Cleaning Hot Spots for Faking a Tidy Home

Given the ultra-busy lives most people lead, it's no surprise that keeping up with housework can be an ongoing challenge. While you may not have time for a weekly deep clean, there are several tidying tasks that can help your house appear spotless from floor to ceiling. Taking care of the following cleaning projects, recommended by cleaning expert and Real Simple Editor Leslie Corona, will make it seem like you spent the entire weekend cleaning:

Focus on large glass surfaces.

Prone to fingerprints and dust build-up, glass surfaces like a coffee table or wall mirror can make your home appear dirty. So spend some time wiping them down on the regular. When glass is sparkling clean, it helps your whole house shine.

Make fast work of clutter.

If you don't have time to sort through the clutter that's accumulating around your house, deciding whether to throw things away or finding the right spot in which to store them, designate a large basket as a temporary receptacle and breeze through the house collecting misplaced odds and ends. Corona recommends then covering the basket with an attractive blanket, and suddenly your home is vastly cleaner.

Keep kitchen counters clean.

The one area you should tend to on the regular are your kitchen counters. A daily landing spot for crumbs and spills, counters can get messy fast. Keep a small counter brush and dustpan handy to sweep up crumbs, and a cloth for wiping up spots. Clean counters are a big visual cue that your home is clean.

Vacuum selectively.

Cleaning every floor surface in your home before guests arrive can be way too arduous a task, so focus only on the areas where people will actually congregate—but do a thorough job, making sure to vacuum the corners of these spaces. Pet hair and dust balls tend to build up in corners, threatening to expose the fact that your home is not as clean as it should be.

Take out the trash and light a candle.

If your trash cans are more than halfway full, empty them before company arrives. This will not only eliminate any offensive garbage odors, it will signal cleanliness when a guest throws something away. Then open the curtains and light a candle. Corona explains that natural light helps a home look cleaner than it actually is. As for the candle, nothing says clean like a lovely aroma.