So, you did an incredible amount of work getting your home ready for the holidays. You redid the kitchen, and you made the guest bathroom worthy of a five-star hotel. Now it’s time to do a reset, to step back and figure out how you want your home to look for the rest of the year.
1. Disinfect and Clean All Kitchen Appliances
Odds are, between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve you probably spent more time in the kitchen than in the previous 10 months combined. All of that holiday cooking has more than likely, left a mark.
Now that you’ve been able to decompress from the holidays a little, it’s time to really get into a deep cleaning of your kitchen appliances. This means cleaning the inside and outside of your dishwasher and oven, giving the sink a good washing (don’t forget the area under your sink as well), and scrubbing down the exterior and interior of your drawers and cabinets.
Before you dive into this project, make sure you have plenty of disinfecting cleaner on hand. If you like, you could make your own by mixing water, baking soda, and vinegar. Try to keep from using harsh chemicals on any of your surfaces, because that could reduce their lifespan.
This is a major undertaking, without a doubt. But once you’re done, you’ll be proud of the fact that your kitchen will once again be sparkling clean.
2. Vacuum Your Rugs and Furniture
Take a vacuum to not only all of the furniture in your home but also any rugs you may have. If you have some old bathroom mats, either clean them or replace them.
The time after the holidays is perfect for cleaning your upholstery. You’ve probably had a lot of guests over, and you’ve probably had your windows closed for a long time with the heat on. This has raised the humidity levels in your home, and that could make your couches and chairs a little musty.
Vacuuming your furniture will help get rid of things like hair and dirt. If you’ve just noticed that someone spilled a glass of wine on a couch you don’t use that often, try spot cleaning to see if that will help. If it doesn’t, then you might need to call in a professional.
Once the cleaning is done, think about spraying your furniture with a mixture of water and essential oils. This will help keep the fabric smelling fresh for a long time.
3. Deep Clean Your Carpets
While you’re at it, this would also be a good opportunity to give your carpets a deep clean as well. If you had a lot of people in your home, they probably tracked in a decent amount of dirt. If they brought pets with them, you can just about guarantee that’s the case.
You’ll more than likely want to rent a carpet cleaner. There are a lot of ways you can do this, but the easiest would be to go to your nearest big-box hardware store. If there’s not one close by, there’s a good chance even a smaller hardware store will have one you can rent. If you’d rather not deal with renting, call a professional carpet cleaning company.
4. Clean Out Your Fridge
Getting back to the kitchen for a moment, your refrigerator could probably use a good cleaning out as well. The first step will be to clear away any food that’s past its expiration date. Hopefully, there’s no Thanksgiving turkey tucked away in a corner that you forgot was there. If you have any doubts as to whether or not something is still good, the safe thing to do will be to throw it out. The last thing you’ll want to do is to risk food poisoning.
The same goes for any baked goods that might still be left over for the holidays. You’ll want to throw them out as well.
Once you’ve cleared the refrigerator shelves of expired items, take everything else out and give the shelves a good wiping down with some mild soap and a soft cloth. After you put everything back in, wipe down the outside of the fridge.
5. Reorganize Your Pantry, Kitchen, and Bathrooms
Think back a minute to when you were at your busiest during the holiday season. Did you have a hard time getting to any cooking items in your kitchen? Was the pantry an unorganized mess? Were you embarrassed because the guest bathroom was so cluttered that you didn’t have time to organize it before your guests arrived?
This is the time to do something about all of it.
One easy way to get your pantry squared away will be to add pull-out shelves. These can make your life a lot easier than you ever imagined possible. If you have deeper cabinets, they might offer a lot of storage space but it’s hard for you to see what’s on the shelves. Pull-out shelves will help you quickly find whatever you need.
As far as the kitchen goes, you’ll want to consider clearing the counters of any clutter. Is there a blender sitting on the countertop that you haven’t used for years? It might be time to find it a new home. Start big, with the countertops, and then get into all of the cabinets. Either throw away or donate any items you probably won’t need.
So, now it’s time to visit the bathrooms. If your drawers are disorganized, drawer dividers could help. Everything will be very easy to see so that you’ll no longer have to fumble around for a brush or anything else.
Hire Art of Drawers for a Custom Storage Solution
Again, getting your home reorganized after the holidays is a major undertaking. At Art of Drawers, we have a lot of creative solutions that will make this job much more manageable. Contact us online or call (770) 800 8410 to learn more.
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