December House Work - The Winter Cleaning Playbook

The festive season is here, the decorations are up, the house is full of delivery boxes, and any DIY you had on the go has quietly shuffled to the back of the queue.

Instead of pretending the half finished projects are not there until January, this is a good time to tackle a different kind of job list. Small, satisfying tasks that do not need ladders or power tools, but will make life easier when the tree comes down and normal service resumes.

Think of it as a winter service for your home. A few focused hours over Christmas can clear the decks, tidy the hidden corners, and get you ready for bigger projects in the new year.

Sort out high traffic areas

Start with the spaces everyone walks through without thinking. The hallway, the area by the back door, the patch of floor where school bags and parcels usually land. These are the places that will work hardest over Christmas as people come and go in muddy boots and heavy coats.

You do not need a full hallway makeover. Focus on function. Can people arrive, take off their shoes, hang up a coat and move into the house without squeezing past piles of bags, boxes or chairs that have drifted there over the year?

A ten minute reset here will make the whole house feel calmer when guests arrive.

Sort through shoes and the coat rack

When people come over, you want somewhere obvious and easy for them to put their coats and winter shoes. That is hard to do if the hooks and shoe racks are already full of things you will not touch until April.

Bag up summer jackets, light raincoats, white plimsolls and anything that only sees the light in milder months. Store them in a labelled box in the loft or garage so you can find them again.

Be honest while you sort. If something has not been worn for the last few winters, ask yourself whether it is time to donate it. If it is damaged beyond repair, it is probably time for the bin.

You end up with:

• Space for big winter coats and scarves

• A clear spot for guests’ shoes so they are not tripping over a heap by the door

• One small area that feels finished, even if the rest of the house is still in “Christmas chaos” mode

If you know you will be doing a bigger declutter in January, this is also a good moment to start a “to go” pile for recycling, charity and, if you have bulky or mixed waste building up, a future run.

Sort through hidden storage areas

Once your high traffic areas are under control, look at the places where stuff tends to disappear. Cupboards, drawers, the understairs space, that one kitchen unit where everything gets shoved when you tidy in a hurry.

This is not about organising your entire home in one go. It is about bringing a few forgotten spaces “into sight, into mind” so they work for you over Christmas rather than against you.

One simple trick is to open each cupboard or drawer and give it a quick score. You can even use sticky notes if that suits you:

• Green: feels fine, you can find what you need

• Amber: a bit chaotic, but manageable

• Red: every time you open it, your shoulders rise

Then pick one or two reds to tackle while you have a cuppa.

Start with the cupboards Christmas depends on

Focus first on the storage that will earn its keep in December:

• The cupboard with baking trays and roasting tins

• The shelf with cling film, foil and baking paper

• The drawer with serving spoons, ladles and carving knives

• The place where you think the roasting thermometer lives, but you are never quite sure

Pull everything out, group similar items together and be realistic about what you actually use.

You will usually find:

• Extra rolls of foil or baking paper that had migrated to the back

• Serving bowls or carving trays you forgot you owned

• Duplicates of things you never reach for

Put the items you will definitely use over Christmas at the front and eye level. Anything you only use once a year can go behind, but still where you can see it. Future You, trying to baste a turkey on Christmas Day, will be very grateful that you did this now.

Tackle kids’ games and books with the box bonus

Kids grow fast and their interests move on. Old board games, picture books and puzzles often sit quietly on shelves for years, taking up space that you could use better.

Since the house is already full of delivery boxes, use that to your advantage:

• Box up outgrown games and books that are still in good condition for donating

• Create a separate box for things you might want to sell when car boot sale season returns

• Recycle anything that is broken beyond use

Label the boxes clearly and move them to the loft, garage or a dedicated corner of a room. You are not trying to sort every item right now. You are simply getting them out of circulation, so the things your kids actually play with are easier to find and put away.

If you know that a larger clear out is on the cards in the new year, this kind of pre-sorting will make life much easier when you come to deal with furniture, bigger toys and general household clutter. At that point, a small or medium skip, chosen from the guide, can be a more efficient option than endless tip runs.