Getting your home ready before Thanksgiving guests arrive

Most people try to clean the whole home the day before the family arrives, while also shopping, cooking and finding the good tablecloth. It works, but it is a hard way to start a holiday. Splitting it into two visits takes most of the pressure off.

Two visits, not one

• One to two weeks before: the deep clean. Baseboards, door frames, the guest bathroom top to bottom, inside the oven and the refrigerator, and the corners of the dining room nobody looks at the rest of the year
• One or two days before: a regular clean. Kitchen counters and sink, bathrooms, floors and a pass through the rooms guests will actually sit in

Doing the oven and the fridge a week early matters. You will want both working and full the day before, not empty and drying.

What guests actually notice

Not the windows or the garage. They notice the guest bathroom, the entryway, the smell of the home when they walk in, and anything at eye level in the kitchen and dining room. A clean towel, an empty bathroom trash and a clear place to set down coats go further than a spotless basement.

The entryway, before the weather turns

By late November in Chesterton and along the lakeshore, guests bring in wet leaves, mud and sometimes the first road salt. A washable mat outside, a second one inside, and somewhere obvious to put boots saves the floors you had cleaned two days earlier.

Book early

The two weeks before Thanksgiving are among the busiest of the year for any cleaning company in Northwest Indiana, and the days just before the holiday go first. If you want help this year, ask by the end of October so the dates you want are still open.