Post-Holiday Clean Up - Getting It Done Quickly and Efficiently

The holidays have come and gone and you have turned the page on an old chapter and started a brand new one for 2013. You look around the house and all you see is the aftermath that is left from all the holiday entertaining and partying you have done over the past few weeks. You don't even know where to start. Here's an action plan that will help you be quick and efficient. Start by throwing out whatever need to be thrown out, then put away the big stuff, follow up with the small stuff and finish off with the vacuum and mop.

After the holidays, you probably have a lot of trash, recycling and even composting to do if it is available in your municipality. In the rush of the holidays, we often forget to take things out on the right day, or the service may not be available depending on the day Christmas and New Year happen to be. It's important to go through a good cleaning once the holidays are over. The easierst way to go about getting rid of your "trash" is to get yourself two or three plastic bins: one for garbage, one for recycling and one for composting if available. Go through each room of your house one by one placing items in the appropriate bin. Once you are done, empty the bins accordingly and move on to the next room.

Next you will need to pick up the stuff that has been lying around and that you simply have not found the energy to put away yet. Start with bigger items and finish off with smaller ones. I like to have my trusty plastic bins to put things in. One is for items that need to go to the second floor and the other for items that need to go to the basement. I always start with the main floor because that is where there is the most cleaning to be done. Put each item where it was originally and find a new place for all the gifts that Santa brought.

Once the clutter is all cleaned up, you may feel that you have done a great job and that you can take a break from all the cleaning. However, it is important to make sure you take the time to vacuum the house and mop wherever necessary. During the holidays, things may get spilled or dropped and you don't want crubs lurking in your carpets or sticky drops of juice on your floors. If you were entertaining, there's a good chance that germs may have been spread over the surfaces of your home. Getting it all cleaned up and disinfected where there is no clutter will be quick and easy.

Holidays are always lots of fun, especially because we get to spend time with friends and family. There is nothing quite as nice as being with the ones you love. Cleaning up after the party is all together a different story. Being structured in the cleaning process will help get things done faster. Get rid of the trash first then put things away starting with bigger items. Finish off with the vacuum and mop and take the time to disinfect surfaces. Once you are done you will be glad you did it and will enjoy that clean home feeling.