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?

I just realised when I was writing something at work that yesterday was 16 weeks till Christmas Day .

I need to get my list in order !

Goes off to find Christmas Fakey-Filo-Fax

Todays task is cleaning the bedroom, emptied out my bedside cupboard ( found about 20 glasses wipe sachets and a load of hair bands . And pens )

And the 2024 M&S Food Magazine .
Ahhhhhh , hard work has its own reward

I've ended up taking mum out this morning, then going to the cemetery to clean dad's headstone and put a new plant on
I've done 2 x loads of washing both now on the line
I think I might have a rest 😴
I'm shattered

Paperwork is being shredded/recycled.
School have asked for winter coat donations next week, bonus, a deadline, I need those! So big porch declutter this weekend woo-hoo! We know how to live on the wild side in this house!

Laundry basket is back under control after holiday.

And I booked theatre tickets for part of christmas present for grandma.

Our "dump it upstairs will sort it later" bedroom has had a first stab of getting it under control!

Dd has come back from college with a huge list of "essentials" for her course 😬
New sofa covers on 👍
I've even cleaned some of the windows inside

I found the chair fabric. In a bag in the loft DH had already checked 🙄

Yay!

I've had an unexpectedly busy day so a fish and chip tea 🍽
Managed to clean the windows inside upstairs.
Washed and dried 2 loads of laundry.
Tried to buy fil a bday gift, failed, ordered a rose bush 🌹 online instead.
Trying to sort out all dds college art stuff...god, there's SO much!

My To-Do List :

(No particular time frame but )

Sort my summer clothes and put in the attic . They;re clean so just need folded , bagged , take out any I;m not keeping .
Clear space on the rail in little bedroom as my winter coats will need to go there (Not yet but DH will need to get them , I don;t go in the attic)

Sort through clothes in the little bedroom ( some are DHs )
Get my suitcase out of the attic

Wrap up the things I;ve bought for DD for her Dec 1st Box . I bought some nice little organza bags for things like nail polish .I also need to check what I;ve bought and do a list on my phone .

Sort the pantry and clear the Christmas Shelf . (So far I have a jar of Waitrose Lemon Curd )

Airing cupboard sorted out today. Have a pile of towels to go out, which the vets may be able to make use of.

We have spent some time outside doing some of the garden as part of winter prep.

I've been through my Christmas towel / tea towel drawer and have washed the dark ones and tidied the drawer when putting them back. The light ones will get washed with our towels tomorrow, so they're all fresh to start using later in the year.

We've just finished our main bathroom today (tiling and adding a shower over the bath), which DH did. I painted the non-tiled walls (he did the ceiling). It'll be nice having two showers in the house and not having to queue for the one!

@NoWordForFluffy happy showers 😀. I am sure two will make a massive difference to you.

i Have cleaned out the fridge and freezer, including defrosting the freezer and washing out all shelves/drawers. And cleaned the fronts of the white cupboards in the kitchen (both sides of the doors).

I have been working on getting rid of the limescale buildup on both toilets, now that the leaks are fixed. It’s gone in 1 and about a third of its original size in the other…we have very hard water here. (I am renting and it took the landlord over a year to sort the plumber out).

cleaning the skirting boards throughout is on my list of small jobs. And cleaning the outside of the balcony doors (it’s a very dusty city so they don’t stay clean - but we’re getting rain again so the dust is reducing a bit).

I scrolled way back to find the schedule I used last year. Looks like I started a bit earlier so I've adjusted it for this year:

Week ending:
21/09 En suite
28/09 Dressing room
05/10 Master bedroom
12/10 Bathroom
19/10 Spare room
26/10 Hallway, stairs and landing, incl airing cupboard
02/11 Study
09/11 Sitting room
16/11 Utility room
23/11Larder
30/11 Kitchen part one
07/12 Kitchen part two

We are waiting for the plasterer to come and do the hall and stairs so this may all be rejigged. Hoping he has been by end of October though.

This should leave the two weeks before Christmas free of any major cleaning with only maintenance necessary (she says, hopefully!)

F/F and freezer need doing, but dh doesnt do it after I told him what a hateful job isn't was and how hard it was to run down the freezer with 2 young adult dc in the house 😬
You will not be surprised to learn it has not been done 🙄
We've touched up some paint in some rooms, blitzed the conservatory.
Dhs uncle died and there is a lovely oak chest we've been offered but I'm not sure it'll fit 🤔

@swampwitch0 take the oak chest and work around it sounds like an amazing piece of furniture

I'm throwing things out, almost everything that isn't needed this week or nailed down, it's liberating. Friends moved house and threw away everything they no longer needed and I am so jealous not of the moving of the trips to tip!

Oh I'm definitely having it :)
Just need to get rid of my current dresser 😬
And slightly move the dining table 😊

Dd has had a lovely little apothecary chest:)
And some artwork.

I am on a train so unable to do anything else but plan things and whittle away the hours on MN.
Usually we have a Sainsbury's order on Friday but DH won't have booked one this week . When I get home I can empty the freezer into the garage freezers and put any fridge items into chiller bags and defrost the F/F overnight . Clean the shelves and salad drawer then switch on and hope tomorrow.
After that go through what's in the garage freezers , mostly DS pizzas and Yorkshire puddings.

I still need to recycle some of DH old t shirts before he notices they're gone . I bought him some new ones to soften the blow 😄

@frozendaisy my mission over autumn is to get rid of as much as possible that no longer serves a purpose. I am being fairly brutal with things like clothes that I no longer use and there is a limit as how many things that have seen better days I need to keep for gardening/decorating etc!

High on the list is going through the Christmas decorations which I want to do sooner rather than later. I don’t need them all and I want to be able to off load them in good time when other people may have a need for them.

Ok pantry (it’s small and cluttered under stairs space can’t stand up in so nothing special) and food cupboards have been emptied, shelves cleaned and reorganised. I now know at least what we have.

The nemesis that is the plastic container/herbal teas cupboard is next (tomorrow mind)

Teenager said all they really need, regarding presents, as they both have birthdays between now and Christmas is money, clothes, stuff we need, which in theory makes life a bit easier. But of course things to open as well!

I have one game, which seems pointless as I have decluttered many games but hopefully we like this one! And some theatre tickets x2 one set for This is England and one set for a magic show.

Will find some books, and stocking fillers shortly.

I've got tickets to Christmas carol goes wrong for January 😊
And do and I always go and see Kate Rusby just before Christmas

fridge/freezer defrosted and cleaned then re-loaded
2 loads of washing done and a 3rd load on which can hang on the rails to dry .

Had an appointment today

To-Do - vacuum and clean the filters . After reading the thread about Shark vacuums being pesky workshy little gits and a lot of posters saying 'clean the filter' I need to do that . Mine are washable and dry quickly overnight .

swamp we're going to see the Christmas Carol in December , love the Goes Wrong/Mischief Theatre , I've seen that play loads on TV but not in a real play on stage .

There's a cinema in Leicester Square that shows old films , DD has decided that "Love Actually" is on our Traditional watch list - the film is nearly as old as her ! I'm sure this cinema will show it .