Hosting family and out-of-town guests for the holidays can be the best part of the whole season. However, when the holidays are over and guests have all gone home, you want to get your home back into every day shape quick and easy. Here are some quick tips to make quick work of post-holiday organizing and clean-up.
1. Clean and polish away smears, smudges and fingerprints from all stainless-steel surfaces in your home in one big round. Start in the kitchen with appliances and faucets, then move through each room of the house wiping down any stainless steel or metal surface as you go, including lamps, switch plates, door handles, bathroom hardware and drawer pulls.
2. Remove smudges and spills while conditioning to repair scrapes and scratches on all wooden furniture. Start in the dining room or eat-in kitchen area and move from room to room polishing down side tables, end tables, coffee tables and night stands.
3. Wash bedsheets and blankets from guest bedrooms, guest towels, tablecloths and other linens, keeping them clean and fresh for next use.
4. Store holiday light strands and garland by wrapping around an old hanger and securing the plug end to the hook with a twist tie to keep everything tangle-free and ready to go for next year.
5. Save gift bows, gift bags, and un-damaged pieces of gift wrap to reuse next year to save money and avoid sending usable gift decorations to the landfill. Flatten pieces of gift wrap and stack neatly into small piles of similar sizes and wrap around an empty wrapping paper cardboard tube for easy storage. Set aside the largest gift bag, refold smaller gift bags (remove and fold any savable tissue paper from inside) and then place folded gift bags, bows, and folded sheets of tissue into the largest gift bag and store away.
6. Create room for new gifts and avoid clutter by purging closets, toy bins and cabinets of rarely used items and donating them to a local charity. You’ll be passing along useable goods to families in need while creating space for the awesome new gifts you just received.
Our quick organizing tips for post-holiday cleaning will have your home back in tip-top shape fast. As a bonus, you’ll also be prepped and ready for next year’s holidays by organizing now for less hassle later.
