Moving into the heart of the household, it’s Week Ten at the Holiday Grand Plan: Family Room Week!
The family room is the heart of the home, and never more so than during the holiday season. We’ll clean and organize this central area of family life as we begin to think ahead to holiday visitors.
In holiday prep, we’ll celebrate Halloween, then recycle autumn decorations to look forward to Thanksgiving. Keep working on those gifts!
Ready? Let’s get organized with the Holiday Grand Plan!
Holiday Prep
- Make one batch of Holiday Goodies.
- Make one extra meal for freezer again labeled HOLIDAY MEAL.
- Buy two canned food items from menus (get 2 of each item, one to use and one to donate to food drive).
- Buy 1/8th of TO BUY gifts. Save all receipts, note return policy before buying. Ask for gift boxes.
- Wrap and label packages. If needing to ship, get some shipping boxes now and store packages in them.
- Work at least 1 hour a day on homemade gifts.
- Polish silver; clean glassware (baking soda & water). Put candleholders in freezer to help remove wax. Alcohol removes stains from candles.
- Take down Halloween decorations. Put up Thanksgiving ones.
- DO NOT shampoo carpet – partying people spill things.
- Clean/clear library/front hall closet so there will be room for guests’ coats. Give unwanted coats to charity. Store other stuff in attic in empty luggage.
Cleaning/Organizing Area: Family Room
Since the Family Room is much like the Living Room, consult the notes from that week as well, to be sure we haven’t missed anything! Here goes!
Start by washing the outside of your windows.
Take everything down off the walls, take down curtains etc. Wash, vacuum or dry clean as needed.
Sweep ceiling corners and other nooks in the room – tops of doorways, windows, arches, bookcases, etc.
Wash inside of windows and sills. Polish and touch-up stain on wood.
Re-hang window coverings.
Take cushions off furniture, vacuum thoroughly. Vacuum cushions, checking for wear and turning as needed. Spot treat any stains or shampoo furniture as needed.
Wooden furniture and anything with drawers: Empty, sort, and throw away what you don’t really need. Put the rest where it really belongs. Dust/Polish the piece you’re finished with, repeat as necessary. Do shelves the same way.
Baseboards – dust or wash as needed touch up scuffs on wood or touch up paint on painted surfaces.
Clean the TV screen. Dig out and sort all the accumulated electronic equipment–games, tapes, camera parts, wires, connectors, etc. Put everything where it belongs and get rid of the rest. (I stash things for a few months in the attic and if they don’t miss it then I can dispose of it as I please!) If something doesn’t work, take action–if it is worth getting fixed then decide when it can be done. Otherwise just liquidate it now.
Vacuum the entire room. Use a whisk broom to get into those hard to reach areas and around the baseboards if your vacuum doesn’t clean close enough. Yes, get help and move the furniture. There may be a wealth of lost treasures hiding under the sofa right now!
Clean/change silk flower arrangements for the season. It is also a good time to clean, trim, and/or repot live plants. They can’t absorb CO2 and light through a layer of dust!
Other items needing attention if you have them are: Fireplace/mantel/chimney/glass doors Lamps – cleaning and/or replacing shade/bulb/wiring Light switches (clean)
Mirrors and anything framed under glass clean it.
Door handles–and the area around them– if you have little sticky fingers be sure to get the area below them clean too with an appropriate cleaner. Polish the wooden doors and retouch scuffs.
Clean shake/wash/vacuum/take to professional– any area rugs.
Now is a good time to reorganize the video tapes and CDs ,Cassettes etc. If you have not viewed or listened to them in a while, donate or take to a consignment shop or a second hand music store and swap meet.