Why do I do this every year? Housekeeping hell

[CheeryCat]

Why, every single year, do I attempt to combine Christmas with spring cleaning and clearing out of spare rooms ready for guests and addressing my laundry mountain and general clutter?

Why can’t I either (a) have better housekeeping standards all year round or (b) have a more ‘take us as you find us’ attitude?

I feel like my own worst enemy as Christmas always seems to merge Christmas into some major life laundry event.

Anyone else do this? I wonder what the answer is. I wish I could have the ‘just one day’ Christmas attitude. I’m making this harder than it needs to be, I suspect.

Me too. Bonkers, isn't it? Fortunately DH has a van so we usually end up slinging heaps of clutter, laundry baskets etc in there for a day or two.

OMG Yes! This is 100% me. Last day of work today, now I need to face all the cleaning and tidying.

@pinneddownbytabbies you mean you use van as a sort of holding bay?! That’s the sort of thing I’d do! In fact, one if the reasons todays declutter took so long was because I had to get rid of boxes of stuff I’d stashed in September when we last had relatives to stay!

@ilovesushi I was just thinking that having too much time on my hands was part of it (off work since last week) and that I would be forced to be a bit more laid back if I had less time . Interesting that you feel the same but with less time to do it all in. Sympathies!

Glad it's not just me!

This is me too.
I am envious of pinneddownbytabbies ‘ van.

No solutions CheeryCat but you have made my evening realising that I am not the only person who does this. Thank you!

Yes, me too! I have spent today getting nowhere. I just want to sit down and feel Christmassy but no, I am up to my armpits in socks. Van, outside, full of stuff and I know there will be more stuff coming on Sunday!!

Yes - a holding bay. I shall call it that from now on

Totally me! Friends and family are talking about lovely Xmas plans they've made for tomorrow and all I'm doing is cleaning the house!

Maybe next year @nettie434 we should do a clear out/ spring clean at the end of November. That way, Christmas could just be about Christmas prep, not life laundry.

This thread is making me feel so much better! 😂 I have found my people!

@captncrunch I have had a bit of an epiphany today. It’s not Christmas that is the issue itself, it’s that it is incompatible with how I run my home generally and shines a light on all the corners of chaos in our home. Can you imagine having a guest ready house?? Christmas must be an absolute doddle!

@SkyLarkDescending I’m thinking of doing a half day tomorrow and going out for lunch- alone is necessary!

Me too! But I never quite achieve all the planned tidying and feel like a failure but why do I think it's the right time to do it when we have more social engagements and things to organise than any other time for year....gluttons for punishment.

Great plan! Then we will be sitting on the sofa admiring our surroundings sipping something lovely. Back to reality, I must try and go back to the ironing basket 🙁

Ahhh the picture perfect Christmas!!! A show house, cheerful family and exquisite decorations. Don’t worry, we all do it.

Oh god this is me. Finished work today, which is really late for me. Too knackered tonight to do anything. I have tomorrow morning earmarked for the Great Spring Clean, despite the fact there is way more than a morning to do and we have guests arriving in the afternoon. I will probably end up hiding loads of crap in our bedroom!

Yes, that's exactly it! Actually someone I work with came to the door to drop off a gift for me earlier... The horror of an unexpected guest! If love to be one of those types that can be super chilled and "come in, I'll put the kettle on!" Rather than just feeling panic 😁
Maybe a guest ready house should be a new years Resolution. But honestly with me and other half working FT and 3 kids how, just how, is it done!

My washing machine broke 2 weeks ago and I got a new one last weekend. So thorough have I been that all the many sofa seat cushions etc been washed 😋Was planning more cleaning today but baby sent home sick from nursery and 3 year old is now finished too until next week. Hopefully DH can manage the kitchen since both kids are my limpits...

I do a quarterly deep clean and that's made my life a lot easier. Each school holiday I spend a weekend decluttering, selling old stuff & doing charity runs. I clear cupboards out of old food, clean inside and restock.

Furniture is moved and vacuumed and dusted behind and then rearranged. I have to do this otherwisey house would be over run. My dh doesn't throw anything away & my kids have slight hoardi g tendencies.

Just do enough now to get through Christmas and don't make extra work for yourself. When you pack away your Christmas decorations, do a deep clean then. Pack items ready for a charity shop drop or a car boot sale. Then do the same each school holiday so next Christmas will be less manic & different.

My mum cleaned the house top to bottom on Christmas eve and the day before we went on our annual holiday (that was it for the year). I definitely associate both if those occasions with stress and shouting!

@FlamingJingleBells that sounds like an amazing plan. Except my DC are 18 and 20 and we’ve got about ten years worth of acculturated clutter that spills out into the spare room and living space… I fear I’ve left it too late. We basically just need a skip 🤣
I will try to do the quarterly spring clean, though. Or maybe just twice a year .

@ChuggingtonMum sounds like me!

I've got a 6 bedroom house but one of the largest rooms is my clutter/storage room.