Completely panicking about Christmas - please help

[tryingtosortmylifeout]

I need to do SO much to my house before relatives come to stay for Christmas and I am totally panicking. On my “to do” list:

• Hang about eight paintings that are currently sitting on the floor
• Deep clean the entire house, which is currently a total mess
• Sort out diseased plants in my conservatory that are currently dripping sticky stuff on surrounding furniture
• Order PVC cleaner to get rid of dirt on conservatory framework
• Clear out spare bedroom cupboards and move the contents to the attic so guests have somewhere to hang their clothes
• Declutter entire home so there isn’t a load of unsightly crap just shoved on shelves or in cupboards
• Get an electrician to fit a new bathroom light as there’s currently just a bulb hanging from the ceiling
• Order a Christmas tree
• Buy nicer decorations for said tree
• Order all necessary food, booze and Christmas paraphernalia
• Sort out front garden (currently full of weeds and rubbish from recent refurb work)
• Buy more stuff for guests like plates and extra bed linen (we only recently moved into our house, which is quite a lot larger than our old place - so are really disorganised on this front)

How am I meant to do all of this in the space of two weeks while holding down a full-time job?!?!

Prioritise this list, you'll need food and decorations but does your garden really need sorted?

Then try and tackle the easiest ones now, do something now, order some decorations or your tree online.

You will get there, lists help!

You can fuck approx half of that list off.

The paintings, plants, pvc cleaner and front garden are all non-essential.
Your guests won’t know the paintings should be up.
If anyone gives a shit about your plants or pvc frames you’re doing Christmas wrong- they’re obviously bored off their tits.
front garden you can legitimately fuck off as you just moved in.

Helpful?

First thing is to drop the stuff that isnt actually necessary in order for Christmas to happen. Like the garden for instance.

Then prioritise what's left and make a timetable. Few things each day. Who is the "we" of whom you speak? If its a child of 8 or over they can help. Guests can bring plates and bedding.

I would prioritise and outsource where you can! Outsourcing - can you get in a cleaner to do a one off deep clean? Order extra linen etc online?
No one expects your house to be a show home, so prioritise the things that will mean the house is clean and comfortable (forget the outside and things like bare bulbs - if you have time for them later then great but don't stress over them).

Everything else- I presume you have a partner as you say “we”- you split 50/50 with them.

1. Put the paintings in the attic and hang them in the new year.
2. Hire a cleaner?
3. Sort out the plants tomorrow. Allocate yourself a certain amount of time, turn off your phone, and crack on. Then do the front garden. Rubbish needs to be removed; weeds can wait.
4. Order the PVC cleaner online now.
5. Guests will need about 1/4 to 1/3 of a wardrobe to hang up a week's worth of clothes. Just move some bulky items to the attic and then do the rest of the cupboard sorting after the guests leave.
6. Save decluttering until the new year. Just make sure there are places to sit and to eat / serve food / put down drinks.
7. Call the electrician on Monday when you have a second from work - set an alarm or reminder on your phone.
8. Tonight, go online and order, e.g. from Marks and Spencer,

• Christmas tree
• decorations (you could ask guests to put them up - I would love to do this!)
• food, booze, etc.
• plates
• bed linen, towels

Good luck!

Are you off next weekend? You could put 16 hours into it, next Sat & Sun plus an hour every evening?

Possibly!

Op you can’t possibly achieve all that !
Is money tight? Cos there’s a lot on your list that you could get someone in to do.
Can you sit in the evening and order food?
Get a firm to do deep clean?
Make your list of priorities, if you panic you won’t get anything done and will have a crap Christmas.
Remember, a warm happy welcome is really all that matters.
Ps they can hang their clothes on door knobs etc!

Do online shopping (food, linen, plates) in the evening or lunch hour.

Get a cleaner in for a deep clean.

You don't need cupboard space: get a rail and some hangers or share your wardrobe?

Forget about the conservatory and garden. Ignore the clutter. Do not hang paintings!

You'll have a horrible 2 weeks if you try to do all that!

You don't need to do all that before christmas.

Get a tree up and some decs on. It can be just a basic pack of coloured baubles and it will still look nice.

Focus on getting the main rooms passable, save a total declutter for after Christmas. If need be you can box stuff and stick it out of sight (maybe in your bedroom) and sort it after.

Make a list for food and booze. I think you'll have to go in person as delivery slots will be gone by now. I quite like going late at night when it is quiet.

Surely your guests are family, and coming to see you, not to inspect your house? I think getting an electrician before Xmas is probably unrealistic, so explain the situation and put a lamp in if necessary.

Stop pressuring yourself to be perfect. Your house doesn't have to be. That isn't what christmas is about.

I would get an electrician in if the light fitting isn't suitable for bathrooms, as it may be unsafe.

Uh ok ... that’s quite a lot. Triage into priorities. Hangingpictures is the lowest possible priority. Put them somewhere out of the way for the duration. Write a food and drink list, get onto a supermarket website and book a delivery ASAP.

You say ‘we’ - is there a DH in this scenario ? If so the tree and decorations are his problem.

Do a homeware delivery order too.

Forget the front garden. Forget the bathroom light. Forget cleaning the conservatory framework.

Take the stuff in the cupboards and dump it in the attic and close the door on it. Sort it in the new year.

Tree. Decorations. Flat ware and bedding. Buy it all online.
Garden. Decluttering and cleaning. Outsource it all.
Done! 😁

Surely if you've only recently moved house your guests will know this and expect things to be a bit chaotic? Anyone who has ever moved house should understand so I really wouldn't worry about stuff like sorting the garden out.

PP's suggestion of hiring someone to do a one off deep clean is a good one. Won't take five minutes to throw out the diseased plants. Order new plates and bed linen online or ask your guests to bring bedding, just explain you don't have enough. Do an online food shop or if you have a DH/DP send him/her out to do the shopping while you do something else off your list. Don't try to do it all alone, get delegating!

As for decluttering your "entire home", just focus on the areas your guests will actually see. They're not likely to go rooting around all your cupboards, are they? So if you have to hide the mess by shoving it all in cupboards until you can have a proper clear out then so be it.

You’ve just moved house! Your relatives will cut you some slack!
Also, the internet. Go and order everything you need online right now. Plates, bedding, pvc cleaner. Go and do it now. Right now

Chuck the bloody plants out for a start! (I hate pots of mud around the house!)

Forgot to say, we ordered an artificial tree and loads of decorations online from Argos and got same day delivery. You can even by 'pop up' pre-decorated trees now, we've got a couple in our office and they actually look really nice. Even if you usually have a real tree save yourself the hassle this year with everything else you've got going on.

Ok, firstly don't panic. Christmas is one day and family and friends can either be grateful for you hosting them or Jeff off!

Here's what I'd do,

Get a box, full of with all the clutter and stick it in the loft (if you don't miss any of it in the new year, bin the whole lot)
Cupboard contents the same.
Pictures either in the loft and bang a nail in and hang them randomly and claim it's an effect you're going for.
Plants, stick them in the garden and give it a quick tidy, and by tidy mean put everything in a neat pile in the furthest corner and run a mower over it if you have time. Job done.

Cleaning, just go for it, loud music, bin back and cleaner and cloths. You'll be surprised what you can do in an hour, kids and partner can help.
Sod the pvc cleaner.
Food and drink do online unless you need to shop at Aldi or Lidl in which case go at opening time on a week day if you can, it's quieter then, can you outsource something, like asking everyone coming to bring a bottle or some nibbles?
While you're getting food get plates and bedding (if you have an Ikea you can get the tree and decs too!)

Honestly OP, you'll be grand, you just have to breathe and get stuck in. Good luck.

Thanks everyone Do you think I have any chance of getting the house in a relatively presentable state if I seriously get to work from tomorrow night?

I’d rather not throw out the sticky plants as they cost a lot of cash and I like them - I’ll need to get some horticultural oil and new soil to treat them.

I also need to meal-plan for our guests and order all the food - argh!

Prioritise the absolute necessities like the tree, food and bed linen.

A lot of your list won't even ping your guests radar and if it does they can either get over it or stay in a hotel.

Agree with prioritising the house and not the garden - also don't buy upvc cleaner - I use regular glass cleaner on ours when I'm doing the windows and it brings them up really clean and shiny so that could be one thing ticked off your list!

Take a day to de-clutter, then another one to clean, then start to tackle the shopping. Try and break it down into manageable chunks. Good luck!

Surely you could have ticked at least two things off the list in the time it took to write this?

Cancel Christmas, for everyone, everywhere. It would be FAR simpler than doing all of that!

WHO is coming & how long are they staying?

Just put up a list of what needs doing and ask your guests to sign up for whichever tasks they'd most like to do. Clean toilets, clean beds, the rest can wait. If they know you've just moved then they can't expect it to be perfect. For our second Christmas we were in the middle of massive renovations and our guests had to sit on sacks of cement and eat sandwiches as our furniture was in storage and the cooker wasn't connected. We still laugh about it a quarter of a century later.

I'd love to be out sorting your front garden rather than slumping on a sofa all day. DH would have your bathroom light sorted in half an hour. See, nobody would mind

For the bathroom light, you can get one of those paper lamp shade. They take about 5 minutes to hang and will hide the bulb. You can find them in Ikea or DIY stores or even e-bay if you prefer ordering online.

Prioritise getting the food, tree and decorations; you can do the sorting and cleaning later.