Nothing can whip up stress and joy all at the same time quite like the holidays. The excitement about spending time with family and friends combating self-induced worry about everyone in your home, seeing just how clean you really live. Well, take it easy. You’re not alone! Use these tips, tricks, and holiday cleaning hacks so you can keep your home looking its best and your stress nice and low for this holiday season.

Pre-Holiday Party

Holiday Hack: Prep in Advance

When we know what we’re working with, it becomes easier to find a solution. Before starting, create a list of all that you need to clean a few weeks before the holiday season start your cleaning - or book your pre-and/or post-party cleaner - to avoid any last-minute stress of having to do everything at once.

Holiday Hack: Create a Cleaning Schedule

From the list of to-dos, create a holiday cleaning schedule that outlines the specific tasks that need to be completed. Knowing what task you have to do and when, helps you plan your time while also breaking seemingly large to-dos down into tiny, manageable steps.

Holiday Hack: Declutter First

Surprisingly, now is a great time to declutter (or even purge) your space. Before putting up your holiday decorations, clear out any unnecessary items to create more space and make your holiday cleaning maintenance easier. While most of this will go into storage until after the holidays, if there is anything that you are ho-hum about, now’s the time to donate it.

Holiday Hack: Focus on High-Traffic Areas

There’s nothing like hosting a party that gives people eagle eyes for every spec of dirt in their home. Avoid the eagle eye stress knowing that your party will not go into every area of your home. Focus your cleaning efforts primarily on the high-traffic areas; areas that see most of the activity. These typically are the entryway, living room, and guest bathroom(s).

Holiday Hack: Delegate Tasks

Instead of taking on all the holiday cleaning yourself, get your family involved. After all, they say that the holidays are for spending time with family. Why not start by working together? Break your holiday cleaning to-do list down together and decide who will do what.

Holiday Hack: Decorate Strategically

To help you maintain a clean home throughout the holiday season, be strategic when placing your decorations around your home. As beautiful as they are, these decorations tend to be dust attractors. We recommend that you do not place these near vents or fans so you don’t have dust flying through the air (or going into your air filtration system).

Holiday Hack: Take Breaks to Enjoy

We can sometimes become so focused on cleaning perfection that we forget to take breaks and enjoy the festivities themselves. Take your well-deserved breaks and enjoy the festivities. If you forgot to schedule some fun family activity time (outings, cookie baking, holiday movies, etc.), now’s a great time to add them. Find the balance between cleaning for the holidays and relaxing to remove the stress of hosting a holiday party.

Day of Holiday Party

 Holiday Hack: Protect Surfaces

On your tables and other flat surfaces, use table runners and tablecloths. Put out coasters so people will use them, protecting your surfaces from spills and stains.

 Holiday Hack: Floor Mats and Rugs

At the entrances to your party, place out floor mats and rugs to capture any dirt or debris from your guests’ shoes. If comfortable, ask people to remove their shoes and avoid having any unwarranted dirt makes its way further into your home.

 Holiday Hack: Quick Spot Cleaning

If you’re not bringing in professionals to help clean the day before or day off, we recommend doing a deep clean at least the day before. On the day of, do a quick walk-through of your high-traffic areas and wipe down with a damp microfibre cloth, then dry with a dry cloth. For glasses, mirrors, or other shiny, reflective surfaces, give them some extra sparkle by polishing them with a specialized glass-cleaning cloth.

 Holiday Hack: Accessible Trash Bins

Make it easy for your guests to help you keep your house clean during the party. Keep a trash bin accessible for people to easily throw away items when they’re finished. Begin the night with an empty bin and fresh garbage bag and change as needed throughout the night. For fun, why not dress the bin up with holiday decorations, making it a part of the scenery?

 Holiday Hack: Enlist Help

It’s okay to ask for cleaning help before, during, and after a holiday party. No one said that you must do it all on your own. Invest in a party cleaning package so you can focus on the party details that matter most - spending time with people.

 After the Holidays

 Holiday Hack: Post-Holiday Cleanup Plan

Just as setting up your decorations is a great time to declutter, taking down and putting away your decorations is a great time to deep-clean your home. We also recommend having a specific date you want to have your decorations down. This gives you time to plan what needs to be put away by when. One common practice many people do is to have them down by December 31, so they can start the New Year fresh.

The holidays are about spending time with loved ones and creating cherished memories, not about stressing about cleaning. Use these cleaning hacks to keep your holiday entertaining joyful and joy-filled!

 For more tips and tricks for planning your holiday party, click here[1] .

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