Company’s Gone… Now What?

Yesterday was the start of a new series I’m calling Homemaking Madness…

We focused on a speed-clean for company although, company wasn’t coming. How did you do?

For most of us, we hurry to tidy for company and when they’ve gone, what do we do?

Do we straighten up the mess our company left? I don’t.

But, we should, because we ARE worthy of a clean home!!!

There is a saying, “treat guests like family and family like guests.” It has been argued by me that this philosophy is bogus, but, is it?

If we treat our guests like family, as in not hiding our mess… not tidying up before they come over…will they feel more comfortable?

I have no idea but there is no way I would voluntarily allow this. It would have to be a completely spontaneous visit (which doesn’t happen in the middle of the Pennsylvania woods) even at that, I would be straightening up the entire time my guests were visiting.

If we treat our family like guests, as in going all out for dinner and bring out the fine china, or making sure there was a beautifully expensive candle burning… would they feel comfortable?

I have no idea but I probably wouldn’t want to do this either. That china is pricey and I’d hate to have a chip in it at such regular use. The candle might be expensive but I don’t like candles (my cat sets himself on fire, he’s an @$$2073!)

On the other hand… if a guest comes over and you are just you, not all done up as usual. And there’s a regular dinner prepared with regular plates and lifetime movie on in the background… they probably would feel more comfortable. And if your family came home to classical music and a candle burning (in a hurricane) with some fancy flatware and rack of lamb on the table, they probably would feel special.

So, while I’m still partially opposed to the phrase, I can see value in it’s meaning.

A new perspective on keeping house; “Make it special for us and don’t be such a Betty Crocker when friends stop over.”

While this post is meant to give a different perspective on hosting guests in our homes, next I think we’ll get into some things we can do on the daily to make our speed-clean a little easier.