Getting ready for the holidays can be so stressful, especially if you’re planning to host family and friends at your house. Being a perfectionist, but also someone who is somewhat organizationally challenged, I’ve had to come up with a plan to quickly get my house ready for holiday hosting within only a few days time. In this post, I’m going to show you what I do to organize, clean, and prepare to have a sparkling clean house during the holidays. Hopefully, with my easy plan, you’ll get some ideas on how to get your house holiday-ready without all the stress. Additionally, I’m going to once again rave about my number ONE cleaning tool, my cordless Dyson vacuum from eBay. I’ll explain why this my go-to cleaning savior and I don’t know what I ever did without it.

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Declutter

The first step to cleaning any room in the house is to declutter. Pick up all the riffraff…the toys, shoes, jackets, single random socks, the half eaten granola bars, etc. that are laying around. If you’re really in a time crunch, get a basket (like this one with a floral liner) or large shopping bag to place the items in, so you can place them out of sight and sort at a later time (this happens more often than not at my house).  Just make sure you actually come back and sort through the clutter baskets eventually or you’ll have a huge mess to deal with!

Once the house is free of clutter, it’s ready for a top to bottom cleaning. I usually start this two to three days before my guests arrive.

Dusting and Vacuuming: Start From the Top and Work Your Way Down

For each room in the house, I always try to start from the top shelves and work my way down (dust falls down after all!). I carry around a little step ladder to assist with cleaning the higher shelves. It’s super light so it’s easy to carry around the house. Check below for the links to some similar step ladders. I use these Swiffer dusters for the wood shelves and all purpose cleaner with microfiber cloths for other surfaces.

Once all the surfaces are dusted, I vacuum! This is my favorite step because I absolutely love my Dyson vacuum! (My model is currently on sale on eBay’s Dyson outlet store for over 40% off!!!!!) This Dyson is so powerful, but incredibly lightweight. I love all the different attachments that come with the cordless Dyson vacuum, and use them to help reach places like window sills, base boards and corners. I use the brush attachment to clean the upholstery and under the couch cushions. Having a cord to mess with is definitely a thing of the past for me, and I’ll never go back to a normal upright vacuum!

If you’re debating on getting one of these vacuums, just do it! You won’t regret it! The best news is that eBay is currently running some amazing deals on several different Dyson models  as well some other brands of vacuums like the iRobot Roomba robotic vacuum (see some of the best deals I found on cordless Dyson vacuums below). I purchased the Dyson V8 Animal new, but there are many great refurbished Dyson models available on eBay and most come with a manufacturer warranty. Buying a refurbished Dyson allows you to get one of these vacuums for an amazing price!  Ebay makes it easy to shop for these items with nearly 90% of the items sold on eBay available through the “Buy It Now” option…no more waiting around for auctions to end!

Mopping

I know there’s lots of opinions on this subject, so I will just tell you what I’ve found works best for me…my Swiffer Wet Jet! I love it because it’s easy and convenient. I can mop the whole floor incredibly fast and throw away the disposable pad when I’m done. I have engineered hardwood floors, and in my experience I’ve found that Swiffer leaves them shiny and beautiful every time, with no residue or build up!

Bathroom cleaning

For bathrooms, I keep a toilet brush and cleaner as well as paper towels, Clorox wipes and glass cleaner under the sink for quick and easy cleanups throughout the week. If something looks dirty, I clean it…. I don’t necessarily wait for cleaning day. This makes it so I’m never having to tackle huge bathroom cleaning jobs all at once! I also encourage my older two kiddos to clean their own bathrooms, which cuts down on my cleaning time as well. I use these cute plastic storage baskets underneath the sinks to keep our cleaning supplies organized and easy to access.

Kitchen Cleaning

Clutter is always the biggest challenge in my kitchen. My kid’s school work, the mail, and about a million other items seem to gather on my kitchen counter every day. I am by no means an expert at containing the clutter, but one tip I have is to have a basket where you can place most of the daily paper clutter. It’s something that can be moved out of sight when guests are over. But just make sure you tend to your clutter basket often. Weed through what you need to save and toss the rest. I have files where I put the items that need to be saved, as well as a memory box for each child where I place their artwork and treasures I want to save.

Once you’ve got the clutter under control, next make sure you’ve addressed the dishes.  A clean and empty sink always makes a kitchen feel clean.  For the holidays, one way to avoid a build up of dishes in your sink is to use pretty disposable plastic cutlery and dishes. See my post about how to create a beautiful tablescape using inexpensive and disposable place settings here.

Once the sink and counter tops are clean. Then I just go back to my top down method of cleaning. I wipe down the cabinets for fingerprints and go all the way down to the baseboards. I clean my stainless steel appliances using this stainless steel cleaner and a microfiber cloth. Cleaning the cabinets and baseboards are definitely one of those tasks that I forgo depending on the amount of time I have before my guests arrive.

My Christmas kitchen, clean and ready to host our guests for the holidays!

 Bedroom Cleaning

The final step to my cleaning process is cleaning the bedrooms. I usually start with striping down all the bedding and the towels in the adjoining bathrooms. I place fresh sheets and towels in each room (I usually keep a spare set ready to go in each room).  I then do the top to bottom method of dusting and vacuuming again. I focus on the shutters, window sills, and table/dresser surfaces. Once the beds are made and dusting has been completed, I use my Dyson to vacuum myself out of the room and I’m done!

Holiday preparations can be difficult enough, but if you’re hosting guests, cleaning often becomes the most stressful task. If you have a good plan set in place a few days before guests arrive, you can get your home clean and tidy in record time! Be sure to check out eBay’s amazing deals on Dyson to get your new Dyson vacuum ahead of the holidays. These would make amazing Christmas gifts as well!

Thanks for stopping by! Check out some of the amazing deals on Dyson vacuum’s and my other cleaning must-haves below…