The holidays are nearing and many people are already decorating their homes and getting into the festive mood. But, before you dust off the decorations box, it is a good idea to give your home a good scrub. Since there will be plenty of people coming to your home and many decorations to make your home festive, you should clean and declutter your home so you don’t have to worry about that on Christmas day. And if you don’t know where to start, here is a list of things to do before you start decorating and enjoying the vacation days.

Store Summer Clothes

Now that the hot and warm summer days are sadly over, it’s time to make room in your closet for all those fuzzy and fluffy sweaters and warmer clothes. Clean all the summer clothes and simply store them away. There are several ways to do this; you can store the clothes in plastic bins and label them clearly so you don’t lose track of your stuff. Or you can organize all your breezy dresses and shirts into vacuum bags to stay fresh. Then, you can go through all the rooms and collect summer items and store them in their place to make room for the cozy winter items.

Declutter, Room by Room

Now that the winter is here, chances are big that you have plenty of throw pillows and blankets, and warm hoodies all over the house. However, now that the holidays are near and you need space for decorations, you probably don’t need all those items lying around the house. Go through the entire house and see how you can declutter. Get rid of any items you no longer need – either for the season or forever – and store or get rid of them completely. You might not even need that many pillows and blankets, so try and see where you can keep them until you need them. Make room on every surface and see what you can store in drawers, closets, and other hidden spaces. Once you do this, your house will feel lighter and airier and it will be ready for the festive decor. 

Deep Clean Every Nook and Kranny

Once clutter is out of sight, it’s time to deep clean. You can start with regular vacuuming, but make sure to move the furniture around so you can reach every corner of your home. Then, you should focus on the floors. There might be some stains on the floor in the nooks, and you certainly want to know how to get rid of them. One way is to learn some streak-free laminate floor cleaning techniques or research how to treat hardwood floors and get to scrubbing. Once the floors are ready you might want to clean the windows and drapes to get a nice smell in your house. 

Also, don’t forget those high-traffic areas such as the laundry room, garage, and mud room. Good advice is to simply scrub every square inch of your home, from top to bottom, so there is no dust or any imperfections. Another nice idea is to clean the spaces you usually skip including drawers, cabinets, light fixtures, etc.

Clean Out Your Pantry and Kitchen

While on a cleaning spree, you might want to clean out and reorganize your pantry, too. It’s time to make room for some holiday food and snacks, and the old pantry needs to make some space. You might have some old cans and older snacks in there that are ready for the trash can. Go through everything in there and make room for fresh ingredients that will serve you well in preparing the family meals during the holidays. 

Additionally, you might want to make room in your fridge and freezer. Make a list of all the food you have in there that is still usable. Then, figure out a few menus with those ingredients so you don’t waste food. This will give you enough time to have some good meals and make room for the food once you go grocery shopping for the holidays.

Reorganize and Decorate

Now that everything is clean, it’s time to focus on some reorganizing. If you need more room for family gatherings, you might want to reorganize your furniture for better ambiance. And even if you are not expecting too many people, a fresh layout might be just what you need. And once that’s done, you can pull out all those decoration boxes and maybe even go shopping for new decorations. All that’s left is to make your home as festive as possible with all the lights and knicknacks dear to you.

Holidays are almost here and we are all happy to gather the family and enjoy our holidays. However, before we start celebrating, some good scrubbing of the house is necessary. This is a perfect opportunity to refresh your home and finally put up those amazing decorations you waited the whole year for. Happy Holidays!

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