How To Fake A Clean House In A Pinch

You’ve got guests coming over in an hour and the place is a disaster. The household mavens at Real Simple explain how to fake a clean house when you don’t have time for the real thing. The tips range from obvious to useful to even a bit strange, but in all it’s a pretty good read. For example, the first tip hits the useful-and-strange nail on the head:

Reserve one side of sofa cushions to be shown to guests. Before company arrives, flip over the cushions to reveal good-as-new fabric. When guests are gone, flip them back.

We can’t help but wonder if you’d be better served actually doing a proper cleaning than tackling some of these fake cleaning chores, but the post does offer a few gems. If you’re a master at the quick clean, help out your cleanliness-challenged co-readers by sharing your best tricks and shortcuts in the comments. Photo by givepeasachance.