Hello, hotel! Four tricks you can use to become a VIP in your home

It's fascinating how much life changes over the years. When I used to live in Zurich's Niederdorf neighbourhood, I loved spending my evenings in the bars in the area or inviting friends round for dinner. Lively conversations with smart and funny people were my purpose in life. I was practically never alone at home, and housekeeping was more or less limited to preparing the wine glasses for the next use and picking up the still usable cannabis crumbs from the floor.

That was a while ago. I'm now 46 years old and have other interests. Although at this stage of life it's perhaps better to talk about quirks - I don't think "peace and quiet from the world" can be described as an interest, and neither can "excessive housekeeping". Be that as it may, I'm reluctant to leave my flat and love to restore it again and again to a state in which it presents itself as my personal little hotel. I use the following simple tricks to do this

1. change your bed linen every week and make your bed every morning

If I were rich, I would hire someone to change my bed linen every night. As long as I can't afford it, I just do it myself, at least once a week, and always fall asleep surrounded by the smell and feeling of freshness. I also fluff the pillows and fold the duvet every morning as soon as I get up. An unmade bed gives the whole bedroom an unkempt look, whereas a made bed clearly shows that someone cares: Someone here is worth something!

With this in mind, it is also worth buying high-quality bed linen, especially linen. The likeable Zurich-based company Naughty Linen has many beautiful items on sale.

2. vacuum clean daily

I always wonder where all the dust comes from, and when I read on Wikipedia that a large proportion of it is human skin particles, I think that there must be a lot more people dandering around here than me, my son and my friend who comes to visit us with her daughter (I only tolerate other people here in absolute emergencies). Little Meyer also contributes to the fact that I feel compelled to reach for my hoover every day: despite admonitions to the contrary, he nibbles biscuits everywhere and only takes his shoes off after he has marched into the kitchen to get some biscuits. He even leaves cosmic dust on my carpets (source: Wikipedia)!

With or without a child: daily vacuuming is essential for a tidy home, and if you still have one of these unwieldy hose monsters in the cupboard: dispose of it and get a cordless model that you mount in a central location in the home. This will make it much easier to pick up afterwards. Ideally, it should have merciless LED lights - that way you won't miss a thing. Others find candlelight romantic; my heart, on the other hand, rejoices when I'm driving around my dark flat in the evening with the high beam on.

Vacuum cleaners

Philips XC8045/01 Speed Pro Max

175

Vacuum cleaners

Philips XC8045/01 Speed Pro Max

175

3. clean the washbasin and pouring stone every day

The magic power of microfibre cloths has already been praised here by my colleague Knecht, who uses them to make all sorts of things shine, but for some inexplicable reason doesn't mention the most important application: cleaning the washbasin! I'll spare you the before and after pictures in this case, but a washbasin calcifies in no time at all, and you also spit toothpaste foam into it several times a day, which adds to the anti-hotel film. That's why I put a microfibre cloth right next to the towel to polish the sink and the tap to a high shine every evening.

But that's not enough; limescale and toothpaste scaling are too powerful opponents. So you can't avoid using a limescale cleaner regularly. Incidentally, I use a dish brush for this: with its rugged bristle power, you can bring the sink, tap and stopper up to military inspection level in no time!

Descalers

Held Lime remover

500 ml

14

Descalers

Held Lime remover

500 ml

14

A similar brush is also available in the kitchen, but not for the crockery, but for the pouring stone. In this case, you need to use a grease-dissolving cleaner for obvious reasons and a chrome steel cleaner from time to time. Because here, too, your eyes will constantly fall on sparkling cleanliness or cloudy carelessness and this will have a corresponding effect on your self-image.

Of course, you should also clean your loo every day. The reason and methods are known.

4. Reduce your storage space and tidy up

Tables, sideboards, shelves and the like have a mysterious quality: they magnetically suck in documents, keys, toys and cables until they are completely covered; as if they were vampire furniture that shuns the light of the sun. This also quickly looks sloppy, which is why you should reduce your storage areas and create a strict regime for the remaining ones: Define what can be placed on them and clear away everything that has taken up residence without authorisation every evening. A mess box can also be stored in a wall cupboard or wardrobe. Tidy up something else every day too.

Conclusion

You've often read "daily", "every morning" and "every evening" here, and unfortunately it's true: if you don't constantly maintain your household, you'll lose the race for the most beautiful private hotel after just a few metres against the dusty, chalky, chaotic everyday life. But: the measures described here won't cost you much time. Just 10 minutes of conscious daily housework will earn you a solid 3 hotel stars, 15 minutes will put you in the 4-star class, and 25 minutes a day will take you to the 5-star Olympus. And it's worth it. Because there's someone in your home who deserves to be pampered every day: you.

What are your hotel hacks? Write them in the comments!