Can you believe it’s already December? In just a few short weeks, we’ll be wishing each other Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. Whether you’re hosting people at your home or planning a virtual event, you want your home to look its best. And that means you need some holiday cleaning tips to get you on the right path. Today, we’re sharing our top five.
Tip 1: Clean Up the Kitchen
Not only is the kitchen where you’ll do all of your cooking, but it’s typically the hub of any party. Especially in an open floor plan, the kitchen is the gateway to the great room or the backyard, where everyone will sit. That means it needs to be clean.
Obviously, you’ll want to give the countertops, sink, and floors a good scrub. Be sure your fridge is ready for staging by cleaning it out and organizing it the week before your party. And run your self-cleaning oven to be sure no icky smells linger once you start baking.
Provide plenty of seating in the kitchen, either at the bar/island or eat-in kitchen table. And to really up-level your holiday cleaning game, grab a fresh poinsettia to put out in the kitchen. Just be sure to keep the pets away from it, as poinsettias are quite dangerous if your fluffy kids feel they are snack worthy.
Tip 2: Spend Some Time in the Bathrooms
There’s no doubt that your bathrooms will get extra use during the holiday entertainment season. Prep them now with a good scrub down. Make extra toilet paper easy to find, add a flameless candle or nightlight so guests don’t have to fuss with finding the light switch, and put out room freshener. Buy and display your lovely holiday fingertip towels to add some festivity. You can even put in some garland and twinkling lights over the mirror, which will really add to the holiday spirit!
If you will have people over, task someone to disinfect the bathroom regularly while guests are in your home. Even with great holiday cleaning, the bathroom offers some high-touch areas where germs linger. Just a quick wipe-down every hour or so will go a long way to combatting any nasty viruses.
Tip 3: Make Your Home Inviting
While most of your holiday cleaning may focus on the interior, don’t neglect your entranceway. Walk up to your home at night as if you’ve never been there before and be on the lookout for obstacles. Is your house number easy to see? Is the walkway clean? Have you shaken out your welcome mat recently?
Of course, decorations will light and beautify your entranceway, which is a good thing, but you may have a little cleaning to do. Wipe down any front-porch furniture, the front door, and handles (another high-touch area). Check lighting and replace bulbs as needed.
Tip 4: Wash Your Windows
Not only will clean windows look great as guests approach your home, they also make it easy for you to see in or out. Your tree will shine brighter through a sparkling clean window as well! If you didn’t recently clean your windows with your fall cleaning, revisit our tips on that and get those windows clear and visible.
Tip 5: Banish Bad Smells
Do you have a cat? Kids? How about that fish fry you loved last week? Bad smells can add up quickly, and we become nose blind to them when we live in them every day. While plug-in air fresheners might seem like a good idea, they actually add a lot of toxic smells into your air. Instead, try a diffuser with light essential oils. Since you’re doing holiday cleaning, perhaps cinnamon or orange will resonate. You can also go old school and hang up a cinnamon broom, put out a bowl of clove-pierced oranges (hint: this is a great project for the kids), or bake up a batch of chocolate-chip cookies on the morning of your gathering.
Hopefully, your foods will be the only smell guests smell when entering your home, but a quick nose test will go a long way.
Need Help with Your Holiday Cleaning?
Now is the time to schedule your holiday cleaning with Carnation Home Cleaning. Just having a fresh set of eyes to see your home and provide some feedback will help you know where to focus your energies for those big tasks.
Contact us now to get on our calendar!
