Messy Monday -> Makeover Monday:

 Company’s Coming: The 15-Minute Fake Clean

Nothing tests your parenting, speed-cleaning, and improvisation skills like the announcement: “Company’s coming in 15 minutes.” Suddenly, your house—full of toys, school papers, laundry, and random crumbs—is a ticking time bomb, and somehow it has to transform into something resembling a home people actually want to be in.

Cue the 15-minute fake clean. This is an art form. A combination of ninja-level shoving, strategic placement, and a healthy dose of hope.

Here’s how it usually goes in my house:

1. Toss the toys into the toy bins: Pray they stay hidden.

2. Shove Amazon boxes into our bedroom - the only real room with a door downstairs. nightstand.

3. Gather stray socks, pencils, and empty water bottles into a basket. Label it “miscellaneous” shove it into the laundry room and hope nobody opens the door.

4. Push in the couch cushions and try to arrange pillows and stray chairs like they blong in the space that they occupy.

   
   

Meanwhile, the kids are “helping,” which translates to: one is reorganizing the pantry just to find more things to leave on the floor, another is doing a dramatic 2-minute sweep, and the third is debating whether crayons count as decor.

By the time the doorbell rings, the house looks… decent-ish. Not perfect, not Kondo-level tidy, but like you might actually survive hosting people without embarrassment. And for those 15 minutes, you forget the real state of your house entirely.

It’s exhausting, yes, but it’s also kind of hilarious. Because no matter how much you plan and preclean prior to the fifteen-minute panic, kids and life have a way of turning everything upside down again the moment the visitors leave.

✨ Quick Clean Tip: Keep a “15-Minute Emergency Clean Basket” in a central spot. Throw in a few bins, a laundry basket, and a couple reusable bags. When company is on the way, everyone grabs a bin and quickly stashes anything that doesn’t belong. It won’t solve the mess forever, but it buys you peace of mind—and maybe a few compliments from guests who won’t notice the chaos hiding behind closed doors.