Cleaning Up After The Holidays

The holidays are behind us and a new year is in our near future. One of the most well-kept traditions of the holiday season is decorating. We all love to make our homes look special, with exterior lights and decorations and, sometimes a plastic Santa. Now that the season has passed, it's time to think about cleaning up your decorations. In many cases, it can be just as much work as it was to put them up. Fear not! The Randy Durham team is here to help. With these simple tips, taking down and boxing up the holidays can be a simpler, easier, and quicker process.

Do It All at Once 

It might be tempting to give yourself a few days to take down holiday decorations, but it will be a much less problematic event if you tackle it all in one day. Think about it like removing a band-aid, it's best to do it in one quick movement. While doing everything at once may seem more taxing than working on smaller projects over several days, it will actually save you time and energy in the long run. When you finish taking down the Christmas lights, go straight to taking down the Christmas Tree. Once you've boxed up the Three Wise Men, go straight to boxing up the Mistletoe. Trust us, you'll be happy that you did. 

Declutter as You Go

While you're boxing up your decorations, take a look at the items you're no longer enjoying. Maybe they're old, tattered, or out of style. Whatever the reason, make sure to seriously consider what items you might not want to use in the following year.  As an added bonus, if any of those decorations are still worth using, donate them to your local thrift shop. Any items that are broken or unusable should not be donated, but everything else can be used as a tax write off. It's a win-win situation. 

Clean as You Go 

Believe it or not, you can make a mess when you take down your decorations. Take a few extra minutes at each stage of taking down your decorations to clean the areas that had been decorated. When you take down the Christmas tree, there is likely to be some fallen needles. Before you move to the next project, sweep them up. Likewise, when you take down the Christmas lights, there is likely to be a few stray staples or pins, make sure and remove them along with the lights. It may seem like extra work, but following these three simple tips will ensure that your holiday clean up is as pain-free as possible. For more tips on selling, buying, or maintaing your home, take a look at some of our other blog posts. 

As always, feel free to contact us at randy@randydurham.com with any questions.