After the celebrations, it’s always necessary to have a festivities clean up in your home. Here are some of my top tips for returning your home to its former ordered and ready to start a fresh new year.
Start by taking down the decorations
Get some empty boxes to put all your decorations in and start stripping away the Christmas tree. Depending on the types of ornaments, you may want to use different boxes, one for the heavy ones and one for the more delicate ones. Remember to wrap the delicate ones to avoid breakage.
Wrap your Christmas lights around a cardboard tube or wire coat hanger, to avoid a tangled mess. You’ll be grateful for this trick next year when you are not spending ages unwrapping cords. Most of the time they never fit back in the boxes.
If you had a real Christmas tree, then you could be battling the inevitable onslaught of pine needles for months to come. It’s easy to think you’ve done the job when you’ve removed the tree from your home and cleaned up the immediate aftermath. HOWEVER it’s an ideal opportunity for a deep clean of that room which includes underneath sofas, rugs, chairs etc and even underneath sofa cushions – you’ll be amazed where those little needles end up!
Don’t forget to recycle your real tree many local councils will arrange free Christmas tree collections in January. It is worth having a look at your local council’s website to see what they offer in your area.
Start with the kitchen
The kitchen probably took the biggest battering over Christmas so start here. Begin by clearing clutter and deep cleaning all the surfaces and cupboard doors, they may be sticky from over cooking, food spillages and messy hands. You are also going to need to set aside some time and focus on the dishwasher, that has worked over time cleaning all those dirty dishes. Hand scrub the edges and then use a good dishwasher cleaner that will leave it squeaky clean. Next the hob and don’t forget to run a cocktail stick under the edging where food particles get stuck, I always find it amazing what comes out and next the dreaded oven. The biggest cleaning job in the kitchen that will take time, but ensure you have some good products to hand along with some rubber gloves. If you want some oven cleaning tips take a look here.
Tackle any floor stains and deep clean the floor, if you have a steam cleaner this is defiantly the time to get it out as it will give your floor that extra clean feeling, break down any food odours and lift dirt. Remember you do not need to use any products with your steam cleaner the power of steam is enough to kill germs and bacteria.
Clean your fridge
Like your kitchen, the fridge is probably also a mess. Start going through the content of your fridge and remove any expired foods and things you will not eat. You don’t want to leave anything to rot away in there. Get everything out and give it a deep clean, I always find warm soapy water and a splash of white vinegar works well and the vinegar will help to banish any food smells.
Remove stains
Check all carpeted areas for any stains and clean immediately, mix together warm soapy water and white vinegar as this will remove most stains, scrub in using a bristle brush and then pat dry using a white cloth, white will show you if you are removing the stains. if you have a carpet cleaner it is a good time of year to get this out and not only clean but refresh your carpets. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing that dirt being pulled out.
Also check your table cloth and table linen for stains and get them washed and ironed ready for when you next have guests.
Think about next Christmas
Whilst you’re going through all of the Christmas decorations and cards, ask yourself if you can reuse them next year. You can turn old cards into gift tags for your presents, just cut out the part that you want from the front and recycle the rest. If you have any leftover wrapping paper put it in a safe place like a wrapping paper organising bag then you won’t end up buying more when it’s time to wrap the presents.
Don’t forget my January declutter this will help you get clutter out and get super organised for the year ahead, print a copy of and tick as you go and just focus on 10 minutes a day.
