Christmas is a strange time for our homes. With a sudden influx of Christmas decorations, gifts, and people, our spaces can quickly look and feel cluttered. And that’s all before the big day arrives.
If you are finding your home increasingly overstimulating in the run-up to Christmas day, but don’t have much time to spare between final preparations and seeing family and friends, professional home organizers have your back.
They have shared their four last-minute pre-Christmas organizing tricks to help you re-establish some semblance of order before you really start to lose your mind.
Last-minute pre-Christmas organizing
In an ideal world, we would all have time to work through the several places to declutter before Christmas to make the holiday hosting period a bit easier on your home, but these quick-fix organizing tricks should help to re-establish order even when you feel like you’re snowed under.
1. Use the two-tub trick
Barbara Brock, professional home organizer, and home stager begins, ‘If time is of the essence, and it’s necessary to declutter quickly, you don’t have time to edit. It’s important to remove items quickly to limit visual clutter and make a home look organized fast, even if it isn’t.
‘I suggest having an empty tub handy to put unnecessary items in. You can then quickly remove items and put them in a closet to be edited later. The first major pre-Christmas decluttering rule is to prioritize what rooms people will be going into – these are the rooms you want to focus on first,’ Barbara suggests.
Alternatively, grab clear and dark bags. In the clear trash bag put items that you want to keep but don't have time to sort and put away. In dark trash bags, put items that can be thrown away.’
These extra strong trash bags will be an essential over the busy Christmas period, ready for quick decluttering, after dinner clean up, and blitzing wrapping paper.
Putting items you are planning to keep in a clear trash bag helps you to see what is in there, so it is all easier to put away, and you don't throw them out by accident.
Using a decorative basket to collect items that are not in their proper homes allow you to stash them in plain sight while you wait for a good time to tidy up, without them contributing to clutter.
2. Clear flat surfaces
When you only have a few minutes minutes to spare, we highly recommend focusing on your home’s flat surfaces as part of your Christmas hosting prep countdown – counters, coffee tables, consoles – anything you could put a drink down on should be clear.
Jamila Musayeva, etiquette expert, agrees, ‘Have as much as possible open space in the kitchen counters so that you can fill it up with used dishes later on easily and proceed to entertain your guests without having to make space. Empty a couple of shelves or an area of the cupboard to store incoming food items or serving platters. Clear countertops of non-essentials to give yourself plenty of workspace.
‘The entryway is your business card so to speak. It is your first impression. Make it count and work on it in advance,’ Jamila adds. ‘Get rid of all unnecessary items. Spend 10 minutes clearing it out – store out-of-season items, neatly arrange what’s necessary, and create a space for guests’ belongings. A tidy entry sets a welcoming tone.’
You might even want to take away some of your decor to help cut clutter when decorating this Christmas. This holiday period is usually one of excess, but it is possible to have too much of a good thing when your home looks like Santa threw up on it. Besides, it makes cleaning around holiday decor ten times easier.
3. Clear bathroom clutter
It is a good idea to use the guest scanning method to prepare for guests. This means walking around your home as if you were a visitor and seeing what you spot – especially in spots like the bathroom.
Jo Hayes, founder and international etiquette coach at EtiquetteExpert suggests, ‘Get[ting] rid of excess bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the shower or bath. These can make the bathroom look cluttered and messy (and they attract mold). Do a stocktake of bathroom cabinets, clear out anything that’s unused/unnecessary, and make sure toilet paper is well stocked, and stored within easy reach.’
It never hurts to clean your bathroom in 30 minutes or less if you can fit it into your schedule, either.
4. Bag up gifts
A tree with presents piled up beneath it can look great in the movies, but in real life when we have to share this space with this mountain of boxes, it can quickly get overwhelming.
To keep the area around your Christmas tree neat (and make it easier to keep your home clean with a real Christmas tree), we recommend strategically using gift bags, available in sets from Amazon, to split presents up into recipients. Your gifts all stay together under the tree, but on a smaller footprint, helping to make your living space less visually overstimulating.
Is there anything more Christmassy than a stocking full of gifts? Swap out giftbags for stockings for an extra festive touch.
These rapid-fire pre-Christmas organizing tricks are sure to make your pre-Christmas cleaning tasks easier to tick off, and your home feels a little more peaceful at this hectic time of the year. They will even make tidying as you go on Christmas day simpler, too.
