It is in the middle of the week, and that important guest wants to drop by your house, but it is a mess. You have a job deadline to meet, so you most likely haveno time to clean. Don’t worry: the following tips will help get your house clean and hopefully keep it clean.

1. Avoid offering excuses and explanations as to why your house is not clean. Regardless of the reasons you can give to explain the mess, always work to go beyond excuses and the need to ever use them.

2. If you have a very tight schedule, it pays to get some few organizational items in your house. For instance, a laundry basket in the bathroom and one in the bedroom will keep you from leaving a streak of dirty clothes all over the place.

3. If you get the chance to clean your house, work on a schedule since the time might be limited:

Start from the living room, this is where every visitor will get their first impressions.
Move on to the kitchen: wipe the shelves, do any dirty dishes and throw away all the trash.
Pick up all your dirty clothes and put them into their laundry baskets.
Clean the bathroom and the toilet.
Finish with your bedroom. Make the bed and put away things in their respective places

4. When you get the chance to clean your house, avoid stopping to take a break. Something new and more interesting might come up and stop you from finishing the job.

5. Get cleaning tools that make the cleaning job easier and less tiring. For instance, a swifter combines sweeping and mopping into one very efficiently. In addition to this, get good cleaning products that take off dirt quickly.

6. Always do your dishes immediately after using them. Dirty dishes are an attraction to insects and pests- a greater problem

7. Put your dishes away in their right place after doing them to avoid cluttering the kitchen.

9. Get an accountability partner who will give you a reason to clean your house if you cannot get the motivation on your own.

10. Finally, regardless of how tired you are or how messed up the house looks, never give up: you made the mess and have to clean it.