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Can you believe we are five days away from Christmas? F I V E days!
That is crazy!
I love Christmas; I love entertaining, and I am one of those crazy people that love cleaning. Okay, I don’t know that I love cleaning, but I love the way everything looks when it’s clean. Don’t you just feel great when your house is clean? Is it just me? Am I weird? Oh well, I love it!
I do get behind on certain chores… laundry *cough cough*. I do like when the laundry is all washed, dried, and put away, though.
I love having a home to “take care of.” I also love having a family to feed, clothe, and keep happy. I don’t always stay on top of things they way I’d like, but for the most part, working from home affords me the opportunity to do things around the house on my lunch and snack breaks! I can also decide to take a half day and clean while I watch Netflix! Yeah, those days ROCK!
To help stay on top of things I do my research and try to find ways that work for my family and me. Today I want to share a few of my favorite Holiday Cleaning Hacks that I just can’t live without!
My first tip is to clean often. The more you clean, the less time it takes to clean. If you never clean, cleaning will always seem like it takes forever. Even if you hate cleaning, just clean a few things a day. Trust me; it’s worth it!
Holiday Cleaning Hacks:
Two of my all time favorite hacks are two I use almost daily! Timers & Baskets
I keep small laundry baskets for quick room pick-ups, and I set timers to challenge myself! Most people who clean with timers do it to force themselves to clean; I do it to beat my best cleaning times! Sometimes I do set a timer to motivate myself if I’m not in the mood to clean. So what are you waiting for? Grab some baskets and head into each room in your house and get to sorting! I usually only need two baskets one of the boys and one for the girls. My husband and I are pretty good about picking up behind ourselves.
Holiday Cleaning Hacks: Dusting
My next favorite cleaning hack is more of a holiday hack because I usually do my deep cleaning before company comes.
Vacuums are one of my all-time favorite cleaning inventions; they are perfect for so many things! If you are only vacuuming your floors, you are missing out! During the holidays before my family comes to visit, I love to use my vacuum cleaner to clean out my cabinets and drawers. I also use it to quickly dust baseboards, ceiling fan blades, on the tops of cabinets, to catch pesky cobwebs, and to pre-dust blinds.
Once I’ve used my vacuum to pre-dust the blinds, I’m ready for part two of my blind cleaning hack. Dusting hacks are the best!
You know how you always end up with a few single socks? Don’t throw them away! Use them for dusting! I have been dusting with socks for as long as I can remember. Honestly, they don’t even have to be loners; any sock is fair game in my house! 😉 When it comes to dusting blinds, I do try to stick to old socks and I “try” not to use our good socks with furniture polish. It’s difficult, but I try. Socks make the best dusting rags!
Do you have pets? What about long hair? Maybe you have a daughter with long hair…
Lint rollers are lifesavers when you need to clean your furniture quickly before family arrives. My husband is in the military, so we always have lint rollers laying around. If you don’t have lint rollers, just use tape! Surprised I don’t use a vacuum for this job? Believe it or not, I don’t think a vacuum does as good of a job as tape or a lint roller. Many times pet hair gets stuck in the fibers of your furniture and a vacuum cleaner attachment can cause them to get buried even deeper causing them to build up over time.
Holiday Cleaning Hacks: Kitchen
During the holidays you’ll spend a lot of time in the kitchen…
Make your guests wonder if you ever use your microwave by giving it a quick steam bath! It’s easy to keep your microwave looking brand new when you heat water for 3-5 minutes (depending on how dirty your microwave is). After that quick spa bath, you can easily wipe out your microwave and save your strength for carving the turkey!
While you’re cleaning in the kitchen go ahead and blend your guests some of those fabulous mixed drinks but please stop washing those blades by hand! I’m afraid you’re going to cut yourself, and you’re not getting the blender as clean as you could be!
After blending your delicious holiday creations go ahead and rinse your blender then add some warm water and dish soap and blend away! Let your blender clean itself for a change and stop risking your fingers! Then rinse and dry as usual!
Holiday Cleaning Hacks: Bathroom
Believe it or not, I’ve saved the best for last. My favorite room to clean is the bathroom. My mom always told me I was the best bathroom cleaner in the world. I didn’t realize at the time that this was her way of manipulating me into cleaning the bathroom, but it worked, and I still love cleaning bathrooms, so I guess it wasn’t all bad.
Start with light fixtures. In the bathrooms, these need to be cleaned the most frequently because they get the nastiest (hairspray, hair, and dust). Take your light fixtures down and put them in the dishwasher. Easy peasy!
Then go to the mirrors. Most people don’t know that you only need water and a microfiber rag. Yep, that’s right. Don’t believe me? Just try it! Spray your cloth with a little water and wipe your mirrors. Tell me how that works out for you! 🙂
Toilet bowls can be a pain, but they don’t have to be! Just try the Scotch-Brite® Disposable Toilet Scrubber and Scotch-Brite® Disposable Toilet Scrubber Refills. This job is now so easy everyone in my house clean toilets! Yes, even my husband! 😉 Because this excellent tool is shaped to access stains hidden under the rim, it scrubs the messes you’ve been leaving behind! Right now you can get the Disposable Toilet Scrubber Starter Kit B1G1 FREE! This offer is at Kroger and Kroger banners starting 12/4 (In-store offer).
Another great thing about using a product like this is not having to worry about leaving behind an unsightly cleaning brush and brush holder full of water and germs! I love being able to toss the scrubber in the trash leaving nothing behind but a sleek scrubber stand that also houses the refills. Ah, the minimalist in me breathes a sigh of relief! Everything looks so clean and clutter-free, just the way I like it.
See it in action here:
I hope these holiday cleaning hacks help you sail through the season with a clean house and time to sit back and relax with your family! If you are looking for even more cleaning inspiration check out these amazing posts from some of my favorite bloggers.
Cathy
Monday 19th of December 2016
Love these holiday cleaning hacks! There are some really great ideas featured here! {client}