Tag: 20-Day Challenge

20-Day Challenge: Week 2

The Dining Room

(Scroll to the bottom for links to other blogs in this Countdown Series, including a printable checklist.)

The focus for our Holiday Cleaning Countdown is the three rooms you’ll use most when entertaining during the holidays. And this week the focus is the dining room. With one task per day, you’ll spend 7 days on this room, but once completed it will stay fairly clean until the holidays. A quick touch-up is all you’ll need before guests arrive – do this when you place your floral centerpiece to whisk away any petals, berries or needles that stray from the holiday arrangement.

This week our holiday cleaning checklist calls primarily on one tool to get this room ready: microfiber. So gather all your microfiber cloths and mop heads along with your microfiber mop.  Microfiber lets you deep clean quickly, without harsh chemicals or any mess.

Below are all the tasks for Week 2 of the Holiday Cleaning Countdown:

DAY 7: Walls - Start by removing the dust and cobwebs from your walls. But instead of washing them like our mothers used to, use the microfiber mop and a spray bottle of water to do the same job.  Start with a clean, large looped microfiber mop head and a spray bottle of plain clean water. Spritz the mop head so that it just has a light film of water on it. Start at the baseboard of the wall and by using a Z pattern, work your way up to the ceiling. Work one vertical section at a time, always starting at the baseboard and working up. The damp microfiber mop head will catch and remove dust and dirt that was on the wall.  This process will also catch cobwebs that may be hard to see with the naked eye.  If your walls are extremely dirty, change the mop head often!  Also change the mop head when it gets too damp.

DAY 8; Light Fixtures - When cleaning your light fixtures, let your dishwasher to help! Place then glass globes on the top shelf of your dishwasher and wash them with a normal cycle. Then, give them a touchup with a blue fine woven microfiber cloth when they come out, just to remove any spots or drips. Hand wash smaller glass pieces with dishwashing liquid. Dry with a microfiber cloth.

DAY 9: Dusting - When dusting the furniture use a fresh, lightly dampened microfiber cloth. Normally, water is all you’ll need on the cloth. But, if your furniture is looking a little drab or cloudy, you may want to use a polishing mixture of 1 tbs. mayonnaise and 1 tbs. olive oil.  Mix these two ingredients together and apply a light coating on the flat surfaces of your furniture. Let it sit for a minute then buff off with a dry microfiber cloth. Check out our video:

DAY 10: Serving Pieces - Use your dishwasher to clean all the dishes and serving pieces you expect to use during the holidays. This ensures everything will be clean and dust free before serving your guests.  Be sure to include your crystal and silver. If you silver is tarnished, set it aside for DAY 12.

DAY 11: Linens - Make sure to launder and iron the tablecloths and napkins you plan to use for your holiday event.  Check for spots and stains on each piece. Use some hydrogen peroxide to remove dark spots and rubbing alcohol for greasy stains.  Air dry the treated cloth in the washing machine. If the stain has not disappeared repeat the treatment, then launder. If the stain persists, invest in a new tablecloth or set of napkins.

DAY 12: Silver – Safely polish tarnished silver with some old-fashioned paste toothpaste and a soft cloth.  If you’re pressed for time try placing your silverware in a deep dish lined with aluminum foil.  Fill the dish with distilled white vinegar then place the silver on the foil. The tarnish will “jump” off the silver and onto the foil. The, wash the silver as you normally would. It’s not as effective as polishing but you’ll notice a difference.

DAY 13: Floors – Your final task on this week’s holiday cleaning checklist is to vacuum rugs and vacuum or wash hard wood floors so they look ready for your company. Make sure your baseboards are wiped clean and are dust free.  Spot clean the woodwork as needed. Once the floors are clean, you can keep touching them up during your weekly cleaning.

And now there’s just seven days left in the Holiday Cleaning Countdown, and seven days before you can celebrate the wonder of the holidays and rejoice with your guests.

Check back next week for a detailed description of the Week 3 tasks!

If you missed our other posts in the Holiday Cleaning Countdown series, please click on these links:

To help prepare you for the holidays, we've collected some expert advice from our guest bloggers to share throughout December. Be sure to check out our 20 Day Challenge on holiday cleaning and getting your home ready for the holidays. If you plan to host overnight guests, we recommend you download the Holiday Clean-Up 20-Day Challenge PDF guide below, because the first 6 days focus on the Guest Room. READ ON, for cleaning tips and details on preparing the most critical part of this room, the guest bed.

Day 1: Strip and wash the sheets. Remake the bed. Use furniture movers to make changing the linens easier.

Our 20 day count down to a clean holiday will start in the guest room. Why start here when so many other areas need attention?  Because the room your guests will pay the most attention to is the room where they sleep. There, they can look around without any inhibitions so it’s really important to get this room extremely clean when making your home ready for guests. The first thing to focus on is the bed.

How to wash your bedding:

Make sure the sheets are clean and stain free. If they look at all worn or off color – spend the extra money and buy a new set.  Nothing looks more inviting than freshly laundered sheets! This includes the pillows and the pillow cases. No one wants to sleep on a pillow that looks or smells like it’s been on the bed for decades. Wash the pillows and remove the stains with my miracle pillow stain remover.  Watch the video below:

How to make your bed:

Make the bed starting with a fitted bottom sheet. Using a flat top sheet, place the pattern facing down so your guests pull down the sheets they’ll see the pattern on both sheets. Use hospital corners to keep everything nice and tight. Place a blanket over the top sheet. Fold down the top sheet about 4” so that the pattern will show and go over top of the blanket.  Top off the bed with a clean, fresh bedspread. Add a down comforter at the end of the bed to give your guests comfort options at night. An easy holiday cleaning tip is to use decorative pillows to make the room look inviting and up to date.  Add a big empty basket near the bed to give decorative pillows a special place during the night. Spray the bedding with witch hazel infused with your favorite essential oils to add safe and inviting fragrance to the room to put the finishing touch on your holiday clean up in the guest room.

Keep watching our blog for more holiday cleaning tips throughout the month!