The Big Holiday Clean Out

The holidays are a wonderful time to do a little cleaning out to make room for visiting house guests, new toys and a new year. Here are 10 tips to prep for the holidays and start the new year right!

1. Clean out toy boxes and closets to make room for the holidays.
2. Hold a garage sale. Let the kids keep the money for the items they sell. Then they can use it to buy presents for the holidays.
3. Donate any items that you didn’t sell at the garage sale.
4. Get ready to bake and cook! Go through your spices and throw out any that are past their expiration.
5. Clean the refrigerator. It’s about to get a lot of attention, so start off the holiday season with a clean ice box.
6. After the holidays, go through envelopes of the many holiday cards you received. Double check to see if your address book needs any edits or add any new friends. (this will save you so much time for next year’s card writing!)
7. After the holidays, use a label maker to label the boxes of holiday decorations. Be sure to number them (ie 1 of 3) so you know that you have them all next year.
8. Don’t bring old dirt with you into the new year. Use the new year as a time to get a new broom and a new vacuum filter.
9. Get those holiday photos developed and store them in a small box labeled “Holiday” or put them in an album. Your kids will love looking at the photos all year long, until the next holiday season.
10. Set a date to take down the holiday decorations and stick to it.