🎄 Christmas
5 Things You Forgot To Clean That Might Be Grossing Out Your Guests
Guests are coming, and the house is a disaster!
So you furiously clean and tidy up, you vacuum, and you scrub the floor. You shout orders at your kids and husband to pick up those stinky socks. You clean the toilets and the counters!
You even cleaned the windows and took that fuzzy thing and flailed wildly at the cobwebs.
Then you hide all the leftovers in your bedroom!
You’re golden! Let that picky mother-in-law show up now!
Well, maybe not…
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Especially if you have little ones or pets, you may have missed some gross spots you don’t even see anymore.
It’s easy to have tunnel vision about our own house.
We live with it day after day, and sometimes it’s easier not to pay attention. Even if you do a spring cleaning, you may miss some of those.
This is not about having a show home or that my house is super clean, I only mean this list as a guideline, especially if you’re having people over you don’t know, and you’d like to make a good impression.
You want a home with a relaxed atmosphere, but like it or not, guests will see things you don’t. After helping host countless parties in other people’s homes, here are 5 trouble spots that usually need attention, even in the cleanest of homes.
More Ways to Impress Your Guests ✨
Spring cleaning is great… but let’s be honest — what really motivates us is knowing people are coming over. If you want your home to feel welcoming, polished, and totally put-together (without losing your mind), these posts will help you host like a pro.
🎈 How to Throw a Party – My no-stress game plan for hosting without turning into a frazzled mess.
🧼 Clean Before Guests Arrive (2) – The exact spots to clean so your home feels fresh (even if you hid three baskets in a closet).
💸 Party Food on a Budget – Crowd-pleasing food ideas that look generous but don’t wreck your grocery bill.
📋 Birthday Party Checklist – A printable plan so you don’t forget the candles… or the cake.
🎁 Hostess Thank You Gifts – Thoughtful little gifts that make you look effortlessly gracious.
Because a clean home is lovely… but a welcoming one? That’s what people remember.
1 – The guest bathroom must sparkle
OK, I know you cleaned the bowl and wiped the counter… but did you clean the underside of the seat?
How ’bout that area between the seat and the tank?
And what about the gold mine of unmentionable goobies on the floor behind the back of the toilet? Now, sit on the toilet, like a guest would.
Look down. What do you see?
Are the baseboards clean? Are the corners of the floors clean?
Pick up this L.O.C multi purpose cleaner and leave no trace.
Now wash your hands, and look up at the mirror. Really look at the mirror, are there water or toothpaste spots?
I’ve wiped countless bathroom mirrors at other people’s homes. I always want to leave a place better than I found it…. Cleaning the guest bathroom is a must!
Honestly, if your bathroom is clean and stocked, a lot of other things can be overlooked.
That’s why I’ve also written a very comprehensive list on how to make your bathroom totally guest-ready before your party.
You’ll also love:
2 – The doors, door handles, and light switches are often forgotten
Rarely do I go into a house with littles and find those items clean.
Go right now, and look at your most-used light switch… I’ll wait.
Are you grossed out?
I sure am when I wipe mine down.
Same with the door handles.
Go from the entry door and wipe all the door handles, on both sides of the door, and all the light switches.
Don’t forget the knobs in the kitchen, they’re often the worst ones. That goes for the fridge handle too, and the kitchen cabinet doors! Those get greasy and gross.
If your guests are going to be anywhere near the kitchen, get your microfiber cloth and take 10 minutes to wipe those cabinets down.
3 – Did you Clean The walls?
One time, my husband and I were cleaning the house to receive family, and he noticed a fairly long grayish spot on the wall towards the baseboard next to the front door. “Where did that come from?”
I had to look and think. I stood there baffled for a minute. Then it came to me!
That was one of my beloved dog’s favorite spots….. and she had been gone for 3 YEARS!!!!
After this incident, I started being much more aware of people’s walls.
I remember going into an otherwise immaculate house one time with long, gray dog marks all over the walls! I’ve seen countless finger streaks also.
Even if you don’t have pets or little kids, you probably have a wall that people grab onto while turning into a hallway.
Look at it with discerning eyes, and suddenly you may see all those disgusting handprints. Grab a magic eraser and make them disappear!
4 – Wipe those dining room chairs
I beg of you, wipe down the back of those chairs!
Nothing will gross out a guest more than a sticky chair back.
Examine your chairs.
The legs and those horizontal bars are often the targets of lots of splatters and spills, and they don’t often get a lot of soapy water style love.
That’s one of my hubby’s pet peeves.. sticky. He was the sticky monitor the whole time our kids were little. He probably wiped the chairs every day.
5 – The couch can hide things you don’t want people to find
When guests come, you really should vacuum the couch. And spot clean it.
Don’t let poor Aunt Gladys sit in last month’s spit-up or Princess’s hairball.
Using a lint roller works wonders, although I wouldn’t be caught without my Dyson Animal vacuum.
I get it! I’ve had horrible, old couches that are impossible to clean.
Then get inventive.
Grab a clean quilt or a blanket. Heck, clean Batman sheets are better than grubby couch cushions any day.
One last piece of advice
I know, that’s technically more than 5 things, but one last piece of advice:
To clean your house for guests, you have to think like a guest.
Go outside your front door, close your eyes, and take a deep breath. Now open the door and enter your house as if for the first time!
Discover it.
What do you see first?
Move about the house, use the guest bathroom, and sit in your dining room.
Get a real sense of what a guest may see.
So what do you think I’ve missed?
What grosses you out?
Do you think I went too far?
In the end, you need to give yourself a little grace too.
Hopefully, you’re inviting people over who love you and will look beyond the spots you missed.
The idea is for your guests to feel welcome in your home, and a little extra thoughtful cleaning can go a long way.
BUT WAIT! There’s more! This list has been so popular, and I’ve gotten so many comments on it that I wrote a follow-up: 5 MORE Things You Forgot to Clean that Might be Grossing Out Your Guests! It lists some more specific areas that I forgot here, but you need to know about!
Don’t forget to pin this cleaning list.
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Thank goodness I do clean as suggest. I sure can understand why you are giving the advise you are as I have seen many disgusting homes over the years. I don’t know I I missed reading this but also clean your window screens and wash your windows. It is amazing how dusty the screens get.
Very easy and helpful tips you shared with us. Thank you for sharing this article.
Very amazing and informative reading for me. Thank you for sharing it.
I am also insane about cleanliness…. I clean even button boards on weekends. I literally enjoy while reading your article.
Hello Nathalie! Wonderful piece of article and by the reading of this lovely piece of article I came to know that how can we properly clean our house and do not provide any chance to my guest that they gross out us. Thanks for sharing this article with all of us. I learnt allot about cleaning purpose
Hi Nathalie!
What a great piece of article I found today, it will be very helpful to me in the cleaning of my own home. I hope all the readers will love this article. Thanks for sharing this article to us
As a house cleaner, this article helps me a lot to get new guidance. I really enjoy this great reading. Thank you for sharing this article.
And you can pick up sets of towels at the dollar store. 🤓
When we moved into the house we live in now, we had to power wash the filter on the stove vent hood, in order to get it clean. Probably hadn’t been cleaned in the entire time the owner has had this house. It was soooooo nasty. Grease was even dripping back down onto the stove it was so saturated.
That sounds awful! Thank you for sharing!
I run mine through the dishwasher every so often. Works like a charm!
Glad to read this blog. This is a great and useful article! What you had mentioned are really helpful. Thank you so much for sharing your insights about cleaning.
May I also add salt and pepper shakers. Restaurants sometimes also have the ugliest, sticky shakers.
Yes! You’re so right!!
Great ideas
Thank you!
Kettles and teapots are often overlooked. A cotton bud down the spout of the teapotwill dislodge the tannin that stain.
That’s a great trick. Thank you.
Ugh! Venetian blinds
Yes, of course. Those things are hard to clean!
I can’t stand bad smells when I walked in the house. If I can tell what type of pet you own, or what you been cooking by the smell when I walk in the front door then the smells are too strong! Clean up after your pet daily! Air purifiers arguing cheaper and cheaper. Ozone machines are good every moving scents.
Another area overlooked are the top facing molding around windows and doors and picture frames
We stay at a relatives home and their home is pretty dirty but it is their refrigerator that grosses me out the most. Makes me gag!
That’s a tough one for sure.