Pre-Christmas House Princessing

[RoseyPeas]

Is there a thread about sorting out house for Christmas?

We had been planning a quiet Christmas and now have relatives coming and while I'm excited to be hosting, the house needs a lot of TLC.

So I want somewhere to record my house and garden princessing achievements. It may be some decluttering, some cleaning, bits of DIY, and eventually doing Xmas decs. Anyone else need motivating?

Yesterday I finished curtain repairs and rehung curtains.
Today I'm aiming to put bark chips mulch on beds in front garden.

We've recently decluttered bedding down to 2 sets per bed.

I may come to regret that at Xmas when we have toddlers coming to stay

This is the spot for me. I want to spruce up our main living area a bit before the decorations come in. For me that means
Sorting through the toy shelves and purging. This is a huge job and Sentimentality means I am not aggressive enough when I try.
Replacing or removing a silk plant that the cat destroyed
Convincing dd to get rid of some cat beds that are rarely used by the cats.
Possibly replacing the sofa. We are way overdue, but I don’t know if I’ll get it done in time.

We have 2 sets of bedding per "full time" bed, and use the spares on the spare beds! We've a washer dryer so can get it turned round in a day if needs be. We do have an extra spare duvet for the toddler bed though!

I would like to join too pls

I am naturally messy and disorganised and the state of the house is now messing with my head!

I need to:-
Get landing hall and stairs redecorated and recarpeted
Paint ds bedroom
Declutter
Sort out garden
Sort out shed
Sort out loft

I would like another baby too ( sadly I've just had a m/c so think I'm now too old)

This will give me a good focus though!

I also watched a you tube video where you pick an arbitrary number and get rid of that number of things eg 22 they can be donated to charity sold or binned

It's actually quite easy to do when you try and reach the number it makes you more ruthless. I got rid of four bin bags to the charity shop last week. I had been hanging on to them to eBay them but it's so time consuming and also you hardly make any money so I've decided that o would have more joy in giving them away.

British Heart foundation collect and also write to you to tell you how much your stuff has raised which is a nice touch

Just got home from fireworks display!! So christmas here we come!! So the first job I will be tackling tomorrow Is defrosting the freezer have been not buying anything to go in it for a couple of weeks and trying to eat all the stuff in it. Will also give the fridge a really deep clean. Then will start on the kitchen cupboards on Thursday and Friday. I put a load of clothes (party wear and winter jackets) on eBay this weekend as they had £1 max selling fee. Already have bids on a lot of it. Three weeks to get house deep cleaned and ready for the Christmas decks.

I need to get around to ebaying. There is no way that the rubbish stuff is going back into the wardrobes in my newly decorated bedroom so its either ebay or charity. I might give it all to the teen to ebay for me and say he can have half of whatever he makes.

Rubbish evening yesterday. My aim was to construct 12 drawers. I made half of one drawer and then realised I needed to open more boxes to find bits so I gave up and had an early night with my book

My fabric should arrive today to reupholster an art deco chair so I am definitely aiming to have that completed by Christmas.

Today’s Princessing involved posting 3 eBay parcels- more space cleared and some ££ made for Christmas. I’ve sold another top today so that will be posted on Friday.

The fleece covers came for the plants so that will be another Friday job.

I’m sorry to hear about your m/c @gfrs I’ve been there and it’s crap.

Not sure if anyone is still about but I’m going to post for reasons of accountability.

Tackled the garden, it’s been raining nearly a week very soggy. Cleared up the plastic garden toys, folded and put away the garden chairs and the large pots together to the back of the house then put gardening fleece around them.

Need to start planting some tubs with winter flowers so the guests can look out and see something cheerful instead of soggy, bleak garden.

I need some motivation! Motivate meeee

Hi llama
I am about! Just had very hectic week at work and have had very little time for house princessing sadly. I also need this for accountability..
I have been planning pots of winter flowers - was thinking cyclamen and hellebores. What are you going for?
The garden needs a huge tidy up but I have decided to focus on front (curb appeal) and patio which can be seen from dining room.

@Kjhkj Very impressed to hear that you're upholstering a chair!

@gfrs I'm also naturally messy and it messes with my head! I like your idea of getting rid of a certain number of things - I'm going to whizz around the house this morning and find some things to donate.

@cikecaka how are you doing?

I get nothing done during the week. I just about keep on top of the basics. So I hope I can get some more done this weekend.
My kids came home with a shoebox to fill so I got them to part with some small items this week and I put in some of the extra toiletries that I have multiples of. I know the shoebox appeal isn't to everyone's taste but I feel that if those two shoeboxes can make two kids smile then it is worth it.
I am a disorganised shopper and if I'm not sure if we have the item then I will buy it again so have multiples of a lot of items which takes up space. I've been working on this but it is small mistakes like this that clog up space.
I'm hoping to get a lot of items into the attic for storage and to clear the laundry mountain this weekend anything else is a bonus. We are having surprise visitors tomorrow just for the day so won't get much done. Last year I would be in a panic cleaning but this year I just need a quick run around.

@RoseyPeas, thanks for your concern. Been so much sickness in the house, that I need to tidy and wash clothes.
Things are that bad, I am waiting on tea towel to dry in dryer and going to start on dishes.
Have a wash on. Going to set my timer, cause it seems to motivate me.

Better to have two than run out Elenor I am the same. Don't have too many doubles though. I have a board for things running out so when making a list(I don't always) I can go there first. Good idea about bedding I have too many duvet covers but may change single bed in DDs room to a double in spring when we decorate it. Then some can go in that room.
I am on third Christmas Cake and just have two more to go. Going to try to do them in the next week. Then wrapped and fed.
Bought a stick Dyson as it was a bargain yesterday. To do stairs and bedrooms and for quick clean up. Great on stairs as I have arthritis in my wrists. Hoping this will same time and make me do it more often. Need to declutter hall.

Sorry to hear about sickness always sets you back whether you or family.Hope everyone better soon.

I have had a decluttering binge this week, and have evicted many books from DD's room (over 100 ) mostly to the local jumble sale. I have two piles of books to take to a charity shop next week, also got rid of some clothes, shoes and household items.

Also got rid of many small toys (the type you get on the front of magazines) from DD's room as well. She's been brilliant at letting stuff go, although soft toys are a step too far at the moment We are about to hit the teenage years so I'm going through all the drawers and cupboards in her room and making space! Looks so much better. Need to keep the momentum going through the rest of the house as well.

Oh, so glad I found this. I'm getting all of downstairs painted and hall stairs and landing (first time in 8 years since we moved into the house) just before Christmas so I am trying to get all the house ready for that.

Yesterday I took the oven apart and cleaned it all - wow, so satisfying and now I know how to do it, I will be able to do it regularly!!!

I also took 2 bags of old clothes to the charity shop. There is one major item to clear from the landing which I will report back on when it is gone.

I also suggest to people that they do a pre-Christmas declutter so that there is room for new toys etc in the playroom / bedroom. And I clear out the food cupboard and fridge so that I have room for all of the extra Christmas food (I usually entertain a large group on either Christmas Day or Boxing Day so I need a large amount of food).

I'm going to have to do all of this before the painter arrives as he will be here until December 12th!!!!

Welcome Annasgirl. Good luck with preparation for painter!

Well I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped today but I did...

Get rid of bin bag of clothes which had been in the car for almost a week.

Tidied away some toys

Decluttered some paperwork

Cleared and wiped mantelpiece.

Not too bad when I list it!

Anyone else had any victories?

@IVEgotthesparklersBIATCH welcome, what’s on your list for pre-Christmas Princessing?

I’m going for cyclamen and hellebores and going to add in some winter flowering pansies @RoseyPeas

Yesterday I did a declutter of our bedroom and the kitchen got a once over. We’ve got some manky voile panels over our back door. I bought them a few years ago and they’ve always been too long. Thinking of getting rid of them pre-Christmas and replacing them with something that will look decent when we are sitting eating Christmas dinner.

Any Sunday princessing plans for anyone?

Thanks llama i did post right at the start of the thread but under i different name, i had pumpkins back then not sparklers!

In an ideal world i would decorate all of the downstairs but realistically it isnt going to happen. I need to move some toys upstairs to make room for christmas tree, i have a load of pictures i would like to get on the walls and everywhere being clean and tidy would be good

I have 5 dc so clean and tidy is an achievement

Oh and i would love to get and install some nice wooden blinds at my front two windows to stop all the nosey fuckers staring in at me

Every year around this time I start filling black bin liners with detritus. Last year 18 bags were filled . I started this process on Monday and have already filled 5. I am ruthless . When a bag has been filled I fling it outside with glee. My DH then takes them to the tip so I can’t change my mind about keeping the contents. Highly recommend this activity.

The sounds fun herky i would have to do it when the resident womble is at school though....

That is impressive decluttering, Herky.

I used to live in a place that had rubbish tips close by so really easy to throw just one or two bags away at a time. Now it's more of a trip to the tip so it has to be timed and planned. But should try and make one trip per week between now and Christmas.

This weekend flew by! I got all of the laundry done so have empty baskets for once. That won't last long. Got the items into the attic so that has cleared the landing and I got it all hoovered. Had visitors today so didn't get much done besides so will have to be more organised next weekend!

So I have now defrosted freezer and cleaned out all the kitchen cupboards and given them a real good clean. I’m going to be honest but I just can’t face cleaning the oven so I’m getting a special man to come in and do it!! my friend had it done last year and her cooker looked like new.

eBay have another £1 max fee on today and tomorrow so I’m listing some more things for sale. Have 10 items on eBay ending tonight that all have bids so will need to get them packaged up to send.

Next week I’m going to start on another job I hate cleaning all the vertical blinds I have 12 to do plus clean all the windows and the frames.

Sadly I got very little house princessing done today.
I did a load of ferrying kids around and my normal chores.

But I'm going to have a go at the paper clutter now (while watching TV )

I just need to keep reminding myself that although there's a lot to do, I'm definitely making progress and tackling cupboards which haven't been looked in for years!

I'm in awe of lots of you on here who are doing big DIY projects! Mine are tiny really but hopefully adding up to feeling better about our house.

Llama, thanks for idea of winter pansies, will try to get to garden tomorrow.