Imagine a holiday season that’s calm, organized, and free from cleaning stress. You’re sitting back, enjoying the conversation and laughter, being in the moment with loved ones. Pure bliss.

This level of holiday calm is rarely fully experienced without planning ahead and being on top of your organization game. From decluttering strategies that create serene spaces to time-saving hacks for a seamless celebration, below we share our top organizing tips (through the eyes of cleaning) so you can enjoy a calm, stress-free holiday season ahead!

Make a Checklist, Prioritize, and Schedule

Start by creating a comprehensive checklist of all the cleaning tasks that need to be done before the holidays. This will help you prioritize what needs to be done and by when. Add these items to your schedule (e.g., book cleaners for post-party cleaning), starting early to avoid last-minute stress. As you finish tasks, cross it off the checklist.

When scheduling items, include your family in tasks. Doing your holiday cleaning and decorating with your family doesn’t just take the load off your shoulders. It helps create memories with them as well.

One trick for next year is to take notes as you go on tasks that may need extra attention. Add these items to your checklist for next year and you’ll save your future self time and stress.

 December is for Declutter

One thing we love about the holidays is that it gives us a chance to declutter our homes simply because we have to move things around for holiday decorations and guests. Before you dive into your December deep clean, go through your home and declutter. Get rid of items you no longer need or use. For tips on how to reduce clutter, visit here.

Cleaning Considerations

Just as the holidays are a great time to declutter, they are also the perfect time to deep clean your space, closing the year off by removing all of last year’s “dust.” A deep residential clean often involves paying special attention to areas that are not included during regular cleaning, such as baseboards, ceiling fans, light fixtures, and under furniture and appliances. A deep clean will make your home feel fresh and inviting to any guests you may host, or merely help make your home a space of calm during the other holiday hectic happenings.

If you are planning on hosting a holiday party, there are two primary cleaning hacks we recommend:

• Focus on high-traffic areas: You have limited time and energy - use it on the areas where guests are most likely to spend time, such as the living room, dining room, kitchen, and main bathroom(s).

• Plan for post-party and holiday cleaning: Prepare for the cleanup after the party by setting aside boxes or containers for decorations and linens before the party. As you finish with items, note what needs to be washed/cleaned before storing away for the year.  

• Treat yourself: hosting a holiday party can be exhausting. The last thing you want to do is clean up. Treat yourself to a party cleaning package, and have professionals clean-up for you!

Holiday Decoration Organization

Before pulling out your decorations from storage, dust and clean the surfaces they’ll be placed on. This ensures you’re starting with a fresh space rather than trapping dirt.

 If you don’t already, invest in storage containers for your holiday decorations. This helps to keep them organized, less likely to break, and protected from dust and damage during the year. When bringing out your decorations, sort and organize them before you start decorating. Discard any that are broken or outdated. When repacking them at the end of the season, neatly pack your decorations so they are easy to access next year.

Wrapping paper, tissue paper, ribbons, name tags - all of these items used to wrap gifts can be a beast to clean up because of the itty-bitty pieces created during wrapping. To help minimize the spread of wrapping calamity, we recommend creating a designated wrapping station with all the supplies you need to wrap gifts. Then, when someone needs to wrap something, they can go to the station, helping to keep the gift-wrapping organized and prevent the potential mess from spreading.

Take a Break

Don’t forget to take breaks and relax through all the holiday planning, cleaning, and event partaking. If you find this difficult to do, book your “relax” breaks directly into your holiday schedule. This will help to avoid holiday burnout so you can enjoy the season.

With the holidays mere weeks away, now is the time to get a head start on organizing your holiday “to-dos” so you can live the relaxing holiday season you imagined above. To include a deep clean or a pre-/post-holiday cleaning in your holiday checklist, connect with us for a quote today.