CHRISTMAS CLEANALONG

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Hi all. So for the first time ever I will be hosting Christmas Day dinner in my home.

And to that end, I've decided to give my house a massive clean, declutter & reorganisation (very badly needed!).

I've worked out there are 16 weekends to Christmas (well actually 17 but I want to use the last one for food prep) so I'm dividing my house into 16 sections & going to spend one day every weekend on a different section.

I'm starting this weekend. Would anyone like to join?

@WeMeetInFairIthilien
No problem at all.

I'm so thrilled it's helping people. It's really helping me that's for sure.

Great progress everyone.

Scrubbed bath bathroom tiles today.
Which is a win in between yak shaving

Another come away shelf in bathroom.

Had both covid and flu jab this morning so am putting blocks in place to be home tomorrow, if I feel dreadful I feel dreadful if not niggle job list is coming back out.

So expect me to be knee deep planting blackcurrant bushes or something, these are not on the list.

I cleared a pile of papers / letters / books from the dining table at the weekend. An extra little job, but it was pleasing to get it done. That table attracts the dumping of shite! 😩

Still not really back in the groove and the weather isn't helping but kitchen is in good shape now. It really is a help to have this thread to keep me on schedule.

Currently tackling utility room...

08/9 En suite ✅
15/9 Dressing room ✅
22/9 Master bedroom ✅
29/9 Kitchen part one ✅
13/10 Kitchen part two ✅
20/10 Utility room
27/10 Sitting room
03/11 Larder
10/11 Bathroom
17/11 Spare room
24/11 Hallway, stairs and landing, incl airing cupboard
01/12 Study
08/12 Any areas missed

The fridge water filter has been changed and 3-4 gallons ran through it.
The niggle sewing has been completed with sewing machine all nicely packed away again.

Christmas meat order has gone in, it's a local butchers with local meat, use all year round, but to get a 12lb turkey you have to order early.
Christmas jigsaw, crackers, some stocking presents, some friend's presents have arrived.

Then, this morning, I thought I would put the garden hosepipe away and a whole field of yaks have been shaved.

I am telling kidding myself that it's best to do the outdoor jobs whilst it's still mildish, sunny and dry, which is true but it was still a fine session of yak shaving.

Not found an adaptor yet for fibre optic tree, but it's forecast to rain tomorrow, think we have everything we need in the house so all systems go for an indoor, non-yak-shaving session this weekend. That is the intention.

Joining for inspiration. Thank you!

I bought some Christmas bedding for my DD , need to get the rest of it out of the attic to wash .
DD likes her Winter/Christmas bedding on Nov 1st , it;s a woodland pattern rather than Christmas ,
DH and I have wine red bedding , I need to get the teddy fluffy sheet on this weekend , much cosy-er

It means though I have to climb up the stepladder to search through and arrange bags of bedding on the high shelf and put some up there for storage

We did another new job today: cleaned, sorted and painted the kids' lounge. The painting was the easy bit. The sorting (and moving the furniture round) was painful!

The good news is that they now have room for their tree in a corner! 🎄

a. Sort my drawers out and ditch old crappy socks / t-shirts etc to make space. ✔️
b. Tidy up the painting I've done, as some needs touching up. Hallway ✔️ Bedrooms - x 2 ✔️ One to go.
c. Sort the garage so we can actually get the car into it when it's really cold.
d. Hang pictures up. ✔️
e. Tidy, clean and sort DS' bedroom. ✔️
f. Sew damaged seam on sofa. ✔️
g. Sort, tidy and paint the kids' lounge. ✔️
h. Tidy and clear kitchen table. ✔️

I'm not convinced I'll be getting the garage done before Christmas now, as I'm having carpal tunnel surgery in either late November or mid-December, so I need to prep as much as I can for Christmas before then. Never mind, it'll wait! 🤣

You are a machine @NoWordForFluffy !

I am ticking off niggle jobs, slowly.
Youngster's chest of drawers fixed
X2 wooden kitchen chairs fixed

Hooks up for more paintings to be hung

Outstanding stuff purchased to do some repair grouting in bathrooms and other chest of drawers to be fixed.

It's coming along slowly.

I've cut back some climbers in the garden so a good few bags of greem garden waste to go out . Did this on Friday before my post-vaccine lurgy set in, this weekend has been a bit of a wasteland for me .

I put my winter coats out to air when it was dry and windy -they were stored in vacuum bags . I'll wash my jumpers when itl's dry . Today is tipping down

Need to sort through a Drawer of Doom that holds flannels. face cleansing cloths and hair wraps . Even putting them in some sort of order , rather than open the drawer and shove the clean ones in. So the ones at the back don;t get used .

I feel much better motivated after reading this thread!
Painting in bathroom still on hold while waiting for a plumber to fit the new radiator. Appointment cancelled twice (grrr.)
Some work still to do in the garden but I am close to being able to fill DH car with garden waste and toys / clothing for charity shops or disposal.
It's a wet weekend so the project has been to clean skirting boards downstairs and complete the toy and book sorting in the lounge. I haven't pulled out the furniture and cleaned behind it for a long time so there's probably all kinds of treasure to be found!

Great to see so many people motivated here. This thread is the only thing keeping me accountable.

So this weekend I crossed the en-suite off the list. The amount of potions & lotions I had was ridiculous.

1 Kitchen part one ✅
2 Kitchen part two ✅
3 Sitting room
4 Utility room part one
5 Utility room part two
6 Playroom
7 Downstairs loo ✅
8 Larder ✅
9 Hallway incl under stairs press
10 Stairs/landing incl hotpress
11. Bathroom
12. My room part one ✅
13. My room part two
14. En suite ✅
15. Dd’s room
16. Ds’s room ✅

I'm away this weekend from Friday to Sunday. But I'll try to get something done on Monday since it's a bank holiday.

I cleaned out the craft cupboard yesterday which was a PAINFUL job but worth it. Organised all the various sets of pens and pencils and even managed to clear enough space to get the board games hidden away. Now how long do you think my six year old will keep it looking like this…?!

Gorgeous room! Well done 😍

Aw thanks @lightningstrikes! Still needs some work but we’re getting there.

I've been reading this thread....am I too late to join? I just looked at the calendar and counted 9 weekends until Christmas! I have a to do list as long as my arm😅 so far there's 120 jobs on it with new jobs being added daily. I've managed to do 17 of them. Mainly just deep cleaning, decluttering and tidying to do. I just need some motivation and accountability. I had big plans today as I have the day off and I've achieved nothing. I'm not sure where to start!

Never too late to start @Neverendingdeclutter welcome!

Right, have taken a day back from the deep cleaning (kitchen and bedrooms) and have gone over all the spaces that I've already deep cleaned, so that they stay nice. Just got got to hoover!

We're having our fitted wardrobe built today, which means we'll paint behind the radiators in our room now, as I didn't do it when I first painted (rush job in the week after completing and before moving in). The room is going to look massive without a wardrobe clogging it up at the bottom of the bed! The new drawers arrive next Weds.

I did manage to sort out the airing cupboard yesterday! Everyone now has a shelf each with their bedding and towels on. Didn't even take that long I don't know why I've been putting it off for weeks, if not months! I probably have as much stuff spare as I do in the airing cupboard. I could've run a hotel with all the towels and bedding we have. Might keep a few bits as dust sheets or for an emergency and get rid of the rest. Animal rescue might be able to make use of them.

Futility room now fettled, including sweeping up what seems to be half a beach of sand! (Similar situation in the car, but have delegated that to DH; he may get around to it. Have also reminded him to fill up with petrol before the budget next week).

Went back over previously cleaned areas to keep them up to scratch as utility room did not take long to clean. This thread really is keeping me to account.
Onto the sitting room...

08/9 En suite ✅
15/9 Dressing room ✅
22/9 Master bedroom ✅
29/9 Kitchen part one ✅
13/10 Kitchen part two ✅
20/10 Utility room ✅
27/10 Sitting room
03/11 Larder
10/11 Bathroom
17/11 Spare room
24/11 Hallway, stairs and landing, incl airing cupboard
01/12 Study
08/12 Any areas missed

Utensil drawer cleaned and sorted got rid of a couple of things .
Doing laundry and driving people about so not much else going on.

I'm not sure what I'll get done this weekend. I'm away at the moment on a solo trip til Sunday for some much needed recharging & relaxing. Home on Sunday evening & it's a bank holiday Monday so might get something done Monday but I may be too relaxed lol.
Had a lovely walk this evening on the beach though so feck the housework

That looks like a perfect walk!

I grew up on the seaside, and now, living about 50 mins away from it (and it's muddy, at that) I really miss it at this time of year.

It's so nice here. My room has a balcony overlooking the sea & it's been quite mild so I've been sitting on the balcony quite a lot of the time listening to the sea. I wish I grew up near the sea. You're very lucky @WeMeetInFairIthilien