12 House Cleaning Hacks for the Holidays

It can be exciting to check the calendar and notice the holidays are near, and your home will be bubbling with lots of activities in a matter of weeks or days.

These expected moments are, indeed, priceless.

After so many months at your job, the presence of your friends and family members in your home is just enough to relieve you of the stress you've been through. Such that when you resume work after the holidays, you resume with renewed energy.

Preparing for the holidays may, however, end up becoming a stressful exercise. The need to clean your home spick and span to give your visitors a lasting impression about the cleanliness of your home will get you concerned.

At this point, you may seek ways to fit your cleaning exercise into your busy schedule.

 

Cleaning Tips for the Holiday

Below are strategic cleaning tips that will attract compliments from your visitors. Observe them to get the job done as expected.

 

1. Set Your Priorities

Time and circumstances are two factors you barely have control over as a person.

Sometimes, your job might be so demanding that you barely have time to carry out all the proposed cleaning exercises. Other times, you may be caught up with unforeseen circumstances or emergencies, causing you to lose out on the cleaning exercise.

Whatever the case, the holidays will arrive, and your home might be unreceptive to visitors and even unpleasant for you and your family.

You can reduce the chances of having an unreceptive home by setting your cleaning priorities right. First, make a to-do list of your cleaning exercises, beginning with the most important and difficult ones. You’ll have been done with the important ones in the event where you are unable to finish the tasks on your list.

 

2. Split the Job

You've probably always preferred doing the cleaning in your home alone or with minimal assistance from anyone. Well, it's time to get all hands on deck if you must complete the cleaning in good time.

Have everyone in the house contribute to the cleaning, including the kids. For example, you can have the kids put their rooms in order, remove their toys from the sitting room, and de-clutter the sitting room.

If you have the resources, you can hire someone to mow the lawn and trim the flowers in the yard into nice shapes. Just make sure the job is split.

 

3. Make Quick Improvisations

As you clean your home, you may notice some broken items, faulty devices and equipment, or worn-out materials that may not be pleasing to the eyes of your visitors. You can make everything look perfect during the holidays by doing some touches on them.

If your curtains, chair covers, or dining table cover have some tears or holes, do some decorative stitches on them or sew some fancy badges over the holes on the clothes.

Make large decorations (with ribbons, cards, or any decorative piece you can find) over the walls if the paints are already faded. Old and faulty appliances you can't remove easily, such as fans, refrigerators, and televisions, can be decorated or worn with a cover.

 

4. Use Fragrance as You Clean

Most of the cleaning materials we use, such as soaps, detergents, and antiseptics, now come with sweet smells. Take advantage of this to  make your home smell nice all day.  And when you’re done with cleaning, choose from the many types and brands of air fresheners available to make the air in your home scent nice.

However, you have to be mild when using air fresheners as your visitors may be allergic to the scents.

 

5. Tidy the Guest Room

The guest room and bathroom are barely used in many homes. But as the holiday approaches, there are possibilities that you will have a guest who may want to sleep over or use the bathroom. Surely, you don't want to be caught off guard.

Visit the guest room and do a thorough clean up. Replace any missing item your guest might need to pass the night in your house. The bathroom should be sparkling clean; toiletries and water should also be readily available.

The convenience of your guest matters a lot.

 

6. Clean Up the Deep Freezers and Refrigerators

Holidays are usually characterized by lots of cooking. You may have to prepare various dishes that will last for the holidays. As such, you may have to stock your deep freezer and refrigerator with food. Clean properly before storing new food items to keep things tidy.

Consume leftover food and get rid of expired ones. Clean the stains in the deep freezer and get it ready to be restocked with your holidays' dishes.

 

7. Give the Windows a Special Treatment

It's important to give your windows a special treatment as the holiday approaches. This exercise should go beyond the regular wiping of dust off the windows. Instead, use stain removers to remove greasy and unfamiliar stains.

Take time to ensure that there is no dirt by the corners of the window and the window panes are as clear as possible.

After cleaning, notice how the decorative light shining in your sitting room becomes attractive to passers-by at night. Of course, this won't go unnoticed by your visitors.

 

8. Focus on High Traffic Areas in the Home

There are some areas in your home that experience lots of activities and, as a result, are prone to getting dirty always. Areas like the hallway, sitting room, balcony, and room entrances are usually high traffic areas.

These areas deserve thorough cleaning because they are likely to give your visitors their first impression of your home. The areas require regular cleaning till the holidays are over.

So, you might need to get some standby cleaning equipment at all times. If there are no doormats at the entrances, provide some. They will help reduce the dirt entering your home.

 

9. Rearrange the Kitchen

An area of the home prone to being messed up hours after cleaning or de-cluttering is the kitchen. For the sake of the holidays, you can give a more lasting solution by carrying out a rearrangement of items in the kitchen.

Start by removing faulty microwaves, toasters, and bread toasters from occupying space in the kitchen. Rearrange them alongside other rarely used appliances and equipment in the kitchen if you can’t remove them. This rearrangement will give your kitchen a new look.

Extend this gesture to foodstuffs lying around in the kitchen. Package all the foodstuffs you have in large quantities and keep them in the storeroom, cabinet, or an area of the kitchen. With these, cleaning the kitchen will be a lot easier and faster.

 

10. Clean the Spills

You may begin to entertain visitors as you begin the holidays. While at the dining table with them, there might be spillage of wine or drinks on the table or floor. You don't need to fret when it happens.

If it's a spill of red wine on the floor, simply pour white wine on it and sprinkle a generous amount of salt on the spill. Thereafter, cover the area with a damp towel. You can then dry clean it with a towel after dinner.

Another cleaning trick that may help is using white vinegar to remove tea or coffee stains. You can also use a cloth dabbed in a hydrogen peroxide solution to remove similar stains on your tiles.

If you can't get these items, or are skeptical about using them, simply get a stain-remover handy. You will need them as the holiday goes by.

 

11. Manage Waste Properly

Waste management is a skill you must exercise to get your home ready for the holidays. There are bound to be lots of generated waste while you clean the home or prepare the dishes.

If you dump them carelessly, they may attract rodents into your home or pollute the environment, thereby causing you some embarrassment.

Consider packing your waste into a garbage bag and keeping them at a distance away from your home, pending when the waste management agency in your area comes to pick it up.

 

12. Keep Your Cleaning Equipment Handy

No matter how much you clean your home in preparedness for the holidays, it may get untidy again after you've received your first visitor. As such, you should do some light cleaning before the next visitor arrives. Having some brushes, mops, and detergents handy will save you the embarrassment of an untidy home.

After cooking or clearing the dining table, you must wash the dirty dishes as soon as possible. A messed up kitchen will definitely be a turn off for your visitors.