How to Super-Clean Your House for the Holidays

I might be weird, but I actually like cleaning. I didn’t always. As a kid I would fight for my right to live in a pile of my own clothes and crumbs, but now, cleaning is almost meditation for me.

I also like organizing and hosting gatherings of family and friends at my place.

Put all that together and you get… this post. How to clean and organize your space for the holidays, so you can stay slightly saner until the new year rolls around.

This year I’m taking on even more, which I talked about on Instagram stories a bit, and painting my house. Because I want to see if I can actually drive myself crazy. For funsies.

This may take more than one day depending on how far you choose to take it and how much help you have. If you have a bigger house you might want to finish one room at a time.

You may want to keep your own checklist while you go through your house, so you can keep better track of what you’ve done and what still needs to be addressed.

1. Get Dressed

Put on something you’re not going to be afraid to get dirty, and that’s comfortable to wear and move around in.

2. Choose something to listen to

Audiobook, playlist, podcast. Pick your favorite audio experience to help make the time go faster.

I use Audible or Libby for audiobooks, Spotify for music and podcasts.

Some books I enjoy:

Some Podcasts I enjoy:

3. Prep

If you have some boxes (preferably with lids), baskets, jars or other containers that can be used to organize (again, preferably with lids) pull those out of wherever they’re hiding and make them easily accessible. If you think you may need some extra storage items you can also consider purchasing a few.

Even if they have something in them, consider pulling them out and emptying them if you think you may want to use them to organize, or if whatever’s in them needs to be cleaned or organized.

Gather your cleaning supplies:

1. Vacuum
2. Broom
3. Mop
4. Cleaning rags
5. Water bucket
6. Soap
7. Sponges
8. Trash bags
9. Cleaning gloves (if you want)
10. Containers

Check out these 36 cleaning hacks

4. Clear Surfaces

Gather up your rugs, blankets, books, magazines, movies, papers, food containers – virtually anything that’s taking up space on a surface you want to clean. Dedicate a space for these things to be while you clean.

Don’t Forget

This includes pantries, closets, cupboards, under beds, bathroom shelves, desks, bookshelves. We’re trying to get the hard-to-reach places that normally don’t see the light of day.

Wherever you choose to make your Big Pile™ take an extra step and divide things into 3 or 4 piles by category.

1. Trash (go ahead and use a trash bag for these things)
2. Donations – things you’re going to donate (be sure that things you put here are in decent condition and will be useful to someone)
3. Keep – whatever you want to keep
4. Gifts (optional) – this might seem a little cheap to some, but it is the holidays and sometimes we have things that we do not want to “get rid of” but also have no real use for, and so it’s worth considering if someone in your life might enjoy it.

Some things that may not belong in any of these piles: Linens, blankets, rugs. This is ONLY if you’re keeping them, and they should instead go into your laundry room to start getting washed, or a laundry pile to take to a laundry mat.

5. Clean out Containers

If you have existing containers, here’s the time to clear them out and clean them out.

Empty your drawers, boxes, jars, etc. as much as possible and shake them out – even straight onto the floor *Martha Stewart screams in the distance* because you’re gonna be cleaning it later anyways – to get all the little bits and pieces out.

Rinse them out, or clean with soap and water when needed.

Place them with your Big Pile™.

The exception to this cleanout is your fridge. We’re going to leave the fridge cleaning for the very end so your food doesn’t sit out too long.

6. Start High, End Low

We’re working off of the following order:

1. Dust
2. Wipe with a damp cloth
3. Vacuum/sweep
4. Mop
5. Scrub

Here are some places you can find DIY cleaning products that you can easily make at home:

Homemade cleaners using vinegar

Clean your whole home for $7.25

Dust

Note: Turn off lights before dusting/cleaning around bulbs.

Get your dusting done, starting high. Dust your walls, your ceiling fans, your lamps, your bedposts, your doors, shelves, windowsills, etc. Work your way from top to bottom so that any dust that doesn’t end up on your duster/cloth falls to the floor as much as possible.

Optionally, you can also vacuum walls with a brush attachment.

Wipe Down

To get extra dust off of high surfaces wipe everything down with a damp cloth.

You can use a mop with a microfiber cloth to wipe down your walls but may want to use a particular cleaning liquid depending on your paint. See this article for more details on cleaning walls.

Don’t forget to rinse your damp cloth every now and then so you’re not just spreading dirt around.

You can also dust and wipe down anything in your Big Pile™ that needs it at this point.

Check out this article on how to super-clean your cabinets

Note: Be careful about what you get wet since water can damage certain surfaces and items.

• Let Bulbs cool before getting near them with damp cloths.
• Turn off and UNPLUG electronics.

Vacuum

Use an arm attachment on your vacuum (if you have one) to:

1. Get into small spaces
2. Vacuum up pet fur
3. Vacuum up large pieces of dirt and debris that would get caught in the regular vacuum head

Go through each room with the attachment, then again with the standard head to get all the dirt off of the floor.

Check out this article on cleaning any rugs you can’t put in a washer.

Mop

Go over the non-carpet areas with a mop to get the smaller dirt and dust that the vacuum may have missed.

Note: As you go through the house cleaning, put any trash in the trash bag you set out earlier. Don’t throw the trashbags away until they’re either full, or you’re totally done.

Don’t forget: Check on your laundry (linens, blankets, towels, etc.)

Scrub

Once you’re done with all the big surfaces it’s time to scrub.

Scrub sinks, toilets, baths, windowsills, door handles, fixtures, even your dishwasher if you’re feeling crazy.

Things to use:

7. Organize and Arrange the Big Stuff

Once all your main surfaces are clean, take a moment to look at how you have everything arranged.

If you’re planning to have some people around for the holidays, you may want to:

• Make sure there are comfortable sitting areas with enough seats throughout the main gathering spaces.
• Create an entryway where they can hang their jackets, stash their shoes, and leave their small personal items.
• Have a specific area where kids can play, possibly using one of your empty containers to hold some toys and games.

8. The Big Pile™

So, in your Big Pile™ you should have the 3 or 4 categories:

1. Trash
2. Donate
3. Keep
4. Gifts (optional)

In addition to the categories, you should also have all your storage containers set up here. That way, you can organize some items into the containers before putting them back.

9. Which containers, where, for what?

Holiday Note: When picking how to use your containers, think about what events you’re going to be contending with during the holidays. You might want to designate some containers for uses specific to this time of year.

Examples

Ok… moving on.

Kitchen

• Bins/Crates/Boxes – pet food, chemicals (consider locking lids)
• Baskets – Fruits or veggies that don’t need fridge time, snacks, sponges, in pantry, cupboards, hanging on inside doors, or on countertops/tables
• Jars/Misc containers – Candy, Baking ingredients, pasta, cereal, pet treats, pens/pencils

See this article on how to organize your pantry by zones.

Living Room

• Bins/Crates/Boxes – Toys/Games/Puzzles
• Baskets – Folded Blankets, remotes, phones, pet toys, movies, toys, decorative items
• Jars/Misc containers – Coins, key drop, Decorative items

Bedroom

• Bins/Crates/Boxes – Blankets, comforters, sheets, pillows, winter/summer clothes,
• Baskets – Folded Blankets, pillowcases, sheets, toys, decorative items
• Jars/Misc containers – Coins, key drop, Decorative items

Bathroom

• Bins/Crates/Boxes – First aid items, cleaning supplies, makeup items, anything you don’t want openly visible to help things look neater
• Baskets – Towels, wash clothes, shampoos, body wash, soaps, extra toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes, hair styling products or tools, makeup items
• Jars/Misc containers – Toothbrushes, hair accessories, hairbrushes, liquid soaps, makeup brushes, decorative items

Laundry Room

• Bins/Crates/Boxes – Chemicals (consider lockable), extra household supplies (batteries, lightbulbs, glue, cables), toolkit, pet supplies, spare linens
• Baskets – Dirty clothes, folded clothes after wash, sock pile, Toilet Paper, Paper towels, cleaning supplies
• Jars/Misc containers – Laundry soap/pods (if you wanna get rid of the original packaging because esthetics, “lost in the laundry” items that come outta pockets, change jar

Is that enough ideas? I feel like it’s enough ideas. But, JUST IN CASE it’s not enough for you. Here’s Pinterest to help give you even more ideas…

Keep

Take your “keep” pile items and put them back, either organizing them into containers or not. Whatever works for your space.

Holiday Note: Keep in mind if you’re planning to host at all during the holidays you may want to have some empty containers in the kitchen to store the extra food and leftovers you may have.

Gifts

Grab all your gifts-to-be (if you have any) and store them away.

Donation

Go ahead and get your donations dropped off, or into your car to do later. So your Big Pile™ is almost clear (except for trash).

10. Fridge Cleaning

The reason your Big Pile™ isn’t totally cleaned up yet is that you won’t be quite done with trash yet. The Big Pile™ will be totally cleared after you’ve clean out your fridge and thrown away everything needed from there.

Clear Fridge Shelves and Drawers

Empty out all items from your fridge. Toss anything that needs to be thrown away.

Once your fridge is totally empty remove any removable shelves or drawers to wash. Take them to the sink and wash with warm soap and water, or whatever cleaning products you prefer.

Fridge shelves don’t get much TLC normally so it’s a good idea to clean them off every now and then to get any gunk outta there.

Trash

It’s time! You should be pretty well done with trash now so you can go ahead and finish clearing the Big Pile™.

Organize

How you want to reorganize your fridge after it’s clean is up to you. You can put everything back just how it was, or you can look at organizing things into extra containers – consider transparent containers so you can see everything.

Check out this fridge setup

Holiday Note: When you’re putting everything back keep in mind you may need some extra space for holiday food soon.

Check out this video on 7 tips to help you clean more effectively:

Finish

Lastly, go ahead and clean (dust, wipe, vacuum, mop) the Big Pile™ area if need be now that it’s cleared.

And that’s it. Your home should now be clean and organized af.

Happy Holidays!