Not only do you want to get your home organized after the holidays, you want to go all the way back to the basics. Michael Silva-Nash, executive vice president of Molly Maid of Greater Little Rock, offers these tips for re-creating order from Thanksgiving-to-New-Year's chaos:
• Clean up after your company. "You've had plenty of guests this holiday season and they all left their mark ... on the living room floor," Silva-Nash says. "Focus on the main 'traffic areas' where guests stay like the living room, kitchen, guest bathroom, but most importantly the floors. When you think about it, the floors have seen more people in a few short weeks than they have most of the year."
• Take the opportunity to do some deep cleaning. Before moving the couch back into place, do the baseboards, floors, blinds and other areas it would otherwise block. It's also a great time to clean the mantel really well after taking down the Christmas stockings. Just remember, the more items you put back up, the more there is to dust -- so think about it twice and consider whether you really want that old knickknack.
• Get the children involved in keeping the house clean this year. Download the Molly Maid Kids Chore Chart (mollymaid.com) and establish chores for 2015. Some examples of kid-specific tasks: making beds, taking out the garbage and recycling, folding and putting laundry away, putting clean hand towels and an extra roll of toilet paper in the bathroom, putting away toys, setting the table, clearing or washing dishes, vacuuming.
"If everyone in your family gets involved, there is more time to enjoy [being] together," Silva-Nash says.
-- Helaine R. Williams
HomeStyle on 01/10/2015