The Holiday season is here, and your home needs to be sparkling clean. Preparing for gifts, food, and guests can be quite a handful, but have you already prepped your house for it?

Stressing about forgetting something, cluttered counters, and out-of-place possessions? Well, you don’t need to worry anymore. The key to a hassle-free, sparkling clean home for the holidays is following our guidelines for a clean and festive home.

The Holiday Cleaning Plan

First things first, you need to break down all tasks that need cleaning and divide them into daily and weekly assignments. Make a checklist of all chores you will be doing so you won’t forget a single one. Here is a 7-day plan that can get you through your holiday cleaning!

Day 1

On the first day of the grand cleaning plan, pretend that you’re a visitor. Walk through your house with a guest’s eye, jotting down any imperfections that a visitor might notice. Pet hair clogging up heating vents? Write it down. Dead leaves hanging from houseplants? Make a note. Shaggy strings hanging off sofa pillows? Jot away.

No work becomes heavy and dull if you have family members to help you out! Gather everyone around, go through your notes and assign chores to everyone.

Day 2

• Check window screens, remove cobwebs and spider webs, then wash windows.
• Launder bed linens if needed.
• Wash any curtains that need it, including the bathroom shower curtain.
• Damp-mop baseboards.

Day 3

• Straighten out bedrooms, dispose clutter or move it out of sight.
• Deep-clean bathrooms and any medicine cabinets.

Day 4

• Wash scatter rugs, set aside, so they are all fluffy and nice for Christmas day.
• Straighten out coat closet to make room for guests’ coats. Add new hangers if needed.  If your closet is too small for that, make sure that the room where they will leave their coats and other possessions is clean and ready for them.
• Pick a spot for incoming boots, perhaps with a mud tray for them to use.

Day 5

• Clear out the refrigerator, making room for holiday foods. Throw out everything that had already expired. Also, don’t forget to dust or wash the top of the fridge.
• Clean the range or stove top, grates, and surfaces.
• Wipe down all small and large appliances.
• Wipe down kitchen cabinet exteriors.

Day 6

• Clean the kitchen sink and dish drainer.
• Dust everything, including tops of framed photos, bookshelves, and art.  Check your fans and your chandeliers, dust them if they need it, wash anything that needs washing.
• Sweep the entryway, decorate with seasonal touches and polish doorknobs.

Day 7

• Wipe down bathroom counters and mirrors.
• Mop floors any floor that needs mopping, usually the bathroom and kitchen floors.
• Clean up any dirty areas inside the bathroom using organic household cleaners and paper towels.
• Brush and apply toilet bowl cleaners in the toilets.
• Clean bathroom sinks.
• Put out fresh hand soap and hang fresh towels.
• Check for extra supplies, like toilet paper and kleenex,  so that they are handy in the bathrooms.
• Dry-mop wooden floors and vacuum carpets.
• Fluff sofa cushions and throw pillows.
• Decorate with holiday decor, candles, and flowers.

Aside from the above plan, below are some items you should never forget to include on your list.

Glassware

Guests are coming, and you have to get everything cleaned and ready. If your glasses happen to have stubborn mineral stains, try rubbing them with potato skins.

Floors

Get them spotless and shiny because holiday boots are coming! If your floor is laminated, you can add two tablespoons of baby shampoo of your choice to one gallon of water then mop the area. For hardwood, soak a clean piece of cloth or towel in tea and wash down.

Silver-plated dinnerware

Make sure your spoons and forks are spotless and shiny for your guests to use. A hack to do this is to rub the inside of a banana peel along your silver accents.

Towels

These are first spots for mildew to grow because they frequently stay damp for a long time. When guests arrive, the towels should be fresh and clean. And if possible, holiday-themed too.  If you are having guests over and you have smelly towels, a mixture of baking soda and water, and vinegar would do the trick!

Refrigerator

It’s holiday time, and most establishments will be closing for the season. For sure, you’ll be storing a lot of food in the fridge, and guests might bring some dishes over so you’ll need the extra space. Make sure it’s odorless, and you can use a can of oatmeal to do the job.  A clean fridge hack is by using an old pantyhose.

Toilet

Hiding a dirty toilet is unnecessary. If it’s stain-covered, give it a good scrub with a 20-ounce bottle of cola.

Working with others will make it much easier to follow your plan; you can hire a trusted professional cleaning service to give you a hand! For more schedule ideas, just search through Google.

The Christmas cleaning grand plan is a combination of holiday preparation and cleaning components. It will become your roadmap for an organized and spotless holiday home celebration. The best part is, you can use it again the next year!  Merry Christmas!