It’s that time of year again. The holidays have arrived and along with shopping, cold weather and holiday festivities, you have family and friends coming to town to celebrate with you. Typically guests want to stay in someone’s home because it’s more affordable and more fun to spend as much time with the family as possible.
If you’ve been chosen to host guests in your home, have you considered how everyone and their things will fit inside your home? Many people only see visitors one time a year which means they have to make special accommodations to fit everyone in the home once a year. With the right preparations, you can have a comfortable fit for your guests by cleaning well, supplementing sleeping arrangements and storing your things in a mobile storage unit. Here is a look at what you should do.
How To Prepare For Guests
The first thing that needs to happen is a thorough house cleaning. Vacuum the whole house including rugs, mop the floor, disinfect bathroom and kitchen counters, change air filters and use a fabric odor neutralizer on upholstered seating and high traffic areas. Make sure you have clean linens and pay extra attention to thoroughly cleaning the rooms that your guests will use.
Decide on sleeping arrangements – If you have fewer rooms than guests, get inflatable air mattresses that can go in rooms for extra guests. Inflate the mattress before they arrive and make sure you have enough clean linens and pillows for these mattresses. Make sure you’ve set up guest rooms by cleaning the bedding, vacuuming, adding alarm clocks and proper lighting. Leave hangers available and dresser space to store clothes. For an extra special touch, put flowers out, a candy dish, soaps and shampoos. Don’t forget to stock your pantry with food, drinks, wine and plenty of breakfast options.
In addition to cleaning, preparing guest rooms and stocking the fridge, you may want think about things they’ll need during their stay. For example, you may want to have your Wi-Fi password handy so that they can get online when needed. Think of yourself as their hotel where they will want to sleep, shower, eat, get online and relax. Have plenty of towels ready, make a guest basket for toothpaste, razors, medicine and anything else they may forgotten, and make sure they have an empty power strip to plug in chargers. Have some holiday movies ready to watch, games to play and any other favorite family activities available.
Making Space
If you’re lucky, you have plenty of basement, attic or storage shed space to clear out some things and clear enough space to make a comfortable area for your guest. But if your home is already crowded or you are concerned about having enough space with extra guests, one way to help the situation is to use temporary mobile storage units. It will allow you to store some of your things to make more space for visitors. It’s a newer concept that is growing in popularity for those that need short and long-term storage. You just choose the size and a storage provider will drive a weather-proof container to your property and leave it with you. When you’re done with it, you’ll schedule to have the container picked up and transported to whichever destination you need.
This is perfect for those that have guests coming to town and not quite enough room. You can store your non-essentials in the mobile storage container in order to make room for incoming holiday guests that will be staying for a week to a month. They may need closets and dressers to put clothes and luggage which is helpful if you’ve cleared them enough space. These storage companies will let you keep the container for a long period of time if you need, as well. You may have to pay a monthly rental fee similar to paying for a traditional self-storage facility or you can pay by the day or week.
Before your guests arrive for the holidays, prep your home with these simple tips to maximize the enjoyment of their stay.
