7 Things to Clean After the Holidays

After all of the craziness of the holidays, it’s actually nice to spend some time puttering around the house and getting things back in order. I’ve been slowly working my way around the house, putting away decorations, and working on all of the post-holiday cleaning.  I find it hard just to keep up with the basic cleaning tasks {like the dishes and the toilets!} during December, so I’m trying to get caught up on all of those other areas that I’ve missed or haven’t had time for.

If you’re working on some post-holiday cleaning {or just need to get caught up on a few things!}, here are 7 items that you don’t want to forget to clean…

Fridge/Freezer

It’s amazing how much food we were actually able to pack into the fridge over the holidays! I usually try to keep my fridge fairly organized, but we had so much stuff that we really jut had to shove it in wherever it would fit.  Now that January is here, it’s time to go through everything and make sure that nothing is tucked away in the back that you’re missing.

I would recommend taking everything out and giving the fridge a good cleaning.  You can find lots of tips and tricks to clean and organize your fridge and freezer HERE and HERE. Toss out any old or expired food and make a meal plan up to use up all of the leftover food that is still good.  I try to spend as little as possible on groceries throughout January – its a great way to get back on your budget after the Christmas spending and helps to cut down on any wasted food.

{you can find the free printable fridge labels HERE}

Carpets

There are always at least a few carpet stains that magically appear after the holidays! You obviously want to treat any stains as soon as possible, but sometimes you don’t always notice them right away.  Next time you’re vacuuming your carpets, take a little extra look for anything that you might have missed. My favorite DIY carpet cleaner is a mix of hydrogen peroxide, dish soap, and water {you can find the recipe HERE along with a couple of other methods}.  It works really well on a variety of stains and is my go-to method whenever I don’t know what the stain actually is {which seems to happen a lot around here}.  When you’re done, try out this easy DIY carpet and upholstery refresher to give your home that nice, fresh scent!

Upholstery

Like the carpets, upholstery can take a beating during the holidays from all of the use and abuse.  The earlier you can treat the stains the better, so don’t leave this one for too long!  Follow this tutorial to get them looking like new again and, if you have any pills, you can follow this simple trick to get rid of them in minutes!

Vacuum

The vacuum is one of those hard working appliances that we often forget to clean.  When I got around to doing mine the other day, the filter was a mess and the hose was partially plugged with pine needles and flocking. 🙂  A clean vacuum makes a huge difference in how well it performs and saves you a lot of time in the long run!  Find the step by step instructions that can be applied to almost all brands HERE.

Oven

The oven will likely need a good cleaning after a month’s worth of holiday eating! This is still one that I have to tackle but there are more than a few spills that need cleaning up. If you have a steam cleaner, give it a try to clean your oven.  It’s super quick and pretty much eliminates all of the scrubbing.  If you don’t have a steam cleaner you can always use this method – just don’t go too overboard on the baking soda or you’ll be spending a lot of time rinsing!  I’m not too much of a perfectionist when it comes to the oven – just a quick clean to get rid of any burned on spills or messes.

Dishwasher

Our dishwasher was working hard over the holidays and took its fair share of dirty dishes!  It’s amazing how much gunk can actually accumulate in the dishwasher and it’s another one of those areas that we don’t really think about cleaning.  You can find the full instructions on cleaning the dishwasher HERE.  If you have a garbage disposal, be sure to clear that prior to running the dishwasher {and you might want to clean the garbage disposal while you’re at it!}.

Bathrooms

Ahhh… my least favorite cleaning task. While I do try to keep up with the basic bathroom cleaning {especially in the guest bathrooms!} over the holidays, they were definitely in need of a good deep cleaning afterwards.  Give those toilets an extra thorough cleaning {you can find my ultimate guide to toilet cleaning HERE} and be sure to clean ALL areas in and around the toilet {including walls if you have little boys!}.  Spend some extra time on those areas like shower curtains and floors that you didn’t get a chance to clean over the busy Christmas season.  For more details on deep cleaning the bathroom and a free checklist, check out this post.

So put on some of your favorite tunes and do a little extra clean-up this weekend.  The time spent will be well worth it. If you’re feeling overwhelmed just take it one room at a time – you’ll get there. 🙂 Once you’ve done some work, take some time to relax in your nice clean space. It’s such a welcome change after the holidays!

Happy Cleaning!

Hopefully you’re also joining in this month’s 31 Day Decluttering Challenge!  It’s time to let go of all of that unwanted and unused stuff!!