I learned how to keep my house permanently tidy when living in Iran with my grandma – the art of 'dido-baazdid’ permanently altered my brain chemistry

Iranians are incredibly hospitable, so much so that they have a name for their culture of being visited and quickly returning the visit – ‘dido-baazdid’.

I'm a second-generation Iranian who mostly grew up in the West, but I also lived in Iran with my grandma, and this social norm has shaped my tidying habits with one glorious benefit: my house is permanently tidy and always guest-ready.

You don’t have to be Persian to enjoy this unexpected boon. Professional organizers and cleaners agree it’s a brilliant cleaning tip to keep your home permanently tidy.

What is dido-baazdid and can it help keep your home tidy?

'Dido-baazdid' translates to English as 'seen-seen again'. It’s a cultural practice rooted in connection and respect, and a part of day-to-day life in Iran. People there visit friends, loved ones, out-of-towners, and elders as a mark of respect. In return, they visit you in your home soon after, usually within days, to repay the kindness and see you again.

This means in Iranian culture, keeping your home tidy is a must. I lived in Tehran as a child and spent summer months there as a teenager and adult, and it is no exaggeration to say that most days, a week, we visited people or had guests pop in to see us.

Therefore, if you wanted to avoid being in a perpetual cycle of mess-clearing and big tidy-ups, Iranian families kept up with micro resets and clever tidying habits. This meant our homes were presentable and ready to receive guests with as little as 10 minutes' notice.

These are tidying tips I've learned from the cultural practice of dido-baazdid, which you can easily adopt and enjoy the benefits of a tidy home with, wherever you are in the world:

• Keep entryways clear of coats and shoes by storing extras away. This means guests always have space to hang their items when they arrive. A simple coat stand, available from Wayfair, is a good solution.
• Reduce visual clutter in the living room or kitchen, where you usually spend time with guests. You can use the pick up and place organizing method daily to stop any mess from creeping up on you.
• Keep coffee tables and dining tables free of functional mess. Work items, hobby items, or kids' toys should go away as soon as you're finished with them. This will mean there isn't a need for a last-minute tidying panic.
• Make sure everything has a home, so when any hobby or task is completed, it gets put away. This allows for last-minute guests with minimal tidying as things are already where they belong.
• Speaking of which, we always did multiple micro-resets throughout the day to keep on top of mess.
• Make it a team effort so your family is motivated to clean. Everyone in the house chipped in daily when I was growing up, including the kids. Teaching children age-appropriate responsibility for chores means no one ends up flying solo, overwhelmed by cleaning or tidying. Quality lead cleaner at FreshSpace Cleaning, Rhonda Wilson, adds, 'Aside from our space being consistently tidy, the influence it instills in our kids is the biggest win. If they grow up in a home like that, they’ll start to see tidiness as the default. Fast forward to when they have their own dorm room, apartment, or home. They’ll already know how to keep things together.'
• Wash dishes immediately. In all the years I spent living or visiting Iran, I never saw a house with a dishwasher. Whoever didn’t cook, did the dishes by hand after each meal, drying and putting everything away by the time pudding was served. Similarly, whoever cooked didn't just clean the kitchen after dinner, they washed dishes as they cooked. This insures your sink and drain area is always clear for unexpected guests.
• Shut the doors on rooms you don't have time to tidy. It's not a cheat, it's a healthy boundary and signals to last-minute guests that a space isn't quite for their use. In Tehran, this was particularly relevant as most people lived in apartments.
• Whilst not quite a tidying tip, it was an important part of the culture of dido-baazdid to have a separate set of guest crockery that is dust-free and ready to go, giving a put-together offering of drinks and snacks, no matter how short notice the visitors.

What the experts say

In the West, social visits are much more pre-planned, but in Iran, as with many Middle Eastern countries, this is culturally acceptable, and leads to a lot of permanently tidy homes.

In my experience growing up in a large Iranian family, with endless friends and colleagues, the moment the phone rang and we realized guests were on their way, my dad or cousins hot-footed it to the bakery for some delicious treats to serve our guests, whilst a quick whip around the house left it immaculately tidy.

Jeremy Yamaguchi, CEO of Cabana Pools, says, ‘Keeping your home guest-ready means less last-minute scrambling to get things organized and looking nice before someone stops over on a whim. Give extra attention to the areas in your home where you are most likely to entertain guests (as well as the rooms they will need to use, like your main bathrooms).'

Keeping a regular cleaning schedule is something people with clean bathrooms always do, and will lessen the load when people are on their way over.

'Especially during the warmer months, include your outdoor living space in this. Keep your patio organized and your pool clean so that those areas can be used immediately. This could include keeping your outdoor items and pool covered at all times when not in use, so that you don’t have to worry as much about cleaning your outdoor furniture last-minute.'

Cleaning pro Rhonda Wilson says she tries to make her own home guest-ready for the same effect seen in the dido-baazdid practice by hacking her brain to make chores easier. She says, 'I tell myself the in-laws are visiting, even though it’s just my friends coming. And for me, that is really a great motivator!'

Rhona notes there's surface-level cleaning, and then there’s 'someone’s-coming-over' cleaning, adding, 'That pushes us to clean deeper than we normally would. Shifting into guest-mode stops us from being blind to the mess.'

There are many benefits to having a tidy home, and as Rhonda says, it shouldn't be a pleasure reserved only for guests. 'At the end of the day,' she says, 'even if no one visited, it just feels so good to have a tidy, inviting space. It shouldn't be reserved only for others. It’s a form of self-care too.'

I couldn't agree more. If, like me, you suffer from chronic illness, pain, or fatigue, or are recovering from surgery, you can tidy the house without further injuries or flares by using adaptive pacing when cleaning.