Christmas Clean Up

It’s that time of the year again! As the Christmas season comes to a close, it’s time start your Christmas Clean up! It’s time to put away all the beautiful Christmas decorations that made your home festive and cheerful during this special season. It can feel overwhelming, but don’t worry! Here is a roadmap to help safely store away your Christmas decorations for next year and leave your home clean organized to start the New Year.

The Checklist:

• Clean out broken, damaged, or nonfunctional items
• Photograph what worked this year to use next year
• Use Functional Storage Containers
• Take down or get rid of your tree
• Involve kids: Have them pack up Christmas Books and Christmas Clothing items
• Clean your house- with special attention to areas that got a lot of traffic over the holidays
• Do a final sweep to prevent making trips to your Christmas Storage area for weeks to come

Before you start your Christmas Clean Up

If you noticed any broken or defective Christmas items or decor throughout this Christmas season go ahead and get rid of them before you start packing things up. Broken ornaments, decor with broken or missing piece, or Christmas linens that are stained or torn and went unused this season are not serving you anymore and it’s time to say good bye. There will be less to pack up and organize after you clean out these items.

If your family members got new clothes or toys for Christmas intended to replace ones that were worn out or too small go ahead separate those out for donation.(Here is the whole process of how I keep our clothes organized and clean out when needed) If returns need to be made collect receipts and try to get to those as soon as possible so you don’t miss a return deadline.

Photograph Christmas Decor you want to repeat

If you were happy with your Christmas decor this year, take a few photos to remember how you had things arranged or set up. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel every year. You can change up ribbons, bows, or real florals but keeping the basics same will save lots of time and brain space when it’s time to decorate next year.

Begin Christmas Clean up with the right storage

Good Christmas decor storage makes a big difference. Sturdy plastic bins or specialized containers storage containers will help keep everything safe and organized. I like to use clear containers or containers with clear lids so it’s easy to tell the contents of each container the next year. Containers for ornaments, faux wreaths and garlands make packing up Christmas much easier. If you don’t have clear containers label each container with what’s inside, since it will be a year before you pull it out agin.

This year, in addition to our regular ornament storage, I am starting ornament bins for each of my children. I got this idea from a wonderful mom with grown children. She began sorting the kid’s ornaments into separate bins and eventually gave the bins as gifts to them at their weddings, upon buying the first home or at another milestone occasion. First Christmas ornaments, special handmade ornaments, and ones from special trips or events will hopefully bring joy to their homes at Christmas one day!

If you have an artificial tree a Tree Keeper bag will allow for easy storage and even faster set up next year! Wreath boxes will keep your wreath shape in tact and ready to go for the next Christmas.

Taking Down The Tree

Start by taking down the Christmas tree and carefully removing all ornaments and lights. This is always a big project but helps to get things feeling cleaned up quickly. Keep tissue paper, bubble wrap or other packing materials from Christmas gifts to wrap extra fragile ornaments (or other small decor like nativity scenes). Use a simple DIY cardboard form to wrap strings of lights to keep them untangled – it will save you a lot of frustration when you unpack them next year!

After the Tree is down check with your city to see when they will be removed or look into a local tree composting program

Try to sweep up or use masking tape to get up as many tree needles as possible before you vacuum as evergreen needles can damage even the best vacuum cleaners.

Pack up Christmas Books

Packing up Christmas Books is a great way to get kids involved with the clean up process. I use a large tote bag to store our Christmas books thought the year. We try to keep them in a basket near the Christmas tree but they inevitably end up on nightstands or in other cozy reading nooks throughout the house. Send kids on a scavenger hunt to collect them while you are packing up fragile decor.

Christmas Clothes and Accessories

I don’t think I’m the only one whose kids have an increasing number of Christmas dress up days at school and other activities. This year they have Christmas Pajama day, Christmas Character day, and Snowman day! This is in addition to what they will wear to their Christmas Choir Performace. I started keeping all of our Christmas clothing and accessories in one bin that comes out the weekend after Thanksgiving. They can wear and enjoy their Christmas headbands, sweatshirts and other fun gear throughout December. Instead of having it take up valuable drawer space during the year keep it all tucked away in bin until next year.

Actually Clean

This feels obvious but also part of a thorough Christmas Clean up I would be most likely to skip over. Thoroughly vacuuming and mopping floors will get rid of glitter, remaining pine needles, and cookie crumbs. Wipe down and dust furniture, bookshelves, and cabinet surfaces.

It’s likely that your kitchen saw a lot of action over Christmas and could use a little extra TLC too. Clean our any expired food in the refrigerator. Take everything out of your refrigerator and wipe down interior refrigerator surfaces. This is also a great time to do a deep clean of the interior of your oven and microwave.

Bathrooms could also use a deep clean after having extra party guests or house guests in and out in recent weeks.

If you have a cleaning service or someone that helps with cleaning at your home it might be worth budgeting to book an extra visit after all the decor is down and a deep clean is in order.

Do a sweep of your house for remaining Christmas Items

Before Taking the last bin down to the basement I try to do one last sweep of the house to check for remaining Christmas items. Christmas hand towels in the powder room, Christmas books in the kid’s rooms, Christmas candles in the dining room. Gather these last remaining items up to save trips back and forth to your Christmas storage area throughout the next few days.

You did it! Welcome to your clean and organized January Home! It’s a blank slate for resolutions, healthy habits and new season. I think it’s also a great time to restock and automate household essentials around your home.