Advertisement
It’s always like this. You are planning, shopping, wrapping presents, cleaning, cooking, partying, and then… All of a sudden, you realize that Christmas is over. Your guests leave. You smile, put wonderful memories into your collection, and finally look around just to discover a cluttered, dirty, and miserable place that once was your home. All you want now is to get your home back as soon as possible. Here are some expert post-Christmas cleaning tips from White Glove Cleaner to help you restore the past glow of your abode (or make it even more beautiful) in no time.
Two reasons to start cleaning campaign right after Christmas
● We need to get rid of irrelevant things.
During the holiday season, we fill our homes with lots of Christmas-related things like gifts, decorations, wrapping paper, DIY kits, etc. But unlike the holiday that goes, these things never go until we help them. If we don’t start decluttering right after Christmas, this mess will make house cleaning harder and worsen the quality of our lives.
● We need a fresh start in the new year.
Whether you make New Year resolutions for the New Year or not, what you definitely don’t want is to enter the new year with all this mess left after Christmas.
Post-Christmas cleaning tips
1. Deep clean before to have an easy clean up after
A deep cleaning helps maintain a house in a tidy condition longer. So if you order deep cleaning services or do it by yourself a few days before Christmas, your home will accumulate less dirt and will be easier to clean afterward. For example, if you know that you will cook a lot, deep clean your kitchen to prepare it for the hard work. Wash your cabinets, kitchen sink, glass top range, oven racks, and you will be amazed by how much less cleaning you need after the holidays.
2. Declutter your mind and home
Revise everything accumulated during the Christmas season. You can deal with these things in three ways: store, throw away or donate.
- Carefully store items that can be used for next Christmas, like decorations in good condition or the tree. Keep only those presents you really like or value. If a gift doesn’t make you happy, think about returning/exchanging it, giving it to someone who needs it, or donating.
- Do not try organizing trash like packaging, used wrapping paper, or damaged decorations. Dispose and forget.
- Donate old decorations, which, you think, you won’t use anymore in the future.
- For every new toy, present, or Christmas item you decide to keep, get rid of a similar old item (or better two) you no longer need. This golden rule of decluttering helps keep you open to new and better things in life.
3. Give your appliances a deep scrub
Your kitchen has bravely and faithfully endured cooking for big companies, so it’s high time to reward it with a decent cleanup. Here are a few cleaning hacks that will help you easily scrub down appliances that suffered the most:
- Make your glass top range shine again. Just sprinkle some baking soda all over the surface and scrub down the stains using a damp sponge. Wipe down the surface with a wet cloth and finish with a fiber cloth.
- To make your stainless steel sink dazzling again, scrub it with a scotch-brite hand pad (automotive), but make sure your movements follow the direction of the stainless steel grain. The grain is the thin pattern (lines) on the surface you can feel with your fingers. After scrubbing, wipe the sink with a damp rag and wonder where all the sports and scratches disappeared.
- Restore your chrome oven racks by soaking them in a bathtub filled with hot water and a half cup of dishwasher/laundry detergent or your favorite dish soap. Leave the racks overnight and then scrub them with a sponge. This method helps remove grease and black stains and makes your racks shine like new.
4. Make your carpets fresh again
Hosting big companies for Christmas might have left your carpets in miserable condition, so it’s time to get them not just cleaned but disinfected. If you see stains, don’t put off washing them down as stains will be harder to remove after some time. First vacuum the carpet, then spray a mixture of water and dishwashing soap on the stain and blot it with a dry cloth or a piece of paper towel.
5. Restore your upholstery
The winter just began, and your upholstery was already hit unmercifully. Your family spends more time at home now, not to mention guests you welcomed during the holidays. So your upholstery needs a good cleanup. It is unlikely that you will manage to remove wine or chocolate stains by yourself. You should better call your trusted house cleaning service instead. However, it is always better to treat stains right away (in the same way as you would clean a carpet) to improve the final result.