Entertaining visitors can be exciting, stressful, or a cocktail of both depending on your mood or personality, but you know that tidying up is necessary. You scrub, you freshen, and you move and hide things.
Some people go all out and turn their homes into hospital-level sterile spaces worthy of a magazine cover, while many settle for a clean but lived-in look. As a guest visiting someone’s abode for the first time, you probably take notice of the décor, smell, and cleanliness factor.
When met with something that unpleasantly catches your eyes, nose, or ears off guard, you stifle your thoughts or feelings of mortification. Until you get home. And since people can be judgmental, we tend to talk about those bad impressions and decide whether or not we care to return somewhere for a meal or playdate – especially concerning the kitchen.
What’s the worst offender? According to a survey by AreaRugs.com, it’s a funky litter box. The company questioned 1,000 male and female participants about what bothers or pleases them as guests or hosts, with some questions revolving around rooms in the home. Answers were divided by gender.
For kitchens, over 80% of men and over 80% of women selected a dirty litter box as the biggest turnoff. But those of you who are cat-averse shouldn’t rejoice just yet, because following at a close second is having a pile of filthy dishes in the sink.
Think about it: would you want the sight or smell of poo anywhere near a cooking or eating area? Restaurants get rated and shut down for this major infraction, so don’t be surprised if you have guests who are put off even if they don’t express it directly to you. Just remember to clean it out before they arrive!
Need a little extra help to nix your kitty’s stink? Try this litter box deodorizer, picked #1 by Amazon.
Other rooms asked about in this survey included the bathroom and living room. Secretly, how many of you are low-key bathroom inspectors when you visit a place? We knew it! And the first thing you look at is what? Yup – it’s the toilet. As you may have guessed, this scored highest when it came to negative first impressions of bathrooms.
Living room offenders include cobwebs, stained furniture, and pet hair. But pet fur seems to bother fellow pet owners less than non-owners. What to do? If you are expecting company, scan each room and hit each area that needs to be cleaned from top to bottom.
Take a broom or vacuum to those corner cobwebs, a lint roller to pet hair, and some vinegar spritz for furniture stains. And if you do nothing else, make sure your toilet bowl is fresh and perhaps leave a bottle of spray that can eliminate stinky smells in the bathroom. Some of your guests will appreciate it.
As a guest, don’t be too hard on your hosts for trivial crayon marks or a dollop of cake icing on the counter. Stuff happens! But word to the wise: keep the messiness down and no one will turn their nose up.
When you’re a guest, what’s the biggest turn off about someone’s home? Would you have guessed a dirty litter box as the worst culprit? What’s been your worst experience as a guest or host?
