House Cleaning: Deep Cleaning for the Holidays

House cleaning before the holidays means no need to deep clean during the busy holiday season. You can relax and focus your time on enjoying the holiday season with friends and family instead of stressing about getting your home ready.  That’s the kind of holiday we all want to enjoy!

October is the perfect time to deep clean your home. The school and sports routines should be running smoothly, with the fall tournaments still a few weeks away. With the days still relatively warm, you can hang items outside to dry or air out. If your home is really cluttered and needs a lot of help, take a step back and focus only on one or two areas. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you won’t be able to do all the cleaning you’d love to do before the holidays.

If you need to schedule carpet cleaning by an outside contractor, do it in October. Many carpet cleaning businesses are busy during November, and will appreciate scheduling your home for the less busy time.

Break Your Home Down into Zones

Tackling all the deep cleaning all at once can be so stressful. Breaking your home down into zones allows you to spend a week working on only 1 or 2 rooms at a time. Start with the areas that will get the most use during the holiday season. Think about which areas your guests will see. These areas need to be visually decluttered and free of cobwebs, dirty marks on the walls, and spilled applesauce on the floor. These are also the areas you’ll want to decorate during the holiday season. Put them in their best light for your family and guests.

Below is my zone cleaning schedule I use year round. You may want to switch weeks 4 and 5 if your living room is the hub of your social gatherings. We use our living room during parties, though the living room doesn’t get as dirty as the rest of our first floor.

• Wipe kitchen and bathroom counter
• Dishwasher run and emptied
• Wash and put away one load of laundry
• Make beds
• Put away toys and homework

In November, before the Thanksgiving holidays, I recommend doing a quick run through of the zones again. You’ll want to focus on tasks like dusting photographs, wiping finger prints off – anything that keeps your home looking clean for the holidays.

Maintain Your Home During the Holidays

Once you’ve deep cleaned your home, stick to a daily minimum to keep your home in good shape for unexpected visitors. If you need to tidy quickly, you’re already have a headstart on making your home reasonably presentable for guests.

My daily 5 house cleaning tasks are:

• Wipe kitchen and bathroom counter
• Dishwasher run and emptied
• Wash and put away one load of laundry
• Make beds
• Put away toys and homework

As long as I get these done daily during the holiday season, I can relax and enjoy the kids holiday activities and our holiday baking sessions. I can even miss a day of daily cleaning tasks, and get back on track the next day.

Resources

Fall Cleaning Checklist from Megan

Zone Cleaning

• Dining Room Detailed Cleaning List (Zone 1) July to December
• KITCHEN Detailed Cleaning list (Zone 2) July to December
• Master Bathroom Detailed Cleaning List (Zone 3) July to December
• MASTER BEDROOM Detailed Cleaning List (Zone 4) July to December
• LIVING ROOM Detailed Cleaning List (Zone 5) July to December

Holiday Cleaning Plans

• House & Holidays Plan at Organized Christmas
• Holiday Grand Plan
• Holiday House Cleaning Tips from Better Homes and Gardens

Barb is a mom of 4 boys and 1 princess who spends her day keeping track of Nerf guns, stuffed animals, and library books when she isn’t writing about all the frugality, organizing, cooking, and reading she manages to fit in between the crazy, loud moments. Her idea of quiet time is a trail run in the woods. Barb can be found at A Life inBalance.