Holiday cleaning: tips on how to make your apartment shine in its most beautiful splendor

Are you expecting a lot of visitors at Christmas – and you want to impress your mother-in-law with a perfectly tidy house? No problem! We’ll help you with that.

Clean up – but with a system!

Proper tidying up – how is that actually supposed to work? Many of us who, like me, have a rather chaotic disposition, have certainly asked ourselves this question before. Everyone has a handful of people in their family or circle of friends who always keep things perfectly tidy – as a moron, you get jealous and ask yourself: What’s their secret?

Cleaning devils and tidying talents say again and again: tidying up is child’s play – all you need is a good system – especially so that it works in the long term.

Preparation is the be-all and end-all

Do you have a lot of appointments in the run-up to Christmas? No problem. Because planning is everything. You can already plan a few things in advance so that there is no time dilemma later:

1. Check cleaning supplies: glass cleaner, scouring cream, sponges and and and – is everything really in the house? It is helpful to check in advance whether everything is there for the big clean before it hits you while cleaning and we notice what is missing.
2. Sorting out: Probably the hardest point of all. Because parting with “old” things is difficult for most of us – after all, so many great memories are attached to them. But try to keep the goal in mind: a tidy home. You can go from room to room or by category (clothes, magazines, kitchen utensils…) and start cleaning out diligently.
   Tip: Don’t forget the children’s room. This is especially important before Christmas. Because grandma and grandpa are sure to give lots of new toys for the big party. Also important: Get your child involved – so you can see together what can or cannot go.
3. Write a plan: It is advisable to record all to-dos in a list. You can write down all the tasks once and sort by what you can clean up ahead of time and what you have to put off until Christmas Day itself. For example, it makes sense to make a fixed washing day once a week so that the laundry doesn’t pile up until Christmas or to clean the oven – we’ll show you in our tips how this works best. Wiping all kitchen surfaces and tables is one of the to-dos that can be implemented at short notice.

How do I keep order until Christmas – or even forever?

Once the rough order has been established, we don’t want to do without it anymore. It should last at least until Christmas. Better of course: a consistently tidy house. Here are four tricks for you on how to do this:

1. Set fixed times : Reserve fixed times for clean-up activities. That can be ten minutes every morning before breakfast or half an hour after the “crime scene” every Sunday. It doesn’t matter, the main thing is that it is adhered to. You’ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish in ten minutes. 
2. Everything has its place: the front door key goes in the key box, Grandma Gerti’s soup bowl goes in the kitchen cupboard at the back left and the remote control – next to the television, of course. If things have a fixed place in the house and we meticulously put them back there, order will come naturally.
3. Never leave empty-handed: we change rooms several times a day. You can use these paths optimally to put things back in their right place. Before you leave the room, think about whether you can take something with you immediately.
4. Reduce possessions:  True to the motto: Long live minimalism! Of course you’ve already sorted it out diligently (see above ;-)), but in order to keep order in the future, it’s fundamental not to buy so many things that we don’t actually need.
   Tip: Don’t make spontaneous purchases. Consciously hold the item you are considering buying in your hands and ask yourself how often would you really use it – and above all, where would you store it? If you cannot answer both questions sufficiently, you are probably holding a potential bad buy – and above all a cause of chaos – in your hands. So better: Quickly put it back on the shelf!