The holiday season brings a sense of joy, excitement, and lots of activity. Between shopping, baking, gift-wrapping, and hosting gatherings, it’s easy for the house to become a bit cluttered or disorganized. Add in a few children (or a whole bunch, in my case!), and you might be feeling overwhelmed by the daunting task of keeping your house clean during the months of November and December.
But keeping your home clean during this busy time doesn’t have to be a stressful task. With a little planning and a few key strategies, you can ensure your home stays tidy and welcoming—without sacrificing the holiday fun.
Here’s how to keep your home clean and beautiful during the holiday season – particularly if you have a large family!
1. Deep Clean Before the Decorations Go Up
During the Advent season, you want your home to feel warm and inviting. We all love twinkling lights and greenery, and a fire in the fireplace, but before you deck the halls, it’s a good idea to do a deep clean of your home.
Start by doing a 15 Minute Tidy of your entire house! Include all of your children in this chore, doling out jobs and supervising as needed.
Next, do a Whole House Clean (we call it a Home Blessing). Hopefully, this is already part of your usual routine, but if not, take a look at my post below to get an idea of how to make this happen (with children in tow!).
READ >> Home Blessing: Cleaning the Whole House in One Day {with your children!}
Then, and only if you have time, do a little decluttering and check on areas that are easy to overlook during regular cleaning, like baseboards, windows, ceiling fans, and behind and underneath furniture.
Need some decluttering guidance? Get my FREE PRINTABLE!
OUR FAMILY’S STRATEGY:
- Do a Tidy Up & Home Blessing on Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
- Clean deeper as we put away Fall decorations on Friday morning after Thanksgiving (this usually involves copious amounts of dust bunnies).
- After our Decorating Party on Friday night, we do a quick Tidy Up and vacuum.
A deeper-than-usual clean not only sets the stage for decorating, but it also makes it easier to maintain your home throughout the holidays.
2. Keep Your Regular Cleaning Schedule as Best You Can
During the holidays, it’s tempting to let regular cleaning tasks slide. I know I would much rather be sipping coffee by the Christmas tree than scrubbing toilets! However, maintaining a regular cleaning routine will make a big difference for helping you stay on top of things.
Try to stick to your usual weekly cleaning schedule, even if it means scaling down the task list a little. If you’re too busy to mop the floors, focus on vacuuming and wiping down surfaces. A quick tidy-up can go a long way toward keeping things under control.
And if you feel pressed for time, consider simplifying your cleaning routine. For example, if dusting and vacuuming are all you can manage on a given day, that’s fine! Keeping the basics in check will help ensure that your home is always ready for guests, even when you’re knee-deep in holiday festivities.
Need help coming up with a simple cleaning routine? I have some fantastic ideas on my Homemaking Page!
3. Have a Daily Homemaking List of the Bare Basics
With so much going on during the holidays, it’s easy for housekeeping tasks to pile up. One way to stay on top of things is to create a simple daily homemaking list. This list should include only the essentials—things that you know need to be done every day to maintain a clean and organized space.
For example:
- Wipe down kitchen counters
- Run the dishwasher
- Do a quick tidy of common areas
- Empty the trash
- Make the bed
- Do one load of laundry
You might also want to download my Daily Homemaking Checklist – a simple way to stay on track throughout the day!
By sticking to a pared-down routine, you can focus on the reason for the season while creating a comfortable space for everyone to gather.
4. Do a 15-Minute Tidy-Up Before Fun Holiday Activities
For many years, we have been using 15 Minute Tidy Ups to get our home back in order. It almost always precedes something fun the kids want to do – craft time, TV time, video game time, etc. This concept works perfectly for holiday activities as well!
Before you dive into baking cookies, making hot cocoa, building gingerbread houses, or watching a Christmas movie, set a timer for 15-minutes and get everyone together for a tidy-up session. This short burst of cleaning will help keep clutter from building up as you start a new mess-making holiday venture!
5. Decorate with Purpose
This one is tough for me. I have a lot of hand-me-down Christmas decorations and they are rather hodge-podgy, but I hate to get rid of anything. That said, decorations – even meaningful ones – can easily create clutter and messes rather than the beauty and simplicity we all crave this time of year.
So, be intentional!
Don’t put every decoration you own out. Cull the ones you find yourself not putting out year after year. Only keep the decorations that are truly meaningful and gift everything else to other family members or the local thrift store (or the trash, because let’s face it…some of your stuff needs to hit the dumpster!)
Don’t be excessive! Christmas already tends toward the excessive, and that is so not what we want in our homes, so don’t decorate that way! Focus on the simplicity of the season and really be purposeful in what you use to convey the fact that this time of year is about the Advent of Christ the King!
Final Thoughts
The Christmas season is a time for focusing on CHRIST! We want to create lasting memories and traditions for our family that point them to HIS birth. A frazzled, grouchy mommy who is constantly stressed over her messy house is NOT going to point anyone to Christ, so leave the perfection behind and do what you can when you can, including keeping your house clean during this time of year.
If it’s not perfectly clean all the time, that’s ok. Embrace the meaning behind the celebrations and do everything with a joyful heart “as unto the Lord!”
Leave a Reply