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.

We’re all the same. I’ve just asked my husband, “where shall we hide the laundry when your family come and stay?”

@CheeryCat that's exactly it. I've had words with Dd tonight about tidying as we go and at least keeping her stuff tidy. There's just too much stuff though. I've made good progress over the last few months but there's a long way to go. I can't get things to the tip or charity shop myself so that makes it more difficult to get rid of stuff we don't need. I sell clothes on vinted but that's slow going with the amount I have to sell. I've done a lot today and have the spare room ready for my mum. The presents are all wrapped bar one, the food is bought and the rest being delivered tomorrow. The washing basket is almost empty. I just need to clean the downstairs loo and hoover and mop. If I kept things tidy throughout the year...

I think this is the thread where I can safely make a(nother) confession.

I'm determined that the house will be a clean and clutter free wonder of festive joy every Christmas. This also coincides with my busiest time of year work wise as well as all the gumph that comes with school aged kids.

So, I make a spreadsheet every year. 1-31 Dec. A3. Blu-tacced to a kitchen cupboard. Menu for every day. What laundry is going to be done. What bins are going out. Card writing and delivery schedule. Room deep clean rota. Events, activities, payments due. Hair appointments, tesco delivery, work schedule. Colour coordinated. The lot. I'm very proud of my Christmas spreadsheet.

It doesn't get the bloody work done though. Just means I get more stressed and shouty when I've fallen behind schedule or DD hasn't finished hand making cards for grandparents on the allotted day.

I'm 54, hold a responsible job. Can drive a car and do daily Wordle. But December always defeats me.

Funny, I've looked around my living room (I can count 18 pieces of straw (sick lambs indoors), dog fluff and shit loads of lego and all the needles off the none drop tree plus shoes and usual crap and suddenly felt grateful for it all. It won't last, I shall wake tomorrow with The Fear, but for this moment I shall be glad that my house is filled with so many messy souls.

I am at work tomorrow but we finish at lunchtime, thank goodness.

You are not alone. Its also the same thing when we go on holiday - I want the house to be clean and tidy for when we come back as having been in a minimalist self catering cottage always makes our own cluttered house feel untidy!

I’m at work until 4pm tomorrow, it’ll be a very late night for me and a long day on Christmas Eve.

i don’t even have guests over, we go to family for dinner but Santa can’t come unless the house is spotless. I blame my mother for this one, she did the exact same (although she was a lot more shouty than I am 😂)

Ha! Very relatable husband issues.

How do they also manage to make the hoover maintenance (or lack thereof) into your problem (Tsk, you’re supposed to wash the filters blah blah) when they only look at the damn thing twice a year…?

I love a good sort out and clean. Quarterly spring clean makes me happy 😂

I reorganising my wardrobes tomorrow morning 👏 Best approach is focusing on one room at a time.

Why do we all do this! Decorating until 2am on 23rd December or whatever I mean, wtaf?? Been there done that . My big supermarket shop arrives tomorrow and I forgot to triple check it before the deadline 15 mins ago , watching Gavin and Stacey I was (said in a Ness accent😜)

@EarringsandLipstick solidarity from me! We were without heating for a month mid-Nov to mid-Dec, was a complete nightmare and so cold! Been sorted for a week now and house has just about thawed out.

I think running round getting people in for quotes and chasing them up, not to mention clearing out the boiler room so there was space for the guy to install the new one all just sucked up time that I might have been spending doing Christmas shopping/cleaning. Plus I was actually too cold to go and check what cards I had left, to sit at the table and write the cards, or to spend time in any room except the one with the fire!

Even without the boiler I am always the same - frantic tidying at the last minute. I am planning some slow tidying in the break between Christmas and new year!

Hope yours is sorted soon.

This will be outing…but in my family we use the phrase ’hidying up’ when trying to get ready for guests/parties. Collecting all the clutter in a box and then putting the box in the garage, shed or loft. I have also been known to use my car as an overflow fridge at Christmas too. It’s colder than inside the house and can be locked.
Being a creative type, I see interesting opportunities in all sorts of things and we have for years used the acronym P.U.M which stands for potentially useful material….husband will stand with something in his hand hovering over the bin and say ‘rubbish or PUM?’ I am learning to get better at saying ‘rubbish’.
At the end when things are looking tidier and less cluttered I love sitting down with just the Christmas tree lights on and perhaps a candle and enjoy that moment of calm. Happy Christmas to you all.

Every other year this is me. This year is the exception! I started a few months ago:
August- both bathrooms
September- our bedroom
October- DC bedrooms
November - basement and garage
December- lounge and kitchen.
DH thought I was crazy for starting so early but now he is glad we are decluttered and just need a basic clean and tidy tomorrow. Planning to use the same approach next year.

Photo of sick lambs obligatory please after that comment ❤️❤️

@AuntieGlitterball you sound like a blast! Love your sense of humour:)

@FlowerArranger well, funny you should ask about DH. He has so far collected the tree, put up Xmas lights and done the food shopping with me and wrapped presents with me (only much more slowly than me)

I am sorting the house out alone again today while he has the second boozy all-day-lunch in a row. Oh and I will have to take him to collect his car as he decided to have a drink yesterday after all.

I have done all the present shopping and all the cleaning. But pissed if actually this morning. Not feeling light hearted like yesterday:(

We’ve just had a row where he’s stropped off saying ‘what do you expect me to do about the timing of Xmas do…I’ve done nothing wrong’ ( Well…a bit of empathy would be nice and you are the boss so you could actually change the timing …)

I’m feeling ‘em fuck all actually.

@spottygymbag that sounds like an amazing plan- well done!! I always try to do everything all at once, but it ends up being quite superficially done and feels overwhelming.

I think part of the issue for me is that the there is a sort of Christmas domino effect: once I start dusting/ pulling out this item of furniture for the first time in a year (or three) then it shines a spotlight suddenly on all the other things that are gathering similar amounts or dust and it just snow balls.

Someone needs to resurrect this thread around next October and tag us all, so we do better 🤣

@spottygymbag that can be your job, you’ve clearly got it sorted!!

I make Christmas notes to myself for next year and EVERY YEAR the first thing is “start earlier” and do I??? Do I fuck.

I did get the children to properly tidy their own rooms pre-Christmas (no I didn’t bribe and threaten them, how could you think that) but that’s the one thing I did too early. So of course that hasn’t lasted, DS’s room has a lethal Lego carpet. I literally won’t let my Dad in there when it’s like that, either the Lego will get smashed or he’ll have an fall avoiding it. Neither is Christmassy. Idyllic bedtime stories with Grandpa will just have to be on the sofa.

’hidying up’ - that’s brilliant!

The feeling of contentment, fuel by fizz, has worn off and I'm back to very stressed. I am at work at the moment and all lamb pictures have kids in them (human not goats) I will take one when I get home.

I do this too! But like someone else suggested I usually do the decluttering and deep clean at the end of November/early December. Then it's just a top up clean before Christmas.

Saying that, I have a massive to do list today and I was looking at it thinking how is the list so long when I'm supposedly so organised?! 😂

I’m the same and it’s ridiculous. Made the kids hoover under their beds…why?!
I actually think it’s the influx of ‘stuff’ that you end up drowning under. So I’m trying to start with a blank slate.
I calm down on the other side though!

Today is my first day off with the dc. They want my attention. I want to blitz the house. We're nor even hosting Christmas, the mess is just getting me down. That said, we've all been ill on rotation for WEEKS so it's no wonder the place is a tip.

I had plans to do a charity shop run today but I think I'll cram it in the shed for now

I am usually one of you, but this year is different. Presents are wrapped under the tree, house is relatively clean and tidy, lovely Christmas plans for Christmas Eve. The difference? We're not hosting anyone! It doesn't matter that the storage box for the Christmas decs is on the bed in the spare room, or the back garden looks like a rewilding project, I've not had to do a big shop or prep a huge meal, we've booked a table for dinner tomorrow so I don't even have to think about that! It's a bloody revelation. Going to DBs for Christmas day, I will cook a pudding/cake Christmas Eve night and the turkey to take with Christmas morning. Then we're going to PILs for a couple of days. We get to see everyone, not have anyone come to our house and I've got a tesco click and collect for the 29th so we've got food when we get back.

Love this thread. Very motivating.

By 8.30am I'd hung out washing to dry, hoovered, cleaned toilets and been to the supermarket.

Next I need to mop.

MIL has been here 9 days already and there's 21 left..... (we live overseas). I did a massive clean before she arrived and had decorated.