5 Holiday Cleaning Tips

Having family and friends over for the holidays has many warm connotations, but with guests come a fair amount of preparation to ready your home. Now that we are halfway through November, it’s time to think about Thanksgiving. While the main focus of the holiday is the feast, it’s also important to prep not just your kitchen, but your entire home for the holiday. We made a list of our best cleaning advice to prep for holiday guests.

5 Holiday Cleaning Tips:

1. Focus on High Traffic Areas

Since everyone likes to hang out in the kitchen on holidays- this is where you should focus most of your energy. But, let’s not forget the other places guests gather: the living room, dining room, bathroom, and foyer. Sit in spots in your house where guests will be and see what they would see. Don’t worry so much about the bedrooms, closets, or other odd spots that guests won’t pay attention to.

2. Don’t Forget the Fridge

Since most of your gusts are gathering in the kitchen, they will often also be opening the fridge. While they won’t be looking in every drawer, they are likely to pop a bottle of wine in or grab a dish out when lending you a hand. Be sure to clean up spills, clear out the kids’ messes, wipe down everything, and get rid of unpleasant odors. You can also put down fridge coasters to make drawers pretty and minimize future cleaning.

3. Clean the Air

Open a window and let the fresh air in. If you have pets, be extra sure to do this–you may be used to your furry friends smell, but your guests aren’t. And if you want to be sure your home smells amazing, try simmering orange peels and cloves on the stove for a few hours before the gathering. After letting the breeze in, some air freshener, and warming scents are added, step outside, and then come back in to test your nose against your home’s smells. Does it smell amazing? Success! Keep some candles going throughout the gathering to keep those great scents flowing.

4.Run the Vacuum

Run the vacuum over all your carpets, and wash your floors. Even if you do a quick cleaning of your tile and wood floors, this will make a huge difference! If you have time in advance, call us to get your carpets professionally cleaned. This helps if you have pets and kids, and will make your carpets look brand new for the holidays!

5. The Small Things

After you clean, go through your home and add a few festive touches. Put up family photos, light some candles, and string some lights. Make sure you clean up the little things you may not have thought of- put the mail away, hang coats, put up some family photos. Put out fresh flowers or plants to add some color and freshness to the home.

We hope these tips will help ease some stress over the holiday season! We recommend starting early, so you won’t have too much to do closer to the day of the gathering. And if you need your carpets cleaned, give us a call! Happy Holidays!