5 Holiday Cleaning Tasks Essential to Boosting Your Home’s Image

Your home’s image can mean virtually everything to you during the holidays (and any other time when you have visitors over). You know that your guests will inevitably notice things (good and bad) that will shape their perception of you and your home. It’s true because you do the same thing when you visit someone else’s house.

1. Clean the Front Door and Porch

Think about what you look at when you visit someone. The first thing you notice is the front door. That’s a no-brainer. You’ll want to establish a good first impression by cleaning the porch and front door.

Start by sweeping the front porch. Next, follow these steps to thoroughly clean the porch area if you have time:

Use a leaf blower to remove spider webs and loose debris from porch area siding and the porch ceiling.

If necessary, clean the porch floor using a pressure washer.

Clean the porch light fixture. You may need a ladder to reach the light fixture. Its cover is typically held in place by thumb set screws. Loosen the screws and carefully pull off the light fixture cover. Clean the cover thoroughly and clean all dust and debris from around the light. Reassemble the light fixture.

Clean the front door and door knob. Nowadays, guests may be hesitant to touch a dirty door knob. If the door or door knob are severely weathered and worn, consider replacing them before the holidays.

Replace or clean the welcome mat for the finishing touch.

Making a good first impression sets the tone for the entire home visit. You may not be able to clean your whole house with the same attention to detail as you do the front porch and other important home areas so you’ll need to establish priorities and continue cleaning.

2. Freshen Up the Foyer

Just as the porch and front door leave an initial impression of your home on guests, the foyer or entry in your home does the same. Dust all surfaces and clean all furnace or air conditioner vents in this area thoroughly. Clean and polish any glass as well. Consider adding a fresh floral display to brighten up the foyer.

Vacuum the rug and/or clean the flooring to finish off preparation of the foyer for your guests.

3. Stage the Living Room

The living room is where your house guests will likely spend a lot of time during their visit. Follow these steps to stage this area for your guests:

1. Dust and clean all surfaces of furniture and décor. Wipe dust off furnace or air conditioner vents and clean all light fixtures as well. Don’t forget to clean the glass on picture frames and wall art. Shiny glass makes a good impression on house guests.

2. Clean exposed windows and blinds. Dust off curtains, curtain rods and finials. Consider replacing worn and faded curtains or blinds before your guests visit your home.

3. Clean the television screen with an appropriate cleaner. Consult the owner’s manual for your TV for screen cleaning instructions if you’re unsure how to clean the screen without damaging its surface.

4. Vacuum and shampoo the rug or carpet. Clean all flooring in your living room. If you have time, wipe down baseboards. If your vacuum cleaner isn’t working right, follow the troubleshooting steps in our DIY Vacuum Repair Help section to fix the problems.

5. Add fresh floral displays to brighten up the living room space.

4. Prepare the Kitchen for Guests

Start by removing clutter that seems to always build up in the kitchen. Find places to store items that you use every day but that don’t need to be out when your guests visit.

To fully prepare your kitchen for guests, use this helpful checklist of tasks.

☐ Clean the microwave. Believe it or not, this is typically the appliance that your guests will glance at and notice most of all. Chances are that they’ll see inside the microwave sometime during their visit. Cleanliness of the microwave (or lack thereof) will have a lasting impression on your family and friends. Clean the microwave thoroughly—inside and out to help your guests feel comfortable eating food in your home.

☐ Clean the oven and cooktop. Your oven and stove top are usually the second most noticed appliances in your kitchen. Follow the tips in our Don’t Wait Until the Last Minute to Get Your Stove Ready for the Holidays article to clean you oven and cooktop.

☐ Polish appliance front panels. I you have stainless steel appliances, follow the tips in our Cleaning Stainless Steel Appliances YouTube Video to get rid of fingerprints and smudges on appliance panel surfaces. Follow the directions in the owner’s manual for your appliances to clean their front panels if you have other types off appliances.

☐ Do the windows. Polish the window glass to it looks as good as the appliance panels. Clean windows will have a significant impact on your kitchen’s image.

☐ Clean the garbage disposal. You don’t want funky smells from your garbage disposal ruining your guests’ visit. Freshen up your garbage disposal using Affresh Garbage Disposal Cleaner.

☐ Clean and organize inside your fridge. At some point, your guests will likely get a peek inside your refrigerator. Make sure that shelves are clean and organized.

☐ Mop the floor. You probably don’t need to be reminded about this task but it’s a checklist. Sweep and mop the kitchen floor shortly before guests arrive.

Getting your kitchen ready will take time so start early and avoid the frantic rush to prepare this area at the last minute.

5. Clean the bathrooms

Guests will need to use the bathroom if they stay long enough, or if they’ve just arrived after a long trip. Make sure that the sink, toilet, mirror and floor are as spotless as possible in your bathrooms before guests arrive.

Don’t fret that everything isn’t perfect in your home. There are a million home cleaning tasks we didn’t mention in this article. If you get most of these tasks done, you can be confident that your guests will like what they see.