Tips to Prepare for Holiday Guests

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I am proud to be a 3M-sponsored blogger with the opportunity to evaluate 3M products.  All opinions are always my own and additional products used in this post were selected by me.  #HealthierHome

I don’t know about you, but I’m excited that I’ve got holiday guests coming to stay with us in just a couple of weeks.  I can’t wait for them to arrive.  I want to make sure everything is ready for my guests and their visit, (and getting ready helps distract me from the agony of waiting) so I use these tips to prepare for holidays guests to make sure my home is clean and welcoming.

 

In preparing for holiday guests, I’m always aware of 2 challenges: it’s cold and flu season and guests may have allergies, so I want to minimize any irritants for them.  Here are some simple steps that I take to clean and prepare my home for holiday guests.

Do a medium to deep clean of the guest room.  If you have a separate guest room, it may need a deeper cleaning to remove dust and other allergens.  I make sure I dust the ceiling fan and blinds.  I vacuum well under the bed to remove any hidden dust.  I also wash the curtains twice a year and try to plan the wash schedule around my guests’ visits.  I want my guests to feel at home in a fresh, clean room.

Keep pets away from the guest room.  A weekend visit with a dear friend of mine was torture for my husband because of pet allergies.  My husband is highly allergic to cats and it turned out that my friend’s cat slept on the guest bed whenever we weren’t in it.  You can imagine that our visit was not much fun for my husband because of his allergies. Ideally, you should keep pets away from the guest room all the time, but particularly a few weeks before guests arrive and during their visit.

Freshen bedding. Make sure all bedding and pillows are fresh and clean.   Washing them removes allergens and dust mites.

Change the air filter and use an allergen reduction filter.  We bring many allergens into our home over the holidays; dusty ornaments and artificial trees, live trees and plants, like poinsettias and mistletoe, with pollen and mold spores, and more.   Filtrete Healthy Living Ultimate Allergen Reduction Filter MPR 1900 is effective at capturing 93% of large airborne particles such as dust, pollen and mold spores from the air passing through the filter.  It also attracts and captures microscopic allergens like pet dander, smoke, household dust and microscopic particles that can carry bacteria and viruses.  You can learn more about Filtrete Filters by following them on Facebook or Twitter. You can also register to receive seasonal e-newsletters featuring special offers, filter change reminders, better home living tips and more.

Clean door knobs, light switches, phones and other “germy” surfaces.  Since it’s cold and flu season, be sure to clean common surfaces well to reduce exposure to allergens, viruses and germs

What are your favorite tips to prepare for holiday guests?