I disagree with all of this. How about as an adult, you respect your guests and make an effort to clean, including all of the dishes and all of the trash?

How weird is it to go somewhere and see a drying rack full of dishes with one dirty plate (the easiest of dishes to clean)? You say it’ll make me look less like a neat freak, but I think it looks more like I can’t just finish one task before starting a new one, or I’m so lazy that I won’t wash just ONE dish when I’m done with it.

I’m also laughing that you advise to wash dishes because of the smell they’d create, but advise against removing a not full-to-the-brim trash bag. What kind of friends are paying attention to my hand-written trash notes and Seamless delivery? My friends come over, remark on how put-together and nice my place is, and then want to come back because my place is cleaner and nicer than their other friends’ (and even some of their own) homes.

Here’s my advice: clean up messes you create as soon as possible. Make your bed if it makes you happy, but know that someone will enjoy your bedroom just as much so long as your sheets are clean. Take your trash out before your friends come over if it makes you feel better. Own your messes. If a friend comes by and you don’t care if they know you are a human being that eats food off of plates, don’t wash them. Maybe just rinse them before you leave it in the sink so the smell isn’t an issue. Your friends will love you for you, regardless of what curated nonsense is at the top of your trash pile, and if they do care about that then the advice you need isn’t actually about cleaning, it’s about getting better friends.