Christmas Cleaning:
Creating and Maintaining the Sparkle

It's Not as Hard as You Think

Think of it this way: If the house is clean - I mean really clean - it will eliminate more stress than it causes you to get it done in the first place!

And.... once it is done, instead of spending hours each week keeping it up, it will take a few minutes each day. This leaves a lot of time for enjoying the season, and removes one more item from the 'to-do' list for your perfect holiday!!

To keep things manageable, make a separate Christmas cleaning list for each room of the house. Keep the chores on this list simple. Next to each item, insert the name of a family member who will be responsible for that chore.

Because Christmas cleaning work has to fit into the existing schedule, plug only one room per day into your Christmas calendar. If you find that your family is more cooperative than most, it might be possible to do more than one room per day. However, on the calendar, keep your Christmas cleaning chores to only one room a day - even if it only looks like less work that way.

Make sure that each family member understands that these chores are to be accomplished on the day in question, and hold them accountable for doing so!!

Get several large boxes (banana boxes from the store are great for this!). You will want one box per family member, plus one for donations and one for trash. Label each box with a name in a different color marker.

Into the boxes go belongings of that family member from each room. Thus, they will be filled once per day. It is each person's responsibility to empty the contents - put the items away - each day.

You will find that by making each person in the household responsible for their own belongings, a major load is off of your own shoulders.

By giving a time limit of only the day in question, things should flow smoothly from one room to the next.

And, by keeping things in small, bite-sized chunks, you will have fewer arguements to contend with!

My own family has a nasty habit of leaving their personal belongings all over the house. When asked to put things away, we all tend to get a little overwhelmed. Using the boxes breaks up these chores, and makes them much easier to deal with!

Using the box method can be turned into a simple game which will allow even small children to be a big help with the cleaning, and they willhave lots of fun doing it, too!

Organize Your Christmas Cleaning

• Fill each person's box with the appropriate items
• Put boxes either by the doors to their respective rooms, or in the rooms
• Any extraneous clutter gets packed in its own box (box gets put away)
• Any sweeping/vacuuming gets done
• Dusting and wiping down electronics, nick-nacks, etc
• Any laundry is put by washer and sorted immediately
• Spot cleaning (handprints on walls, windows washed, etc)
• Anything 'special' for the room gets done

Of course, bathrooms and kitchens get their own similar list, but by now you've got the idea.

Getting personal belongings and clutter out of the room makes doing the actual cleaning much faster and easier. Each room will have its own particular chores in addition to the ones above, but getting these things done will make light work of anything that's left.

Making It Sparkle

If you have brass items on display that need to really glow, take a soft cotton rag, a dollop of mayo out of the fridge, and wipe them down. No need to rinse - but wipe and polish again with another clean cotton rag, and you're done!

Do not use this method on lacquered pieces - this is only for plain brass. (For the lacquered ones, simply wipe with a plain, dry cotton rag - no water, no mayo.) It's that simple - the brass will look brand-new, and it only takes a minute!

If "it's all in the details," this is where they fit in. Simple things, like polishing metal, making sure there are no streaks on the windows and bringing out the glow on wooden items go a long way to making the house shine.

You don't have to hire a professional to get your home into sparkling condition, nor to keep it that way. These items do not require a lot of time to keep up, but will impress everyone that enters the room, and even your family! Be sure to click on the link above to see how simple and easy it really is!

Keeping the Shine

No one enjoys spending a whole day on cleaning - but the major part of the work has already been done! Now its time to make up a short list of daily chores that each member of the family will be responsible for. No more huge push, just a couple quick, easy things to do every day.

Break it up! Whoever is responsible for dusting, make it one room per day. If laundry is being done daily, each person should put their own dirty clothes in the wash each day as well. Keep it small and simple, but be sure everyone pulls their own weight.

There are certain things that need to be done in all rooms on one day. For example: If you have the luxury of only vacuuming once a week (I don't - we have four dogs!), it needs to be done all at once. The reason is that using a vacuum will kick up dust into the air which will settle over the entire house. But, we don't want to have to dust the entire house every time we vacuum!

There are also rooms, like the bathroom, for which some parts of the room will need to be cleaned more than others. In our house, the cat litter (yes... we have cats, too!) needs to be scooped every day and the sink wiped down. But, we don't wash the floor every day.

Since each family is different, use our tips here as a guideline, and find out what works for you! With any luck, spending a couple months Christmas cleaning with a solid schedule in place will translate into a clean house throughout the year! (One can always hope!!!)