There is no better time to feel like entertaining than the holiday season. Unlike birthdays, the festive feeling extends beyond your own home and into other places. Commercial spaces play holiday tunes that get you grooving to the festive cheer. Suddenly, everyone is more giving and kinder to each other. Attitudes certainly change during the holiday season.
You may be thinking of inviting guests over for the holidays to make connections and share your blessings. Entertaining at home requires proper preparations and cleaning. Although people will look forward to the celebration, not everyone will look forward to the cleaning. You can get the help of professional cleaning services such as SwiftClean if you are too busy this season. If you are going to do the cleaning yourself, however, there are a few shortcuts you can do to make holiday cleaning a breeze.
The following are just some holiday cleaning hacks and tips you can do to prepare for guests:
1. Use Scents
There is nothing more that guests notice immediately than scents. When they enter your home, they must immediately feel the magic of Christmas with good scents. Some cleaning products have holiday-specific scents that you can use to prepare your home so it can have a festive spirit. There are scents available such as pine scents, and peppermint. Combined with these cleaning scents will be the smell of candy canes and cookies, which will increase the holiday ambiance. Make your home party-ready with these scents and let your guests feel the joy of Christmas.
2. Clean Windows
Are your windows foggy and full of fingerprints or dog nose prints? It will likely be an eyesore and will make your home less than an ideal place for entertaining. Luckily, you can remedy dirty windows easily. Simply combine a cup of water and a cup of vinegar plus some dish soap in a spritz bottle. Spray this formulation on your windows and wipe the wetness with a piece of rag. They should be clean instantly. Don’t be afraid to use vinegar since the dish soap masks the scent. Your windows should look like new.
3. Store Junk and Items Out of View
If there are piles of mail, junk, and other items on your entryway, and if you have your kid’s bag and other stuff on your foyer, you should quickly put them out of view before your guests arrive. You can stash these items in baskets or store them behind closets to make a temporary clean-looking space for your guests.
4. Cleaning the Oven
Many people don’t relish cleaning their ovens because it involves a lot of scrubbing and bending to get all the gunk out. However, the process of cooking in your oven just feels so much better when you are cooking in a clean one. Imagine cooking turkey and pumpkin pie on a clean oven. It will taste so much better because there aren’t any residues. To skip the scrubbing process, give your oven a steam bath. Fill an ovenproof dish with water and half a cup of vinegar. Heat the oven for 30 minutes and allow the water to boil for 30 minutes. After the oven cools down, you should be able to wipe away the gunk and dirt easily.
5. A Tip on Washing Dishes
If you are cooking for your guests, you should wash dishes as you go and while you wait for meals to cook. This method keeps the dishes from piling up. When your guests arrive, you will only be worried about a minimal number of dishes to clean so you can enjoy the party better.
6. Have an Emergency Cleaning Kit
You should have your emergency cleaning kit organized the way you would assemble a first aid kit. Have rags and soap cleaners ready, as well as a cleaner for spills and spray bottles filled with cleaning solutions. Accidents may happen before and during your party, and you don’t want to be rummaging all over for cleaning products. It is best to get them organized and ready for use in one basket. Spills and stains are likely to happen during the merriment, especially spills on carpets, and breaking up the party to look around for cleaners can take away from the enjoyment. When you have your cleaning aids ready, you can clean on-the-go without disrupting the party all that much.
7. Do a Quick Clean-Up before Guests Arrive
It is important to do some finishing touches and a quick clean-up before your guests arrive:
- Line your kitchen garbage can with several plastic bags so you won’t have to look for a new fresh bag when it’s time to take out the trash.
- Your guests will need a coat and bag storage, and if you intend to use your bedroom for this, you should use a duvet to protect your bed and pillows.
8. Clean the Bathrooms
When you entertain your guests, they will want to use the bathroom often. Cleaning the bathroom is not on everyone’s joy list, but you can make this easier come party time. You can clean the bathroom two weeks before, including the bathtub, sinks, toilets, and fixtures. In the next two weeks, you will be maintaining what you have cleaned to get your bathroom guest-ready.
For maintenance, simply have a microfiber cloth ready, paper towel, and all-purpose cleaner so you can perform cleaning with minimal waste. Wipe the sink regularly, so you will get them continually sparkly. Clean the toilet every several days with a sprayer so they will not accumulate streaks and residue.
You should also start decluttering your bathroom of personal items so you won’t have to think about getting your bathroom guest-ready at the last minute. Put your personal effects away in a basket or plastic storage bin. Don’t leave them in the bathroom, as guests might use them and these items can end up getting misplaced or lost.
9. Get Your Entryway Under Control
Your guests will be arriving, and they will bring with them proof of the season, such as rain, ice, and snow. They will have messy footwear from walking outside. You should have a three-mat system that will help keep your house clean. Have a heavy-duty mat outside the door, which will help your guests get their footwear cleaned. Next, place a doormat on the inside of the door to stomp out any ice or muck that wasn’t stomped out outside. Finally, get a deep dish boot tray, which will be a receptacle to empty out any dirty drippings from boots.
Final Thoughts
Holidays are the best time to entertain guests and, as a host, the cleanup up may be causing you sleepless nights, taking the joy out of the season. There are plenty of ways to control the cleanliness of your home by making a few preparations. Enjoy your party and do these hacks so you won’t have much trouble cleaning up and preparing for the season’s best celebration.