CHRISTMAS CLEANALONG

[Alsonification]

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?

We are moving our DCs bedrooms around and one their room's was on my list to declutter this weekend... but it's so hard! There's so much stuff! I feel like i'm just moving it around.

@peachgreen ah yes the hot press hahaha. I think you call it an airing cupboard?

@MontyVerdi my granny had a very similar press. Actually come to think of it, so do I hahaha

Well week one is done. First half of the kitchen finished. There's some amount of shite in this house & that's only the first room! I dread to think what the rest of the house will bring.

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

My demon press is under the stairs (in our kitchen).

I mean it's handy for the hoover etc but I can't stand up straight in it and it's hard to organise.

I brought a neighbour from down the road through the house yesterday and I had to apologise to her for the state of the house. We were checking my garden for her lost cat.

I'm tidying at the moment so I can get cracking on a proper clean over the next few weeks

I've actually got somewhere this weekend:

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 - still to do.
c. Sort the garage so we can actually get the car into it when it's really cold.
d. Hang pictures up (another lagging post-move job!). Under way as I type!

I'll try to join in, I may well lose motivation after week 1 though. What's task 1?

@Alsonification please don't apologise for my ignorance. Thanks for explaining, I had never heard it before.

@MontyVerdi that means something very different here 😳

Was going to slip but this thread has given me the kick I need.

Am doing laundry and the airing cupboard now.

It's personal to you, depending on what's needed in your house.

Every year I start my Christmas planning early, and every year I realise that I've left the house jobs to the last minute, panic, then get defensive with myself and mentally write off that Christmas as an inferior mess that will be eclipsed the following year.

Not this year! (I'm getting déjà vu already 😬)

114 days till Christmas, 13 weeks till December. I'm going to make a plan. But not my regular annual incredibly complex step-by-step plan that falls at the first hurdle. A more achievable plan. I am inspired - though still lacking confidence in my ability to follow through...

@MrsSunshine2b as @NoWordForFluffy said, whatever you want on the list is up to you.
I just divided the house into 16 sections.

I'm hoping I keep it up. I've got a huge box of stuff for the charity shop already. Mostly mugs (do I need 5 millions mugs? No!) but no doubt I'll be making many many trips to charity & recycling centre.

I bring old mugs I don’t want anymore into my work. Can never have enough mugs in our staff kitchen 😅

Don't have a utility room, playroom or larder.

Is this an instruction?!

asongbird @MontyVerdi that means something very different here 😳

It does also have that alternate meaning in Ireland too. I hope Granny never realised 😁

My local church which runs a soup/ community kitchen always needs spare crockery & cutlery. So I always donate old stuff to them and they can never get enough. Worth trying homeless charities, churches and soup kitchens.

Great idea for the run up to Christmas. I'll join in with my weekly goals for accountability and start tomorrow, areas to be deep cleaned week ending:

8/9 En suite
15/9 Dressing room
22/9 Master bedroom
29/9 Bathroom
6/10 Spare room
13/10 Hallway, stairs and landing, incl airing cupboard
20/10 Study
27/10 Sitting room
3/11 Utility room
10/11Larder
17/11 Kitchen part one
24/11 Kitchen part two
01/12 Any areas missed

This should leave December free of any major cleaning with only maintenance necessary (she says, hopefully!)

Great idea. I'll have a look to see if there are any near me.

Christmas always comes around much sooner than I think it will.

I'm starting on my back porch this weekend. I have a three step operation afoot, with a metal storage rack moving out of my bedroom to the porch, sundry stuff currently piled up in the porch going on the rack, and a chest of drawers moving into my bedroom.

Following that, I'm going to sort through three closets where I have goodness knows what stored (many mystery boxes that have been there since we moved in) and I'm going to pull out a basket of cords, chargers, and the like, and probably get rid of it all.

I did my bedroom last week and wardrobe over the weekend. DD had a lovely time sitting on the bed and giving me her opinion (“Oh no mummy that’s AWFUL” “Oh mummy that is so CUTE, you have to keep that”).

This week is the dressing room which means clearing out all my make up and cosmetics. Can’t wait.

Reporting in!
Two new toilet seats purchased and fitted today by husband who can fit into small spaces.
Quote for new window accepted, but he can't come for 2 weeks.

We're moving on rapidly:

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 - still to do.
c. Sort the garage so we can actually get the car into it when it's really cold.
d. Hang pictures up (another lagging post-move job!). ✔️

Yes please. We are hosting with overnight guests so I need to be clean tidy and organised this year.

I am already trying to book a few deep cleans if I can as these motivate me to tidy.

The kitchen/pantry is the biggest area of concern for me so might start on that this weekend.

Thanks for starting this thread OP

I need to go through The Pantry and put things in some sort of order .
And set aside a Christmas Shelf. DS calls through " are these for Christmas or for eating....? " with a hopeful tone in his voice , especially if he knows it's on the Christmas Shelf

I can see what gaps are there and what I need to stock up on .

Well, @70isaLimitNotaTarget a Christmas shelf in the pantry. You've got me thinking now.

We have pantry, in desperate need of a tidy up.

We're hosting again this year.

I can see a plan forming.

Littlest DC is just starting school, so I'll have a morning a week with the house empty. I reckon a good clean out is in order.

Littlest is only out for 2 hours today, so I think I'll tackle the bathroom.

Place marking this thread.