How to Make a Messy Room Seem Clean

You have unexpected company coming over in 15 minutes and your place is completely trashed. What do you do? You don't have the time for an all-out cleaning session, but you do have the time to make the room at least seem a little neater than it appears. Here's how to do it.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Ingenuity
• Hiding places

1. Build piles. This is a wonderful technique for neatening up a room. Whether it's clothes, papers, books or odds and ends, stacking things in a neat pile instantly makes a place seem less cluttered.

2. Make use of unseen nooks and crannies. Small places in a room that are too small for furniture or storage are great for this. Spots between a radiator and wall or underneath a couch work wonderfully. Temporarily store things here that you don't have time to put away. If they're partially out of sight, that's all that matters.

3. Make good use of storage space. If you have drawers or cabinets or boxes, shove stuff in them! You don't have time to be picky. No one is going to notice. Just make sure you clean up this new mess you've created afterwards.

4. Throw away what you can. Toss out whatever you can be it old receipts, newspapers or junk mail. No need to stack these things so you just have to clean it up later.