How to Clean Your Entire Home in Ten Minutes

The phone rings. It's Uncle Tim and Aunt Jody from out of town. They are officially IN TOWN and "in the nieghborhood" (which just happens to be YOUR nieghborhood, by the way.) and they want to drop in for a visit. You have ten minutes to get your home in order and to make all of the clutter vanish. Can it truly be done?

As a mother of four young boys who lives in perpetual controlled chaos, I can assure you there are some tricks to making your home appear far more tidy and organized than it actually is on very short notice. So, stop panicking and forget that fleeting thought of simply locking the doors and pretending not to be home when the doorbell rings....Try these tricks instead.

Get a laundry basket. Balance it on one hip and with one broad swipe of your arm dump everything that is cluttering up your kitchen counters into the basket. Then gather up all of those loose odds and ends around the livingroom (shoes, books, empty cups, etc....) and add them to the basket. Grab any other little clutter and toss that in there as well. Empty soda cans, toys, mittens.....all of it can go right in there. Open up a closet, any closet will do. Tuck the now filled laundry basket in there and shut the door.

Sprinkle carpet cleaner on the rugs ONLY in the rooms your company will see. (Usually the hallway and the livingroom.) Vacuum.

Grab a bottle of spray cleaner. This can be ANY spray cleaner. If it is Windex, spray it on one window in each room your guests will venture into and then wipe it away. If it is dusting polish, dust one small surface in each of these rooms. You get the general idea. The trick here is to make the house SMELL clean which will fool your guests into believing you have been cleaning all day.

See all of that dirty laundry scattered around? Wet towels on the bathroom floor, your husbands socks by the couch, that dirty bib on the highchair from lunch, the fourteen different outfits your four year old daughter insisted on wearing for exactly 11 minutes before abruptly changing into something else and leaving the offending clothing spread across your entire house? Gather up all of the laundry and toss it into your bathtub. Close the shower curtain to hide your little secret.

Dop a quick wipedown in your bathroom while you are in there. Wipe the sink and counter down, swish that toilet brush in the bowl real quick, do a spray or two of air freshner. Hang a fresh hand towel and washcloth on the rack.

Last stop.Back into the kitchen. See that pile of dirty dishes in your sink? Hide them! The oven is a darn handy spot for this trick! Stack up those offensive dishes in there! Grab the sponge and do a quick wipedown of the counters, stovetop and table. (After all, it would be pretty embarassing if Aunt Jody's purse got stuck to your table due to that sticky spilled juice spot!)

Voila! Your home looks spotless. Uncle Tim and Aunt Jody will be none the wiser! This is my tried and true method for when guests come by on short notice. Just do me a favor, if you ever visit my house, please don't look in my oven or bathtub.