Esther O’Moore Donohoe: Playing the perfect host in a pandemic age

Cleaning your house so that you can invite someone over? Then make sure you get as much wear out of it as possible

‘I was dusting and sweeping with abandon, stopping only every 15 minutes to have a snack or lie face-down on the floor screaming. When I finally completed my task, three days after I had started, the whole place shone brighter than the top of the Ilac Centre’. Picture: Getty

I recently watched Mrs Hinch, the so-called Cleanfluencer and owner of an almost entirely grey home, “hinch” her bathroom. She used six cleaning products, three different cloths, a mop, a Window Vac and a sprig of eucalyptus to get the job done. With an estimated personal wealth of over £1 million, both her future and her loo look bright. But as I watched her buff her taps with her microfibre Minky, my go-to Amy Poehler ...