Four Day, Twenty Minutes per Day: Your Big Game Party Cleaning Plan
Your play-by-play for getting your house ready for the big game this weekend.
by Julia Pelly
If you’re hosting a party for The Big Game this year, you might already be stressing about how you’re going to get (and keep!) your house clean as you prepare for your guests’ arrival. With our four-day plan below, you’ll be able to rest easy knowing that you and your house will be ready and relaxed when your guests arrive.
Three days before the party
Your cleaning goal three days before your party is all about decluttering. Take a look around the rooms your guests will be spending time in and remove anything that shouldn’t be there. Create piles based on where the items should be–whether that’s another room in the house, the trash, or the garage, then move them where they should be. Spend no more than fifteen minutes creating your piles in each room and no more than five more minutes putting things away. Don’t get stumped by difficult to place items. Instead, create a spot in your house (maybe a laundry basket or an open shelf in your closet) to put items you’ll revisit once the chaos of preparing for your party passes.
Two days before the party
Since your rooms have all been decluttered, your focus two days before the party will be to thoroughly clean your surfaces. Dust bookshelves, ceiling fans, and baseboards and thoroughly wipe down surfaces like tables or desktops. Use glass cleaner to wipe down any mirrors or framed pictures. If you’ve got little ones in the house, you’ll also probably want to revisit decluttering and make sure that anything that shouldn’t be there has made its way into the rooms your guests will be spending time in.
One day before the party
Because you’ll probably be preparing food and decorating on the day of your party, you’ll want to finish up the bulk of your cleaning today. Sweep wood and tile floors, vacuum any carpets and wipe down any visible spots, stains, or fingerprints on your walls. Use a glass cleaner to clean windows and any glass doors.
The day of the party
On the day of your party, your focus should be on not making any new messes as you prepare food and decorate. Eliminate messes before they happen by cleaning up as you cook and tossing any trash directly in the can rather than setting it down to be cleaned up later. As your guests enjoy the party, be sure to do a trash sweep every hour or so as you refill drinks and bring more snacks. If you’re vigilant about keeping the house neat while guests are over, you likely won’t have much more to do than the dishes once they head home!
As you start planning for the big game and preparing your home for guests, following a simple cleaning plan will help keep you stress free from the moment you start tidying up until the final touchdown!
