Guests coming? Here’s what to clean first.

Trying to clean everything before guests is how you end up wiping a baseboard while the bathroom still looks like a crime scene. Guests don’t score your closets. They notice smell, trash, the first three steps inside, the bathroom, and the room you sit in.

Clean in this order

• Trash and anything that smells, bags out, bins not overflowing
• Entry, shoes, bags, the table you dump keys on
• The bathroom they will use, toilet, sink, a clear counter, a hand towel
• Visible clutter in the social room, couch, coffee table, floor path
• Kitchen, sink and the counters you can see from the doorway
• Floors in those same rooms, crumbs and obvious piles, not edges
• Dishes, done or stacked like you meant it