To not do a massive 'Christmas clean'

[monicagellerbing]

I was always brought up with my mam every year cleaning the whole house top to bottom including things like the oven the fridge, kitchen cupboards, literally everything. I've always done the same every year and stressed myself out but this year I just cannot be arsed. The house is clean and tidy as I do keep the house nice but I can feel the fridge and oven and carpets calling to be cleaned just because its Christmas and I don't want to! I'm busy all of this week but could squeeze in some polishing if I HAD to. What do you think?

YABU - Christmas is for cleaning get it done you lazy cow
YANBU - do the bare minimum as the kids will trash it anyway

Can't enable voting, I'm on the app

I was motivated to do some long overdue decluttering when family royalty accepted an invitation to come to us for Xmas.
Oh and get the door of the bathroom cabinet fixed - cos she's really going to notice and appreciate that. People lose their heads at Xmas!
Deep clean the kitchen cupboards.....I think not!

I have my sis and niece sleeping in my bedroom for a couple of nights so I do plan to get rid of some cobwebs, does that count?

I don’t do a big Christmas clean. In November, I try to have an eye on the fact that the decorations will be going up and more interesting food prep will be happening. Depending on the year, sometimes I’m on top of house things in November going into Christmas and sometimes I’m not!

Currently knee deep in our Christmas clean.

I think you're a rebel OP! Haha.

Spring cleaning Ive heard of but never Christmas cleaning lol

I do! A before & after big clean.

Don’t know why I bother tbh, my dog is Sat picking ear wax out of his ears & licking it & last night my DD touched every surface/window - I’m sure she produces grease continuously from her palms.

No just a normal clean and with extra stuff around like decorations it will likely be slightly less thorough than usual. I am going to treat the worktops as it protects them from the heavier use over the next few days. The oven will be post Xmas otherwise it's a waste of time.

Oh it is. I worked with someone once who religiously cleaned her oven at the end of November ready for Christmas and wouldn't use it again until Dec 25th.

Sounds like you live alone (otherwise why would all the cleaning fall to you!), so if you’re not bothered about cleaning don’t do it.

It’s a thing for my mum too! Even though she’s not hosting Christmas Day this year I can guarantee the vacuum won’t have had a day off this week! I always clean before I go away too but it’s nice to come home to a spotless house.

I do a proper deep clean before New Year, don't want to take this years crap into a New Year

I always used to do this. I didn't last year because we were having the kitchen done and due to some issues with it, the house was upside down for the whole month before Christmas. And then once I put everything back together, I couldn't be bothered. The house didn't look/feel any different so I haven't bothered this year either.

We don't have kids and are both generally tidy anyway.

My mum did this, and so do/did I! It’s making sure everything is done and perfect for Christmas so you can rest and go into the New all clean and tidy. But I’ve spent too many Christmas’s feeling exhausted because all I’ve done is clean and run around making it perfect when it was perfectly fine as it was. So this year I’ve not done anything extra at all, just the usual routine. And nothing bad happened and I’m feeling much more relaxed and do not care at all about anything that’s not done. Instead of working my arse off I’m baking with the kids more, eating the Christmas chocolates and playing with the dog. 🙂🙂

I emptied and cleaned the fridge ready for the Christmas food yesterday but that was necessity because I hadn’t done it for months. I was appalled at the use by dates on some of the stuff I threw away. New year resolution - sort it out regularly.

Yes. A Christmas clean is a thing, especially if you have guests coming. A good clean before decorations up, and then another clean before guests arrive.

Hiwever, if it’s clean and tidy, don’t stress.

I don't do a big deep clean but might run the hoover round and make sure the kitchen and living room are tidy on Christmas eve before we go to bed. Doesn't have to be all or nothing!

I moved house this week so living without boxes in a few rooms is my current goal 🤣

No way. The house is usually tidy anyway...but we've got a golden retriever visiting who is shedding everywhere. We emptied the fridge to fit the Christmas food in...that's it. Our cleaner is booked to start again 2nd week of January....

I'll be having a good Christmas clean this weekend, not cupboards but definitely a good hoover and polish,mop, and kitchen and bathroom spruce up. It's nice to have it all nice for Christmas Day.

My mum/Mil do this and I'm sure they think I "should" do this too, but I don't want my children's memories of me at Christmas to be frantic cleaning and stressing in the kitchen. I'd prefer a messy house and frozen veg with more time to play Lego and do colouring.

Op my mum was the same and so was I. I've stopped now. I still make sure everywhere is dusted hoovered etc but skip the deep clean

I do 😁 not inside of cupboards, but I will clean the fridge, oven, bathrooms, dust living room and dining room, and hoover + mop all the floors. I will boot out the family out the house on Saturday so I can blitz the house with no one under my feet.

Why wouldn’t you? Everyone I know does this, you want everything nice and organised!

Yes, a half decent Christmas clean was a thing in our house growing up so place “decent for visitors” but not inside cupboards! The REAL deep clean was a week later pre-Hogmany - that involved inside cupboards, clearing drawers, skirting boards, windows etc. Apparently if “your house isn’t clean for New Year coming in then it will be a tip all year” I can’t shake the idea my mum was right - I never do the new year clean to her exacting standard and my house is a tip all year every year 😩

Nope-I’ve never done this. I’ve booked an oven and carpet clean for the first week in January though!

The Christmas clean was definitely a thing in my Mum's household but completed at the beginning of December before decorations went up.

My Mum would go into full on cleaning mode. However, it was one tradition I immediately got rid of. It was too stressful, alongside a full time job and normal household responsibilities.