Are you hosting an upcoming holiday at your Central California home? We’ve got Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve coming up. If you have out-of-town guests staying at your house, or you’re hosting a meal or a party, you might be pretty stressed out. It’s a lot of work.

As your Central California real estate agent, I want to share some tips from POPSUGAR on how to stay calm when hosting guests at your house.

• Load your fridge. You don’t want any of your guests to go hungry, but you also don’t want to be slaving over the stove while your guests are there. You want to be spending time with them and enjoying yourself! Therefore, load up your fridge before they get there with snacks, and prepare meals ahead of time. Purchase items that are easy to pop in the oven, such as refrigerated bread dough or cookie dough, or the basics for a salad, which are easy to toss together.

• Clean your bathrooms. Every guest is most likely going to use the bathroom at least once, whether staying overnight or not, so this is an area that you want to give focus on cleaning. Remove clutter by stashing extra toilet paper, towels and the like in a cabinet, so everything they need is still there when needed, but out of the way enough for you to give everything a quick cleaning.

• Hide personal stuff. For the sake of cleanliness, organization and security, put away all of your clutter, especially the important stuff. This means removing stacks of mail, bills, magazines and books, along with dirty laundry, toys and pet items. The short-term solution is to throw everything in a closet that no one will go in. A better solution is to organize the paper items into filing cabinets, clean the laundry before guests arrive, and purchase bins for toys.

• Create guest baskets. Before overnight guests arrive, create a basket of items that they may have forgotten to pack. This could include deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush, hair spray, etc. This will save you from having to take a trip to the store after they arrive. Whatever they don’t use can be saved for future guests.

• Make comfort key. You want your guests to feel comfortable, so while cleanliness and organization is key, so is comfort! This could mean moving furniture so it’s geared more for large gatherings, or it could mean adding some throw blankets and pillows to your couches or guest beds. You could even light some scented candles, or throw some cookies or cinnamon rolls in the oven, for that homey aroma.

For more tips on how to prepare for house guests, read the POPSUGAR article in its entirety. When your guests arrive, you should get to enjoy the holidays as much as them, rather than be stressing the whole time over minor details!

The bonus to all this is that these tips for hosting house guests are also great tips for preparing for showings or open houses when selling your Central California home. When ready to sell, or when ready to buy, contact me, your Central California real estate agent! I’m here for you!

Grace Borzini
Your Local Lake Nacimiento Real Estate Expert
Oak Shores Realty

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Oak Shores Realty specializes in Oak Shores at Lake Nacimiento properties. Please contact us today to get more information on Lake Nacimiento lake homes. Oak Shores Realty can also provide you an insiders “Lake Nacimiento Buying Guide” with great information including maps and market information.