A quick and effective #holiday #cleanup starts with #decluttering, Apartment Therapy says. It instantly makes a home more #organized and helps streamline actual cleaning tasks. Make sure you have plenty of essentials such as napkins, toilet paper and beverages. Focus on high-traffic areas and high-touch surfaces if you’re short on time, targeting the entryway, living room, dining room and kitchen. Hire a cleaning service if you have more money than time, or enlist the help of family members, housemates and trusted friends. Deputizing them to help clean may even turn into a festive #holiday event in itself!
Tag: clean-up tips
The 12 Days of Christmas Cleaning
There’s enough time before #Christmas to complete the 12-day holiday cleaning countdown Real Simple suggests to get the whole house in order with just a little daily effort. On the first day, simply stock up on #cleaning supplies. Next, clean out the pantry; you may be doing some cooking, and expired items will get in the way. Ten days out, take stock of your tableware; then clean the oven, refrigerator and kitchen floors. Move on to the bathrooms and guest rooms. With targeted but ongoing efforts, all you’ll need to do is empty the trashcans and sweep the floors by the final day before your guests arrive.
Start Your Holiday Cleaning ASAP
Start your #holiday #cleaning early, Forbes advises. #Declutter things that have a tendency to collect in places they don’t belong, such as laundry, mail and other objects. Tackle a room at a time, starting with the ones that will get the most use: the dining room, living room and kitchen. The entryway is important to maintaining cleanliness, so designate a space for guests’ shoes and coats, including a boot tray or doormat for mucked-up footwear. Once you’ve completed the #cleaning to your satisfaction, set the mood by mulling a hot beverage or lighting a scented candle. Turn on the holiday tunes and enjoy the season!
Deep-Clean or Quick-Clean for the Holidays
Hosting for the #holidays? You’ll probably need to #tidy up before friends and family arrive. Better Homes & Gardens offers tips for a seven-day, comprehensive, preholiday deep-clean; targeted, one-hour spruce-ups; and emergency triage for holiday stains. If you only have an hour or two before your guests arrive, focus on the bathrooms they will use, as well as the entryway, living room and kitchen. “Carry a laundry basket throughout the house, picking up #clutter as you go. Once filled, put everything in its place or hide the basket.” Revisit the basket after the holidays to see what you might #donate to ClothingDonations.org.
Fall Cleaning: Just as Important as Spring Cleaning
Spring cleaning always gets the spotlight. Why? Because people feel like they need to make a fresh start after a long and grueling winter. But fall cleaning is just as important; after all, you’ll be indoors for three months or more, why not spend it a clean place?
The first and most obvious thing to do is get your furnace inspected if you own your own home, and change the filter even if you don’t. You’ll want to enjoy consistent heat throughout the winter, as well as clean air coming out of the vents.
Then, you’ll want to initiate a thorough cleaning. The first step — as always — is to purge some of the things you don’t need. The holidays are coming, and you can make space for new stuff — or all of the guests you’ll be hosting at your Thanksgiving, Christmas and Super Bowl parties.
Town & Country magazine has a list of 50 things that you probably don’t need to keep: condiment packets, outdated reference books, canvas totes, unworn costume jewelry, extra mugs, leftover paint and old phones. They’re just taking up space.
Bag up any lightly used clothing and household goods that might be of use to someone else and contact ClothingDonations.org for a contactless #donation pickup. A truck will visit your house on the appointed day to take that #junk away for good.
Then, start a targeted, room-by-room dusting and cleaning. Take as many hours or days as you need, but concentrate your efforts to make sure everything gets organized, dusted, wiped, mopped and sanitized.
Dust, pollen and insects such as moths probably blew into your home over the summer. Don’t let pests set up shop and overwinter in your basement or rafters. “See who’s hiding where and giving them a squish or kick to the curb before they start snacking on you or your clothes,” Apartment Therapy says.
Think of fall cleaning as a fresh start on a new season — one in which you’llbe spending a lot of time indoors. Don’t you want to live in a clean, sparkling and healthy home? Get started while you can still can!