Somehow, the house always seems fine until you realize people are coming over for the holidays.
Then you start seeing everything. The stuff piled on the kitchen counter. The bathroom you meant to clean yesterday. The dog hair on the couch. And when exactly did the floors get that dirty?
The worst thing you can do is leave all of it for the day before. You will already have enough going on by then. Get some of the annoying jobs out of the way early and save the everyday mess for closer to the holiday.
Start With a Room You Can Actually Finish
Do not start with the kitchen. You are going to use it again about ten minutes later.
Go for a room that can stay clean for a few days.
If somebody is sleeping over, get the guest room done. Fresh sheets, a quick dust and a vacuum might be all it needs. And clear some space for their bags. Nobody wants to show up and find the guest room chair covered in laundry.
A spare bathroom is another good one to knock out early.
Once those rooms are done, shut the door. There is no reason to keep messing with them.
The Fridge Probably Needs Some Room
Holiday groceries have to go somewhere.
Before you bring home another five bags of food, take a look in the fridge. There is probably a container in the back that nobody remembers putting there.
Get rid of the old stuff, wipe up anything that spilled and make some room.
Then move on to the counters. You do not need to scrub every inch of the kitchen yet. Just get the clutter out of the way and clean up anything that has been sitting there.
The kitchen will get messy again once the cooking starts. That is fine. At least you will have room to make the new mess.
Get the Bathroom Over With
The bathroom is not a job you want hanging over your head when guests are on the way.
Clean it a few days before. Do the toilet, sink, mirror and floor. If somebody is staying overnight, clean the shower or tub too.
Then forget about it until the day before.
When you check it again, you might only need to wipe the sink, change the hand towel and take the trash out.
And make sure there is toilet paper. That is one of those things nobody thinks about until there is none.
Wait a Bit on the Living Room
If everybody in your house uses the living room every day, there is no point cleaning it too soon.
Give it a couple of days.
Pick up the cups, blankets, toys or whatever else has made its way in there. Wipe the tables and straighten out the couch.
If you have pets, vacuum where they like to sit. Even when you cannot see much hair, it has a way of showing up all over somebody’s clothes the second they sit down.
You can do the floor after the rest of the room is finished.
And no, you do not need to pull the whole room apart. Your guests are probably not checking underneath the couch.
Deal With the Piles of Stuff
Every house has them.
Mail on the counter. Shoes by the door. A stack of packages. Something sitting on the dining table that has been there so long nobody even notices it anymore.
Get that stuff out of the way before you start cleaning around it.
This does not need to turn into an organizing project. Put things where they belong, or at least somewhere they are not in the way.
You are getting ready for the holidays, not reorganizing the entire house.
Do the Floors Near the End
Save the vacuuming and mopping until most of the other work is finished.
Otherwise, you will clean the floor and then walk all over it while carrying laundry, moving chairs and going back and forth to the kitchen.
Once things have settled down, vacuum the rooms people will be using and get the hallways too. Mop the hard floors after that.
And if the weather outside is a mess, keep an eye on the front door. One pair of wet shoes can leave a pretty impressive trail across a floor you just cleaned.
The Day Before Is for Little Stuff
By the day before, you should not be looking around for another big cleaning job.
Check the kitchen. Check the bathroom. Pick up whatever ended up back in the living room and take out the trash.
Maybe the floor needs another quick vacuum. Maybe it does not.
If the house looks good, leave it alone.
There is always something else you could clean if you look hard enough. Nobody wants to spend the whole night before a holiday finding it.
Or Skip the Cleaning Part
Sometimes you just run out of time.
Maybe work was crazy that week. Maybe you have people staying over and a long list of food to make. Or maybe you just do not feel like spending your free time cleaning toilets and vacuuming the house before the holidays.
AmeriStar Maids can handle that part.
We can get the house cleaned up before everyone comes over, and you can get back to everything else on your list. Or sit down for a little while. That works too.
Go over to the website: https://ameristarmaids.com
Make a call at: (570) 310 1057
Email us at: info@ameristarmaids.com