Post holiday cleanup

ArcticFox

How are things now that the holidays are over?  Decorations down?  Gift wrapping supplies put away?  House clean?  Laundry done?  Gifts put away, made room for?

We took our tree down the day after Christmas, and then I got the rest of the decorations down within another day or so.  I just felt like it felt cluttered between the decorations and all the new stuff.  I cleaned out the play area before we went OOT so that there would be lots of room for new stuff!  And considering, we did pretty well - didn't get anything too big or bulky.

My kitchen is a little bit of a mess and I need to do laundry, but honestly I'm feeling pretty good and not overwhelmed.  All that post-holiday hosting / cooking, making holiday treats, etc.  Plus every time we go OOT, I feel like it takes forever for me to get caught up on laundry!

TinaL99

Laundry is done, kitchen is pretty much clean (well, except for the dirty dishes that DH made last night cooking some chicken breasts for the week, but those will get done tonight).  Out LR is a mess b/c I never picked up after Stella got done playing last night.  She'll just make a mess of it again tonight so I'll pick up after the girls to go bed.

We haven't taken any of our decorations down yet.  We had such a low key weekend and got some gifts put away/set up, but not much else got done.  That's fine with me b/c we had a great weekend with lots of family time and non visitors like last weekend. 

We need to get our tree/deocrations down and bring the old toys back into the basement from the garage.  I think all of the girls new toys have been opened and set up.  We got Audrey a toy box and I'm not sure if that will stay in the basement with Stella's or if we will move it up into the living room.  I *think* we're going to be getting DH's Grandma's old xmas tree (yay!) since she got a new one so we'll probably take ours down and donate it.  I'm still on the hunt for storage containers for our ornaments, too.  I think everything will get done next weekend, I'm really in no hurry, I love when the house is all decorated for xmas and undecorating is the worst part!

wendyj

Tree and decorations came down on Friday. Main living area is clean, except for Ian's trains, but those can be cleaned up quickly, if needed. We were so busy last week that I didn't get anything else accomplished. I have a pile of bedsheets to wash, and clothes to put away, and since I didn't get around to cleaning the bathroom this weekend, I'll probably do that tonight.

Two*True

The tree is down but the ornaments are sitting on the table still needing to be wrapped up.  The rest of the decorations are up as well.  Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have everything put away.  Everything else is done though - laundry, dishes, etc.

SeptemberBride'08

Everything is done except our main tree. I think that will come down by the end of the week. Apparently as much as I wanted it down I am having issues letting it go. I'm lame this year. Super lame.

Irisheyes1247

The tree is down and so are the lights outside. I still have my nativity set on my mantle, but I will take that down after the Epiphany. The house is generally in disarray and things are not super clean, but I did get a little time to go through Charlotte's stuff, and put away 2 bins of clothes that no longer fit her. Also, thanks to Ash (I think) I got a couple old stains out by soaking in OxiClean overnight. Yesterday I cleaned and organized the pantry which I feel pretty good about, since 1 - it is very small so it is important to be organized in there and 2 - we were just throwing everything on top of one another, so you end up buying things you don't really need just because you can't find what you are looking for.

I am just feeling a lot better about things now that the holidays are over. I will slowly get back on track and hopefully start checking things off my list of things to take care of before the baby comes - next up: paint the darn dresser (which still has flecks of varnish coming through after 3 coats of primer, but thanks for the encouragement/advice Telyco!)

missyjg

We, or scratch that, I took the tree down, all the outside decorations and put things back to "normal". I went back to work today so I wanted everything back b/c I usually have less energy in the evening. I organized her toys on Christmas day b/c I had most of the day to myself since DH worked and B napped.

I was so happy to see the stuff come down. I always get this sense of disappointment after the holidays and knew that having a clean house again would help. It was worse this year b/c B wanted nothing to do with gifts, I was sick and DH worked most of the day Christmas eve and Christmas day. IDK, we are stretched think money wise b/c I always overspend and I felt like everyone was just benefiting from my hard work. I'm glad that things are back to normal. Except having to work, leaving B was really hard for me this morning:(

mrsoc

Everything is down and put away, with some in a bin for donating/garage sale.  All toys are opened, new clothes are washed an put away....now we start on our de-clutter the house in general calendar (as found on Pinterest).

goosh24

All the Christmas stuff came down 2 days after Christmas.  We bought one of these organizers because we seemed to get an abundance of small toys/pieces for Christmas and they were everywhere.  That's helped somewhat, although she loves to dump them.  The gift wrapping stuff is back in the guest room, on the bed, which is where it was before but there's got to be a better solution for it (used to be in the closet that will be the baby's).  I do a load of laundry everyday so there isn't usually ever a build up of that, otherwise I get overwhelmed with it just sitting there.  Plus the washer and dryer are right off the kitchen and I don't want to look at that.  I need to sort through some of the toys and try to secretly move some things upstairs, space will get much tighter when the baby stuff comes back out.  Luckily, we have toys in the living/dining room, man room, and back of the house so it doesn't quite seem like it's toyland in one place.  The house isn't in too bad of shape though, shockingly.  I actually cleaned the office, and worked on cleaning up the guest room over the last week so I'm pretty happy with the house right now. 

aSp6907

Trees and decorations are down and put away. All toys have been opened and are put away. Playroom has been cleaned and reorganized. Living room has been half cleaned. Laundry is half done. I cleaned out Belle's closet yeserday and packed up all the 12 month stuff and moved the summer stuff that will still fit this summer to the back. All her new clothes has been hung up or put away.

I focused on getting everthing taken down and put away this pas weekend. Next weekend I will spend giving the house a deep clean. We have a little nook off of our living room that we used as our dining area. After last Christmas I gave it up for Belle's toys. Now that we have the playroom and we are comfortable letting her go in there to play I get my dining area back. We will put it back together this weekend. Which means I think we will finally put away the high chair and get her a booster seat for the table.

jnk062602

I will just go ahead and AW myself.  Our house has never looked better.  It is cleaned, things are organized, old stuff is trashed/donated.  It is the best thing about being on maternity leave before the baby comes.  I used to work all day, come home to a huge mess that I couldn't even touch before making dinner, playing a bit with dd, and getting her to bed at night.  And then after cleaning up that day's stuff, I never got any of the "extras" done.  Now I can clean up as I go - either with her (she doesn't really pick up on her own but thinks it is fun if I make a game of it with her), or grab a few minutes here and there while she colors or plays with her cars.  So once she is in bed, I actually get to do a project instead of just treading water.

I figured I might as well AW that now because in a couple weeks the house will look drastically different, lol.  But it is nice while it lasts.

mb101108

I am in the midst of some serious winter cleaning. I'm pretty much tearing every room apart and deep cleaning it. So, parts of my house look great and other parts are disastrous. I'm hoping the whole house will be done by next week and then I can just maintain it.