and conditioner easily accessible. It’s also a nice touch to have toothpaste and an extra toothbrush in the medicine cabinet if you have an extra one on hand, like from the dentist.

You’ll also want to stock up on food and snacks, and possibly paper products to accommodate a larger crowd, so head to the kitchen next. I personally like my guests to fill like they can help themselves to cereal, etc (makes less work for me if they take care of themselves!), so I try to have several varieties available. We normally eat very healthy at our house, so that when we feel like splurging I don't feel any guilt and no damage is done. So when guests are in town I try to treat them a little with tasty snacks and cereals I might not otherwise buy, making the vacation a little more exciting for all of us.

Financial Organization Tips

The following is my answer to someone who asked for advice about organizing their finances:

As far as finances go, my biggest piece of advice is to track your spending for at least a few months so you can create an accurate spending plan (also known as a budget). I personally use an excel spreadsheet that I made the first year I was married that covers EVERYTHING we spend from presents to vacations to monthly expenses and investments. There are also many other programs out there like that. I tracked our income and everything we spend, then made a spending plan based on that. We make sure we pay savings, 401(k) and bills first and have it automatically taken out. I'm an advocate of e-bills--it's quick and helps make sure bills are paid on time and it makes saving easier when it's automatically taken out, eliminates paper clutter, not to mention the trees you're saving. I keep this spreadsheet on my Palm Pilot and write down everything we spend in it. It automatically calculates and adds everything up for me. My husband and I sit down every few months and look at the averages of what we spent the last few months and see how well we're keeping within our spending limits we've imposed on ourselves. If we're spending over in a certain area we make the necessary changes. Sometimes we decide to be more disciplined and buckle down, and sometimes we decide we want to allot more money to a certain category, which means we have to take it from somewhere else. When it's reduced to an equation, it makes being disciplined a little easier because you can't argue with numbers. You earn what you earn and the spending simply needs to be less than the income. I've written an essay on this very topic (see my prior Choices post) about my own experience and struggle with facing the cold hard truth when my husband started making less money when he went back to school. But then I realized that ignoring the truth (numbers) was only denial and not helping anything. It all comes down to choices and we can choose to be disciplined and experience the freedom and peace that accompanies. This applies to everything in life, and it's completely up to us!!! If we say no when needed and sacrifice a little upfront we get to say yes to so many more things in the future!

Organized Garage! Check out my mad skills!

I was excited about the results of the new and improved garage I organized last week, so I thought I would share the before and after pictures. We got rid of a lot of it (I love to declutter!) and used the Rubbermaid Fasttrack system, which I am very pleased with. Amazon had the best prices for most of it and the rest of the hooks were purchased at Walmart as needed.