After Christmas Home Cleaning

After Christmas there seems to always be an enormous amount of clutter! No matter how much you clean up and remove before hand it just seems inevitable. Clutter for me causes stress and just makes everything ten times harder. Don’t give up hope though because there is always a solution. After a couple days and the holidays wrap up, go through the house again with a fresh pair of eyes. Start a checklist to help organize your thoughts on how you want to accomplish the task at hand.

My checklist is split up within a week’s span, each day covering a new area, so it doesn’t seem so overwhelming. Monday: toys, Tuesday: clothes, Wednesday: living room, Thursday: family area, Friday: bedroom/selfcare. Obviously lists will differ depending on needs, but the end goal will be the same.

Toys: I separate out broken toys, as well as items that just have not been played with for a while. I make two piles trash and goodwill and sort from there. If your OCD like me, you can label or have a color-coding system for organization. I went with colored bins, Red: Legos, Blue: Action figures, Orange: Cars, Green: Sports equipment and Pink: Dolls. Now for the smaller Legos, I did find a bin with a lid to try and eliminate any lost pieces.

Clothes: separate out by season and then sort into your piles for trash or goodwill. From there I will sort and put away what is not needed for current weather conditions. My system for clothes will be to assign a drawer per clothing item, one for shirts, pants, pajamas, socks and underwear. For my school kiddo I also have a drawer for uniforms. To help keep this organization each drawer has a picture label to identify which item belongs in each one.

Living room: This space should not be so tough it is simply going through picking up any extra items that have not made it to their new home. If I need to add some organization to this area it would be a hook for coats and a shoe rack.

Family area: Ours is used as a play room/ Library. Each shelf is organized by book size, now for the younger kiddos this will be hard but as long as it is kept up with it won’t get out of hand as far as pick up goes. The toy shelf is organized by kiddo, each having one shelf for toys they would like to keep on there. I let them pick and switch out whenever they choose.

Bedroom: Keep this simple and just go through your items like you have done for the kids, organization does not need to be the same just whatever works for you. You should also focus on a little self-care that day, such as a face mask or painting your nails. Just take a little down time for yourself and soak in the work you have just accomplished.

It may seem like a lot of work at first however, if you take it a day at a time you will get through it in a breeze!

-Ms. Brittani
Health & Wellness Coordinator
Lead Preschool Teacher