Post Holiday House Recovery Tips

While you likely have a few more weeks with tinsel and holly decking your halls, we are approaching the post-holiday regrouping season. Many of us have been entertaining, and any resemblance of order escaped us long ago. As our houseguests depart and we move into the New Year, we sometimes need a little push to get things cleaned up. So, while we encourage you to keep the holiday cheer going for as long as you’d like, here are some post-holiday regrouping tips to help you get your new year off on the right foot.

Take it one room at a time. Make a list of to-do items by room and tackle each room one at a time. This will make the project feel much more manageable, and you’ll feel accomplished when you conquer a room!

Take your time now to avoid the headache next year. When you pack away the ornaments and decorations this year, be sure to take your time and do it right. Carefully wrap fragile pieces and use an empty paper towel or wrapping paper roll to help keep those lights from getting tangled.

Make it a family project. Just as decorating for the season is more enjoyable with family, so is cleaning up! Dividing duties helps control some of the stress we feel.

Dealing with the tree. Whether real or fake, taking the tree down is one of the bigger post-holiday tasks. Be sure to take it down cautiously to avoid creating more of a mess. If you use a real tree, make sure you are familiar with your community’s disposal procedures and plan accordingly.

Those outside items. If you live in a place that enjoys the beauty of a snow-covered Christmas, the weather may not cooperate with your outdoor cleanup plans. There are many different schools of thought when it comes to how long you can leave your outdoor displays out, but waiting until after the New Year is commonplace. Just like we don’t like being exposed to the elements for long periods of time, neither do our outdoor lights. And, as always, use caution for those higher-up places that require use of a ladder.