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?

Good evening! I am trying to sort out the coffee table so I’ve cleared and cleaned a cupboard in the kitchen to move some coffee table items to. I’m trying to bin things each day from rooms. It’s quite cathartic!

You all inspired me! So I have spent some time putting together my Christmas Clean Along List starting now!

Week Date Main jobs
Week 1 w/c 10 Aug Drinks station • Welsh dresser • Kitchen food cupboards — first section
Week 2 w/c 17 Aug Study clear-out • Books — sort • Papers / random bits — sort
Week 3 w/c 24 Aug Fridge 1 + Fridge 2 — deep clean • Freezer 1 + Freezer 2 — clear/clean
— w/c 31 Aug BREAK — no major jobs
Week 4 w/c 7 Sep Bathrooms clear-out • Cloakroom sort • Declutter toiletries • General bathroom deep clean
— w/c 14 Sep BREAK — no major jobs
— w/c 21 Sep BREAK — no major jobs
Week 5 w/c 28 Sep Kids clothes cull • hoover under kids bed •kids toys & books donate. • Sort under bed
Week 6 w/c 5 Oct Dressing room clear-out • clothes clear-out • Donation pile / bags • Bring down Halloween decs
Week 7 w/c 12 Oct Clean under living-room furniture • General living-room declutter • Hang winter curtains
Week 8 w/c 19 Oct Finish kitchen cupboards • Deep-clean kitchen floor • Final kitchen reset
Week 9 w/c 26 Oct Buy Christmas cake ingredients
Week 10 w/c 2 Nov BAKE CHRISTMAS CAKE • Start feeding cake • Check marzipan + icing appricot jam supplies • put away Halloween decs
Week 11 w/c 9 Nov Feed Christmas Cakes
Week 12 w/c 16 Nov Feed Christmas cake • Get Christmas decorations down from attic • Sort Christmas decorations / ornaments • Put up outdoor Christmas lights
Week 13 w/c 23 Nov CHRISTMAS DECORATING • Feed Christmas cake
Week 14 w/c 30 Nov CHRISTMAS DECORATING • Feed Christmas cake • Check potpourri supplies pine cones, clove, orange, star anise - winter oil• Dry Oranges
Week 15 w/c 7 Dec Marzipan Christmas cakes • Make potpourri for Christmas gifts • Package / store potpourri
Week 16 w/c 14 Dec Ice & Package Christmas cakes • Gift package potpourri

I need to do the freezer! We have left over ham and turkey in there from Christmas. Could I use it? It was cooked and not pre frozen. I could make a pie..

I have a terrible habit of labelling nothing. It all gets mobbed in to the two freezers and we just eventually eat or chuck brown stuff.

You are extremely organised Rose785

I need to do a What Needs Done List .
DH has his list too , painting , redecorating type .

The last couple of years I found this good for decluttering and tidying.
This year I need to sort through clothes and bedding .

I need to get the George set up to clean the stair carpet but it needs another person to hold it so it doesn't fall and crush me (my son would make it look like a terrible accident
The carpet cleaner I normally use is rubbish at sucking up the water so it might be on my recycle hit list

Hello Everyone, would love to join this year.
Me and My Daughter have recently moved in with my Sister and realised we have so much crap and clutter between us, hopefully this thread will motivate us to get organised.
I will eventually make a weekly plan, but this weekend (and probably the next few weekends) will be the spare room which resembles an episode of hoarders...because someone thought it was a good idea just to throw everything in there to sort out later🙄

Good morning all,

I'm definitely going to join you all this year. I'm recently back from our summer holidays and as I'm putting stuff away it's made me realise how much our wardrobes are overflowing 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

I can't do a great deal during the school holidays but I'm aiming to do one small job a day to get in front for September. Yesterday I tackled the freezer, defrosted and cleaned.

Today I'm going to ring and organise a blind to be measured up for my daughter's room.

On top of that I'm need to list at least 5 things a day on Vinted. Also started that yesterday and I've already sold a couple of bits overnight.

I'm going to sit down at one point and do a detailed job list and then prioritise the important ones.

Hopefully you guys will keep me accountable 😁😁

I'll do a post holiday sorted out once I'm back . Summer clothes will be put away and I'll decide what I need to keep and what needs to go.
The winter clothes can wait a while , we've been promised another heatwave end August/early September.
The garden will definitely need sorted lots to clear there.
DH will finish painting and we need flooring (hard floor) for the hall

Next big purchase I think will be a new fridge/freezer .

Checking in for accountability.

Appointment arranged for blind/curtain quote for daughter's room. I only managed to upload 4 items onto Vinted, I find it so boring 😫😫

Did do some additional jobs though, ordered rest of school uniform/shoes, ordered new lunch boxes and cleaned/organised one of my many junk draws 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Tomorrows jobs will be small as I'll be at work all day.

• post off parcels (items sold on Vinted)
• upload 5 items to Vinted.
• sort/organise another junk draw.

Hello all. Joining / checking in.

It's amazing how we hit mid to late August and it's like our brains switch on to Autumn and Christmas prep. I suppose it's because we know it's coming and gosh it seems to happen fast. The nights are getting darker, next minute it will be Halloween and then all of a sudden we are in November!

Got a few hot spots in the house to really tackle this year. I don't host, so it's purely for my own satisfaction and to finally get on top of things. Will be reading this thread alongside Flylady

Checking back in- I really love the summer so I always feel a bit sad as the nights draw in, but I do want to get it clean for Christmas - much better already than last year but still lots to declutter.

I would like to put my decorations up on first weekend in December so will have to get my head down!

This thread popping back up has reminded me that next week I must get DH to book the carpet fitter in so we finally will have a finished sitting room, hall, and stairs before Christmas!

I managed to get the cleanalong finished by the 9th December last year after being delayed by the plasterer finally doing his thing, but did not get the fitter booked in for the carpet before Christmas so put it off until this year. With hindsight, that worked well for us as it took quite some time to house train our two little rescue dogs. It was late spring before they really got the hang of it poor things.

Here's my plan for the Christmas Cleanalong this year:

Week commencing
07/09 En suite
14/09 Dressing room
21/09 Master bedroom
28/09 Bathroom
05/10 Hallway, stairs and landing, incl airing cupboard
12/10 Study
19/10 Sitting room
26/10 Utility room
02/11 Larder
09/11 Kitchen part one
16/11 Kitchen part two
23/11 Spare room
30/11 Any areas missed and final tidy of garden

That should put me in good shape to start the inside and outside decorating for Christmas at the beginning of December. I have moved the spare room to the end of the list as this is where lots of the Christmas decs are stored so a good time to dig them out.

As I hit each room I can make a little list for DH of all the niggly jobs to be done; he'll be really pleased 🎅😁

Checking in to keep motivated
Have been chipping away at the spare room with lots of tip runs but I'm sick of the sight of it for now. This weekend will be the hallway and write a plan, as I'm off work all next week, so I can get some of the bigger jobs done...hopefully

We're cleaning under beds and behind furniture tomorrow. We've been away and I did the bathrooms and kitchen just before we went, so they don't need as much attention, giving us time to do the other, lesser-done, bits. I might touch up the hallway paint as well.

Bloody hell, the dust under the beds! 🤢 I also cleaned the outside of the Velux-style windows, so that's a job added and ticked off at the same time!

I'll touch the paintwork up tomorrow as I'm out of energy now (I'm a bit hungover!).

I need to send DH up in the attic with his phone to photograph everything and I can see what's there. I am not climbing up there at my age
Then we can do a stock take and clear out .

I am in the process of unpacking again after moving a lot of things from DD student flat to my temp flat (I have another 11 months here) and restocking cupboards when I was “home home” over summer (as I had the car for a change). I spent a lot of that fortnight clearing cupboards at home.

Last week, I was doing an inventory of the food I have, rotating things, and refilling cupboards (I brought a lot of things from home that I can’t get here, but also got a lot of things from DD flat unexpectedly just before I left).

This week, the plan is to rediscover surfaces, empty all bags, and get properly organised. So by the weekend, I can move all non-essentials to the basement cave (storage room) and do a proper deep clean of the apartment.

Yesterday, while avoiding unpacking, I noticed dust on a vent and remembered I’d planned to clean the air purifier vent….🤮 the thick thick layer of black dust on it! I had to wash the Dyson filters afterward it was so bad. (This is a very dusty city). I also mopped the kitchen tiled floor.

Other big jobs needed in the near future are to wash the windows soon, and I need to wash the solid wooden floors (at least kitchen/dining/sitting room and my bedroom).

And I am trying to declutter as much as possible so that I don’t have a ridiculous amount of stuff to bring home next summer - DH is getting worried about the amount of furniture I had to buy and the amount of craft materials I have not managed to use (I have used some but I had a lot less free time than expected so far).

And I don’t know where Christmas will be this year - I bought a tree last year but never got it up, partly I was too busy and partly I went home for it. But although I have my flight booked for this year, I know DH and DD want to come to me instead so I may be moving my flights.

Hello...I'll join in too if that's ok.
Not much will be happening here at Christmas but I have job that gets a bit crazy around that time of year and I still want the house to be organised. I'm also going on holiday for 2 weeks at the end of November so ideally I'd like to be organised by then and then just enjoy December when I get home.

I've worked out how many weeks I have (not as many as I thought!) and have broken it down into sections

Week Ending
06.09 - car (start with the easiest since we're already half way through the week)
13.09 - garden / dh shed
20.09 - front door area / my shed
27.09 - hall & stairs
04.10 - living room
11.10 - kitchen
18.10 - dining area
26.10 - bedroom
01.11 - bathroom
08.11 - spare room
15.11 - loft
22.11 - final round up / catch up

Hoping for deep clean in every room as well as ticking off all the niggly jobs that I don't really want to do. I'm looking forward to starting 2027 with an organised, clutter free home and a cleaning routine that actually works for me.

❤

I gave the hallway a good scrub at the weekend. I cleaned the shoe bench thingy we have, inside and out, and got DH to vacuum underneath it when he was vacuuming. It looks loads better.

Our jobs are mostly DIY / building jobs, rather than cleaning.

We have:

1. Tile one downstairs loo wall and install a new vanity unit (the basin installed by the builder isn't fit for purpose as it's tiny). The unit will give us somewhere to store loo roll etc as well, which is very much needed in there.
2. Touch up paint in downstairs loo once job 1 is done.
3. Touch up paint in hallway and on the landings / stairwell.
4. Build porch canopy at the front (kit arriving shortly). (DH and a friend will do this.)
5. Re-paint our bedroom as I'm fed up of the colour, and the paint finish isn't great either, even after 3 coats.
6. I do need to clean the fascia and loo window at the back of the house.

There may be more, but I can't recall right now!

ETA: Oh yes - DH needs to paint the front door.

This weekend, I managed to finish off sorting the food cupboards and freezer. I also got my bedroom deep cleaned - hoovered, dusted, changed sheets, hung up all clean clothes, did about 6 loads of laundry (sheets, towels, lights, 2 darks, and a delicates). I dumped the 4 tomato plants that died and dealt with the mess left (I’d tried having them in the bath with some water dripping from the shower hose to keep them alive while I was away for 2 weeks). And threw out a pillow that was beyond rescue.

This week, I plan to keep working on the dining room/sitting room (which is already much better). And making more progress in the guest room.

Carpet fitter came yesterday to measure up hall, stairs and sitting room so now I just need to pop into the warehouse and choose the carpet.
Plan is to have it fitted early December so that should give DH plenty of time to finish painting the woodwork in those areas.

My big cleaning task this week is the ensuite so I'll give the shower a good scrub when I get in later to get that started.

I gave the fridge a really good clean and sort out this weekend after realising it was really quite grubby. I have already opened it twice this morning for no other reason than to admire it 😁

Joining in to start in two weeks time as I’m away this weekend. Already done part of the utility room and ousted a few mugs so I can actually close the door.

The sheets/pillowcases/duvet cover on our bed were looking shabby , I bought some really nice Egyptian Cotton bedlinen and put it on the bed .
The old stuff will be recycled as it isn't good enough to put in the charity shop.

I took a large bag of clothes to the Charity Shop and planning to put away the summer clothes next week .
Theres a kerbside pick up bag that arrived so might have something to put in .
A couple of kitchen things to go out but I need to decide if they're Charity Shop or bin.

Checking in - Been a crazy couple of weeks, life and work have been awful so this weekend I am decluttering my brain instead. Christmas makes me happy and relaxed so I've been trawling through old Christmas threads, so far I've experienced the 'Christmas house', snowman days, the birth of the elf craze and currently perusing the great finger lights of 2013 😄
Going to make the most of this peaceful weekend as we're going to help my son and daughter in law do a deep clean of their new house on Monday before they move in, and then I can get back to my cleaning plan next weekend.

I blitzed the boys room this week. Mega chuffed with myself lol x

We are decorating the stairs and landing, so its the perfect opportunity to clear out the airing cupboard again, and the sideboard on the landing.

They both become the "hmmm...where does this go?" place for DH and DD - so far I've filled two bin bags, blue one time go to the charity shop, black one for the tip.