Christmas Cleaning—Never Too Early to Start

Krisann Blair, Christmas Coach
Christmas Organizing Founder

How is your house coming?  Are you using the 15 minute rule?  Here is a quick review of the cleaning plan. 

The goal is by Thanksgiving you have deep cleaned your house so you can concentrate on just the basics from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day.   

The first step in this plan is to make a list of each of the rooms in your house. Now under each room list what in those rooms need attention to be deep cleaned. List out as many small things as you can so no one job is too big. Once you get each room listed out write down how many items you have to do on your list and divide that by 6. Now do that many things in that room each day and mark off your list as you go. On the 7th day you will just tidy up and do anything you might have forgotten.  The closer to Thanksgiving you start the more rooms you must do in a week but work on all the rooms for that week each day. 

Does this seem overwhelming to you?  Here is what you do.  Buy a kitchen timer or use the one on your stove and set it for 15 minutes.  Work on your room and items on your card for 15 minutes out of each hour you are at home.  Do not stop until the timer goes off!  It forces you to keep working and stay focused on your one area for that short amount of time.  You will really be surprised at how much you can get done in that 15 minutes! 

What about your other rooms you ask?  That is where the 15-minute rule comes in again.  While you concentrate on the deep cleaning of certain rooms you must also a lot 5-15 minutes a day per room to the upkeep of your house.  Set a timer and STAY in that room until it goes off.  I find 15 minutes every other day keeps me on track and 5 minutes every day in main rooms like the living room and kitchen.  Happy Cleaning!