Christmas, its songs, its gifts, its trees, and its stress because you want everything to be perfect. It can be a lot to handle but let me help you with one thing: Christmas cleaning. You don’t need to clean your whole house deeply. Instead, focus on the right tasks, and you’ll have 3 weeks to complete them without being overwhelmed. Ready?
What to clean for a Christmas cleaning?
You need to clean what your guests will see and use and what will make you preparing Christmas easier. Don’t worry about your bedroom closet, except if you plan to let your guests hang their coats there!
So, what will we clean?
Even if the kitchen is mayhem for Christmas Eve and Christmas day, you’d better begin with a tidy room. It will be easier to cook in it, and the cleaning after will be less daunting. Obviously, you’ll clean the living and the dining rooms. That’s where everything will happen after all. You’ll also clean the bathroom, so your guests feel at ease if they need to use it. And the last place you’ll take care of is the guest room if you have guests that stay for the night.
3 weeks before Christmas
We’ll prepare the rooms for what comes next. There is still time before Christmas, but starting now will make the week before that day less hectic.
Guest room
Check that you have clean bedsheets and towels for your guests. If not, it’s time to put a load of laundry on.
Kitchen
We’ll begin big while we have the energy and motivation for it. So, you’ll have to clean the oven, the top stove, and the backsplash. Remember that baking soda in water works better than vinegar on grease stains.
Think about your fridge and remove expired food from it. Wipe the shelves and tidy up what comes back on them.
Living and dining rooms
In these rooms, we’ll tidy up and remove the clutter. Except if you have enough time, your goal is not to declutter everything. You want to put away what clutters the rooms so they are welcoming and cozy. If you need some help, you can look at my decluttering checklist.
Bathroom
Here again, we will tidy up and clean the countertops while you’re at it. Even if they don’t stay spotless for 3 weeks, they will be easier to clean just before Christmas if you’ve washed them now.
The second week of Christmas clean up
Slowly but surely, we’ll continue to prepare the rooms and clean what we can.
Guest room
In this room, we’ll remove the clutter to be able to clean it next week. But, again, this is not the time for the big decluttering. Instead, throw away the trash, put away what has a home, and gather the rest where your guests won’t see it. But aim to put it back in the room once the holidays are over. Or even better, plan to sort all of these lost items.
Kitchen
We’ll start to clean the kitchen. But before that, you named it, we’ll remove the clutter from the countertops. Then wash them. Wipe your small appliances that stay on them and the cupboard doors.
Living room
Now it’s time to dust everything from top to bottom. Literally, start with what’s high and end near the floor. That way, you’ll avoid dust falling on the place you’ve just cleaned. And don’t forget the ceiling light!
Vacuum the couch and armchairs to remove dust and crumbs that may have found their way to them. And vacuum the floor thoroughly, even the corners you think no one sees.
Dining room
Check that all your linen and table clothes are clean and, if necessary, wash them.
Bathroom
Scrub the bathtub or shower tray, even if your guests don’t stay overnight. Even if they don’t use it, they’ll see how clean it is. After that, remove the limescale. If you have big limescale deposits, damp a cloth with vinegar and let it sit on them. And don’t forget to clean the toilets.
Last week of Christmas cleanout
Guest room
Dust the flat surfaces and vacuum the floor. Then, make the bed. You want to make the room peaceful and inviting so your guests have a good rest.
Kitchen
Make some room in your pantry for the ingredients you’ll buy. You don’t want them lying around on the countertops. Make some space in your fridge as well.
Clean the stovetop and the backsplash. Depending on how often you generally clean them, it will be easier than the first time.
Wash the sink and mop the floor.
Living room
Clean the coffee and end tables and tidy up the room.
Dining room
Like you did last week in the living room, you’ll dust everything and vacuum the floor carefully. Then, you’ll clean and polish the cutlery, plates, and glasses and clean the dining table. Finally, everything will be ready for the big day.
Bathroom
Except for the floor, we’ll clean like I do when I follow my cleaning schedule:
- wipe the bathtub (or shower tray)
- scrub the toilets and clean them from top to bottom,
- clean the sinks and the countertops
Vacuum and mop the floor. It needs a little love if you don’t do it often.
Entryway
This week, we add a last room. It’s small but so important for your guests’ feelings when they visit you.
You’ll make space for your guests’ coats in the closet or on the coat tree, and, you may have guessed it, dust the flat surfaces and clean the floor.
1 day before Christmas
Today, we will put the last touch on our Christmas cleaning. Clutter is a nasty little bug that creeps in whenever we look elsewhere. So, we’ll tidy up and fight the dust that came along.
Guest room
We’ll add the last inviting bits in the room and, as adding fresh air in a room is almost always a good move, we’ll air the room, fluff the pillow, and put the wifi password on a piece of paper placed somewhere visible.
Kitchen
It’s time to set up the kitchen for all the cooking to come. So, we’ll do all the dishes, remove the clutter that came back onto the countertops, and wipe them. Then, spot-clean the floor to give a neater feel to the room.
Living room
Dust, we don’t want you. Go away:
- Dust the surfaces
- Vacuum the floor
Dining room
As in the living room, dust the surfaces and vacuum the floor. Then, set the table. It will be one less thing to do the day after.
Bathroom
If there is one thing that needs to be spotless but goes dirty quickly, it’s the toilets, so clean them, yes, again!
Last hour of Christmas cleaning
I have a checklist I use each time someone stops by. It allows me to clean efficiently in no time. One hour before opening the door to your guests for Christmas, it’s exactly what you need, don’t you? In short, you’ll air the house, tidy up, and do a few other tasks, like flushing the toilets. To get the checklist, just click here! You’ll even have a few minutes to sit down and appreciate all your hard work.
After reading the whole article, you may feel a bit overwhelmed but remember that you have 3 weeks to do this Christmas cleaning. If you take care of one room per day, it will be easy to complete. In the first week, you prepare your house for cleaning. In the second and third, you actually clean it. And the day before Christmas and Christmas day, you straighten it up, and finally, you enjoy your time with your guests.
If you liked that when you came back to clean something again, it was easier to clean, you definitely need a cleaning schedule. It doesn’t have to be hard to follow or time-consuming. Have a look at mine to see the benefits of it!
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