Everyone at Junk Studz would like to wish you a happy holiday season. As we’ve helped to declutter Southern California homes and businesses this year, we’ve met countless great people and made friends with many of our customers, and for that we’re grateful. Today we’d like to provide you with a timetable to tidy your home by mid-December, so you can truly enjoy all that the season has to offer. As you work to dejunk your property, remember that Junk Studz provides eco-friendly junk hauling services in Orange County, San Diego County and Los Angeles County.
If you are just beginning your holiday shopping, we’d like to remind you again that hospitality is the best gift you can offer people; it takes up no space, doesn’t require storage, has no expiration date, is one size fits all, and never goes out of style! So, instead of spending time and money shopping for more “stuff” to give out this year, commit instead to making your home a warm and welcoming place where the door is always open to those you love.
Day 1: Start high. If you wait to clean your fan and light fixtures until December 25th, you’ll get dust, dirt and dead flies all over your carpet! In every room in the house, dust your fan blades and wipe down all of your light fixtures.
Day 2: Master bedroom. Wipe down the window sill. Open up the closet and perform a 10-minute purge. Garbage gets thrown and useable items go into a donate box. Dust all surfaces. Wash bedding and curtains. Vacuum the rugs and/or sweep and mop the floor. If you still have time, start on the next bedroom. Every night, spend 5 minutes tidying the room.
Day 3: Remaining bedrooms. Follow the steps from Day 2. If the bedroom(s) belongs to a child, have them choose 5-10 toys to donate. Junk Studz can pick up your items and bring them to a donation center where a needy child in San Diego County, Los Angeles County or Orange County might receive them as a gift.
Day 4: Guest bedroom. Follow the above steps. Once it’s clean, shut the door and promise that it won’t become a dumping grounds for gifts that still need wrapping. It’ll feel great to have a clean space for guests to stay over the holidays.
Day 5: The laundry room. Get in the habit of starting a load of laundry each morning. Each member of the family should have their own laundry basket. Turn the dryer on to warm up the load you put in yesterday. Fold everything immediately and put it into the appropriate basket (bedtime routine for every member of the household should involve putting their clean laundry away). Next, wipe down appliances, dust all surfaces and sweep and mop the floor. Look around and toss anything you don’t need or no longer love into the donation box for Junk Studz to collect.
Day 6: Bathroom(s). Open the cabinets and eliminate! Toss the hairspray you hate, the gel that didn’t hold up, old razors, etc. Keep enough towels to get your family through a week and drop the rest in the dejunking box for Junk Studz. Wipe down the cabinet and return to it only those things you use on a regular basis. Clean the countertop, toilet and shower/tub. While you’re at it, wash down the walls and use a dryer sheet to dust the baseboards and trim. Next, sweep and mop the floors.
Pro tip: It literally takes 2 minutes to wipe down the mirror, counter, toilet seat and bowl each morning.
Day 7: Kitchen. Clean out the fridge and toss what’s outdated. Clean the oven and stovetop. Wipe down countertops.
Pro tip: Fill the dishwasher every night, put it to wash and unload it first thing in the morning. It takes about a minute to do. Fill it with dirty dishes as the day progresses, and you’ll have a cleaner counter and sink!
Day 8: Damage control. Revisit the rooms you’ve already cleaned and give them another quick tidying. Dust, pick up, vacuum/sweep and mop.
Day 9: Kitchen: Scrub the sink. Clean the microwave. Wipe down all appliances. Wash fronts of cabinets. Sweep and mop.
Day 10: Porch/entry way. Throw out unneeded papers, etc. Put away things that don’t belong. Open the closet and do a quick purge of castoffs and items that no longer fit and set them in the donation box. Wipe down the walls and door (both sides), and dust the woodwork and trim. Sweep and mop.
Day 11: Living room: Wash the curtains. Wipe down the window sill. Dust all surfaces. Go through drawers and cabinets and do a little decluttering. Put old DVDs, that broken VCR, outdated magazines, books and such into your contribution or garbage containers. Return items that don’t belong here to their rightful place. Vacuum the furniture and dust the baseboard/trim. Clean the floors.
Day 12: Kitchen continued. Quick clean the fridge. Purge the pantry of outdated items and wipe shelves. It really only takes a few minutes to organize a cabinet. Start by decluttering your pots and pans, donating what you rarely use. Keep moving around the kitchen, cabinet by cabinet. If you have time, start on the drawers. Give the counters and appliances a quick wipe. Scrub the sink. Sweep the floors.
Day 13: Damage control. Revisit the rooms you’ve already cleaned and give them another quick tidying.
Day 14: Dining area. Clean off the table and go through accumulated mail piles. Put items that don’t belong in the dining room in their designated spots. Wash curtains. Dust all surfaces. Vacuum, sweep/mop.
Day 15: Entire house. By now each room in your house should have had a good cleaning. Your damage control days, combined with the daily 2-minute bathroom maintenance, 2-minute dishwasher routine, morning load of laundry and nightly 5-minute bedroom cleaning, should give you better control of your home. Go room-to-room and dust, pick up toys, and sweep and mop if necessary. Wash dirty area rugs.
Slow Down, Maintain & Enjoy!
You now have 10 days left to prepare for Christmas Day. Commit yourself to a half hour of clean up time per day until then. You can even tackle the windows, carpets and closets if you wish!
Call the Junk Haulers Southern California Residents Rely on for Cleaner Homes
The holidays can be stressful enough without your junk weighing you down. At Junk Studz, we like to remind our Southern California neighbors that while having a clean and tidy home is a good thing, it can’t compare to spending time with people we love. Hospitality begins in your heart, not with your stuff. So, do the best you can and focus on making Christmas memories. As always, contact us when you need junk hauling services in Orange County, San Diego County or Los Angeles County.
