If you’ve ever looked at a magazine article or blog post on holiday decorating, you’ve probably noticed that they all have one thing in common: the rooms they feature are spotlessly clean. Follow these simple holiday house cleaning tips to get your home looking its best.

Make a House Cleaning Checklist

Before you begin house cleaning, decide what’s most important to you. If you’ll have guests for the holidays, the main rooms of your home may be the most crucial. If you’ll be traveling for the holidays, it might be more important to make sure the kitchen and bedrooms are clean and ready for your return. Making a thorough checklist will help you stay on track, and will make it easier to enlist the help of other family members.

House Cleaning Tips

House Cleaning Tips for Every Room

Each room in your home will need its own type of attention to go from “lived-in” to “guest-ready.” Follow these holiday house cleaning tips to get the most important rooms in your home ready to celebrate:

• Entryway: Be sure the first thing your guests see isn’t a pile of muddy boots. If you prefer that your guests remove their shoes, provide a shoe rack and a chair or bench near the front door. Keep your family’s shoes neatly lined up. Dust the doorframe, light fixtures, and any other features in the entryway, then finish with a thorough sweep and mop or vacuum.
• Living Rooms and Bedrooms: If you have pets, use the wand attachment on your vacuum cleaner to remove any trace of pet hair from the furniture. Clean the windows and windowsills, then dust any hard surfaces. While you’re dusting, remove any clutter that doesn’t really belong in that space. Finish by cleaning the floors and lighting a scented candle or plugging in an electric scent diffuser to give your home an inviting scent.
• Kitchen: Start by washing any dirty dishes left in the sink – either load the dishwasher or wash them by hand. Wipe down the counters and stove, including the backsplash and hood. Grease tends to collect on the stove hood, giving the whole room a grimy feel. Wipe out the sink, and put a whole lemon (cut into quarters) through the garbage disposal to eliminate any odors. Clean the microwave by heating a bowl of water and lemon juice for 2-3 minutes. Leave the hot water in the microwave for a minute to allow the steam to loosen cooked-on dirt, then wipe it clean. Finish by sweeping and mopping the floor.
• Bathrooms: There’s nothing worse than a grimy bathroom! Wipe down all hard surfaces, and clean the toilet, inside and out. Sweep and mop the floors, then set out clean hand towels. As a finishing touch, light a candle or plug in an electric scent diffuser.

Just before guests arrive, put on your favorite holiday music, and set out coffee, tea, or other beverages. Take a moment to enjoy the peace and quiet in your beautifully clean home!

About Vince Sandri

Vince Sandri is a content writer and blogger with more than 12 years of experience. His expertise is in creating content related to disaster restoration, including information about preventing and reacting to natural disasters like flooding, water damage, fire and smoke damage, mold growth, storm damage and more.
Vince has been the main contributor to RestorationMasterFinder.com since 2014. Over that time, he has written numerous service pages and blogs for disaster restoration providers featured on RestorationMasterFinder.com. Vince has done extensive research and covered a wide range of topics relating to disaster restoration to help homeowners, business owners, and property managers better protect their property. He understands the problems that disasters like flooding, fire, smoke, and mold can cause as well as the best ways to respond to these issues to limit the damage.
Vince completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at Aurora University and his master’s degree at DePaul University. He has been writing SEO website pages, blogs, and press releases since 2012. Vince is also a musician and can be seen playing in the Chicago, IL area.