How to Tidy Up Your Home Easily After the Holidays

By now the long holidays are over and the Christmas tree has been taken out of the room. On one hand, it's a bit sad because the fun festivities are over, but on the other hand, it's actually nice that you can get back to your normal eating habits and finally get those pesky pine needles off the carpet.

Let's roll up our sleeves and get our rooms and parquet back in order!

Let's start with the carpets

When the Christmas tree is gone, you have a clear picture of the condition your living room carpet coverings are in. Maybe you've got some sneaky mulled wine stains or perhaps some mischievous elf has carelessly wandered around your white carpet with chocolate. If home stain removal doesn't help, you'll need to take the carpet to a dry cleaner, because the longer you let the stain sit on the carpet, the harder it will be to get it out later.

If there are no extreme stains on the carpet, there's definitely pine needles and dust. Since it's winter outside and the snow is nicely on the ground, you have the opportunity to get the dust out of your carpets in quite an unusual way. Take your carpets out onto the snow, grab a carpet beater and beat them thoroughly. You can also spread snow on the carpet and beat it through the thin layer of snow, then you'll get the dust out particularly well.

Collect all the decorations

Go through all the rooms and collect the Christmas decorations. Maybe you'll find some gift wrapping papers here and there or something else belonging to the holidays. The paper snowflakes you've cut out can stay on the windows for now, they create a nice winter atmosphere.

Pack your Christmas lights smartly

Untangling Christmas lights is every year quite a nightmare when you've carelessly packed them away last year. There are several good ways to smartly pack Christmas lights. One is, for example, one where you need as many pieces of cardboard as you have lights. Now take hold of the end of the cord and wrap the lights around the piece of cardboard. It's so simple that you're left wondering why you didn't think of this sooner, right?

Another way is to fold the Christmas lights and secure them with a plastic band or simply tie them together with string. You can get a bonus with one more option: maybe you'd like to wrap your Christmas lights around an empty wrapping paper tube?

Pack Christmas-themed tablecloths and other textiles

Sofa cushions with Rudolph's face and tablecloths with Christmas trees need to go through dry cleaning or a washing machine so they can spend next year waiting in the closet. However, if you feel you've had enough of these items and want new and fancier tablecloths and other decorations next year, then sell them cheaply or take them to a secondhand center.

Check your fridge

Yes, unfortunately not many people show restraint at the grocery store during the holidays and that's why most of us have a large amount of questionable items in the fridge at the beginning of January, whose "best before" date has unfortunately passed into last year. Do a proper cleaning tour of your fridge.

But wait, what's this? A whole batch of gingerbread dough! Well, now you have two options: put it in the deep freezer or bake another batch of gingerbread. We recommend doing the latter.

Collect candle ends

Collect candle ends from throughout your whole house and make a nice new candle from them.

If you still have Christmas spirit, then…

… rush through the department stores' sales where beautiful Christmas decorations are on sale at half price or even less. Trust me, you'll be so happy in December to discover what a great deal you got when you came home in January!