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Christmas

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Original poster

Why do I need to clean under the beds for Christmas?

130 replies

LetterBug · 14/12/2021 22:44

I am so bad for this, every year I end up wasting the whole of December trying to make my life perfect by doing stupid things like cleaning under the beds and emptying and wiping the cupboards out instead of just enjoying Christmas with my family.
Is anyone else doing this?
what is it? it feels almost like I'm nesting but I'm preparing for the baby Jesus instead of my own baby !!!!

OP posts:

Itstheprinciple · 15/12/2021 07:34

I always say 'I'm cleaning for Santa'.

In the last week, I have cleaned the fridge, oven and my car inside and out. For Santa.

DD always takes the mickey out of me for doing it but she's isolating with covid and bored stiff now she's actually feeling better. The other day she came downstairs and announced she'd cleaned her bedroom for Santa. Hurrah! I told her Santa will be very happy. Which is entirely true.

FlipFlops4Me · 15/12/2021 07:35

It's in case Santa sees and puts you on the naughty list, isn't it?

Having said that, under our bed is my DH's entire CD and vinyl collection tucked neatly into full boxes. There is absolutely no space for a dust bunny. He recorded all of it onto hard drive ages ago so I don't know why we have to keep the hard copies (it is backed up safely).

My wonderful cleaner keeps the house sparkly (each session includes time for the now-and-then tasks, and occasionally she comes for a whole day and does things like shampoo the carpets etc)

ufucoffee · 15/12/2021 07:35

I don't do any extra cleaning for Christmas. Nor do I feel guilty about it.

stayathomer · 15/12/2021 07:37

I think in the same way you see all the dust sunshine over the summer, at Christmas time you know 1) the decorations etc look better with a pristine house (maybe it does, we never got there!!)and 2) there's going to be so much rubbish (in a good way!) coming into the house that you're trying to preempt it!!!

DappledThings · 15/12/2021 07:37

@Scbchl

Most people dust, hoover and mop every day do they not?

Nope. Sweeping the kitchen floor is a daily, sometimes twice daily activity. Those other jobs are more like fortnightly.

Camomila · 15/12/2021 07:37

I'm pretty sure I've heard my (Italian) DM refering to the big pre-Christmas clean as 'cleaning for the baby Jesus'

I do the same as her though and try to have a big clean before Christmas and before Easter.

Terfydactyl · 15/12/2021 07:37

@LetterBug

No I've been a sahm for years and I do clean under the beds and do the cupboards fairly regularly. Every few months. But December is hard hitting. everything has to be done.

Fucking hell, does everyone do this? I've lived in current house 7 years. Never done this. As for the bed, if I change the actual bed or move it then I clean where it was. But no I dont clean under beds otherwise. So in 7 years I've cleaned under it once because I bought a new one. Umm twice actually cos I got a new headboard about 3 years ago.

Beamur · 15/12/2021 07:40

I don't deep clean. Full stop.
If we decorate a room, then I clean it. I don't move furniture just to clean away dust you can't see only to move the furniture back again! That's bonkers.
The only cleaning I do daily is laundry and surfaces. The floor is cleaned ad hoc and dusting is a very low priority, maybe once a month and not everywhere will get done. There's too much house and not enough time!
No one has died of the dust and we rarely get ill.

SheWoreYellow · 15/12/2021 07:42

“Ariann

Scbchl
Most people dust, hoover and mop every day do they not?
Yep - it takes half an hour a day - no more.”

Half an hour? To do the whole house? What am I doing wrong? Mind you, I don’t have even half an hour spare a day, not if I want to sit down and watch one episode of a tv programme. Or I could not help child #1 with homework or I could not read #3 a bedtime story.

I think some people have a poor imagination when it comes to other people’s lives.

peboh · 15/12/2021 07:42

My mil is the same. It's as if somehow her house suddenly becomes filthy in December so she feels the need to clean absolutely everything. I've never understood it.
I do a big clean every 3/4 months which includes getting under the beds, sofa etc, and that's only because somehow dd ends up losing loads of toys under there. December is already a super busy month, I don't want to have to find the time to fit in a full days clean too, so I avoid the big clean until the new year and just do my regular cleaning daily.

PieMistee · 15/12/2021 07:45

If you are a sahm with small kids try and distract yourself by doing things that make it so fucking messy that it make sense to tidy up. Glitter, salt dough decorations, baking. Then you can give them as rubbish presents to grandparents. 😁

Adelerous · 15/12/2021 07:51

Dust. Skin cells. Allergy sufferers.

Bagelsandbrie · 15/12/2021 07:53

@Beamur

I don't deep clean. Full stop. If we decorate a room, then I clean it. I don't move furniture just to clean away dust you can't see only to move the furniture back again! That's bonkers. The only cleaning I do daily is laundry and surfaces. The floor is cleaned ad hoc and dusting is a very low priority, maybe once a month and not everywhere will get done. There's too much house and not enough time! No one has died of the dust and we rarely get ill.

Same here.

Beamur · 15/12/2021 07:54

I get that you should keep your room reasonably clean and tidy. But explain to me how the undisturbed dust behind my wardrobe is really going to bother anyone? Moving furniture to clean behind it surely creates more particles in the air?

stayathomer · 15/12/2021 07:55

I do a big clean every 3/4 months which includes getting under the beds, sofa etc, and that's only because somehow dd ends up losing loads of toys under there
That's possibly close to what OP (and myself) do at Christmas so, in a panic because so much more stuff is coming into the house!!

TillyTopper · 15/12/2021 07:59

I clean the week between Xmas and New Year. But I feel guilty about it and try to do just a couple of rooms a day so I don't miss out on time with the kids! NY feels lovely though!

Practicebeingpatient · 15/12/2021 08:21

Half an hour away to dust, mop and hoover a whole house is crazy. Maybe if you lived in a one bedroom flat with not much in it but to get round a 3/4/5 bedroom house in that time wouldn't be possible. We don't have a massive kitchen, about 10 ft x 10 ft but to do a proper job of vacuuming, washing and drying the floor is 30 minutes work minimum.

I did well over half an hours housework yesterday and in that time I vacuumed 2 bedrooms and the upstairs hall, cleaned 2 loos and emptied some bins. The other bedrooms, bathroom,, stairs, downstairs hall, reception rooms, kitchen and utility will have to wait. Possibly until hell freezes over.

hivemindneeded · 15/12/2021 08:36

@Sundancerintherain

Yes I do it. My DM also used to change every bed in the house on Xmas eve then wash and tumble dry everything- growing up I thought the perfume of Bounce tumble dryer sheets was the smell of Xmas

But I like that! It's clean and cosy for Christmas Day.

When I clean under furntiure two or three times a year it really does look like Aggie's filthy house rescue. There's weird yellow waxy residue on the skirting boards and thick dust. We have a cat and too many books which both create dust but no idea where the weird yellow stuff is from. the idea of never cleaning that, year in year out makes me feel queasy and my housekeeping standards are very very low and basic.

mogschristmascalamity · 15/12/2021 08:56

Our house embraced the shit tip look last christmas thanks to covid. Carrying on the tradition this year.

Hoppinggreen · 15/12/2021 08:59

Baby Jesus comes to me in my dreams and tells me to give the house a really good clean in the run up to Christmas
I ignore him

ancientgran · 15/12/2021 09:00

@HunterGatherer

Nope, I've never had the urge to do this. I scrub everything before we go on holiday though! No idea why.

I do that, I think it is because the end of the holiday is bad enough without coming home to a house that needs cleaning. Well that's my theory.

HolidayTime2021 · 15/12/2021 09:04

Moths like dark spaces
Get an Eufy

Ragwort · 15/12/2021 09:07

Dust, hoover and mop every day? only on Mumsnet.

hivemindneeded · 15/12/2021 09:08

@SheWoreYellow

“Ariann

Scbchl
Most people dust, hoover and mop every day do they not?
Yep - it takes half an hour a day - no more.”

I think some people have a poor imagination when it comes to other people’s lives.

I suppose if you literally cleaned every single day it would only take 30 mins as not every area would need doing. Stairs one day, living room the next, kitchen floor mopped one day, bathrooms the next etc. One way to do it. But I just forget.

BettyfromBristol · 15/12/2021 09:10

According to the story, Jesus was born in a stable. I can't imagine anyone had given it a good clean. Our house is no better and no worse than the rest of the year.

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