Tips for making house look & smell spotless before putting up the Christmas decorations?!

[Picinaframe]

Need inspiration & motivation!

BTW decorations going up in December but I have free time today & tomorrow so want to make a start on the decluttering/cleaning

If you've got lots of Xmas Decs, ornaments, festive pieces etc, I'd put away any other "things" that aren't essential and are going to make the house feel cluttered having everything out. Stuff like candles, pictures, any general shelf stuff, that you won't need over Xmas, I put this away so it's not so overwhelming in December. I find a big festive candle with 3 or 4 wicks usually fills a big room with scent. And an air diffuser always works well. Perfect time to have a sort through kids toys and general house stuff you don't need and haven't used since last xmas. Just get rid.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/christmas/5200140-in-preparation-for-christmas-today-i-will

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/christmas/5152551-christmas-cleanalong

I have my advent calendar from Devon Wicks which has a different scent a day. Burning the same everyday makes me go nose blind. I put everything away in the boxes the Christmas stuff comes out of and do a swopsy. We shampooed the carpets a few weeks back. Indoor windows clean with isopropyl alcohol so the winter frieze sticks.

Oooh this is a great thread, thanks for the link 🙌

I might be stating the bleeding obvious but here goes.....once you have decluttered clean everything, surfaces, hoover and mop floors. Strip the covers off the sofa if you have them and put them in the wash, if it's leather use proper saddle soap to clean it!
Dust and hoover all of the nooks and crannies now before the decorations are in the way.
Once all of that has been done open at least one window downstairs and one window upstairs to get airflow through the house (leave open for a good few hours if it isn't cold!)
Then, once everything is spotless start thinking about scented candles/diffusers etc.