With the holiday season upon us, many of us will be experiencing a huge influx of company – whether it be overnight guests or friends who are just around for the day, there is real pressure to make sure our homes are visitor-ready at all times! Since I am only getting more pregnant as the days progress, I have been racking my brain for simple and extremely easy ways to keep the house in tip-top shape this season. The last few weeks, I have been in search of the best products to give me maximum clean with minimum effort…the less work I have to do, the better! I have found several great products, and have successfully implemented them into my everyday cleaning schedule. I hope that sharing them with you will help make your life a little easier this time of year!
*This is not a sponsored post! All of these products were purchased by me and are used in my home on a regular basis.
Swiffer Sweeper
I purchased a Swiffer Sweeper when we first moved into our house because there was construction dust everywhere! Nothing could get the little particles up as well as the Swiffer, and I have never been able to convince myself to get rid of it. While I do try to sweep and mop my floors the conventional way at least once a week, the Swiffer is a life saver when you just don’t have time to spend cleaning your floors. Plus, when all else fails, shorten the handle and let your toddler go wild with it.
Holiday Tip: Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to a dry Swiffer Sweeper cloth, and do a quick run over your floors before company arrives. It will leave your house smelling fresh, and clean the floors all in one go!
Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel
I love this stuff! In our last apartment, the master bathroom toilet had huge problems. I’m not sure what the issue was exactly, but we’d get black rings and an odd smell no matter how often I cleaned it! I found this gel, and have been an avid user of it ever since. All you have to do is insert the gel into the toilet bowl and it cleans every time you flush. But my favorite part is the fresh smell it gives the bathroom. Isn’t that everyone’s biggest concern when guests are over? I mean no one wants a smelly bathroom…and I love the fact that I don’t have to constantly bend over to clean the toilet bowl!
Windex Touch-Up Cleaner
With little fingers constantly touching everything, I am always in need of a rag and surface cleaner. Windex Touch-Up is great because if I see a fingerprint or spot of goo somewhere, all I have to do is grab a paper towel and squirt some cleaner on it to get rid of the mess! This product is a huge time-saver for moms. Plus, it makes me feel better knowing that I’m actually killing bacteria while using it (rather than spreading it around by using a gross sponge and water).
Holiday Tip: Keep your bottle of Touch-Up Cleaner in the central holiday area of your home – generally the kitchen. That way when you know guests are on their way, you can give the counter-tops and appliances a quick run-down for a spic and span look!
Bissell SpotBot
OK, so I have a confession to make. Well, two actually: I don’t have a pet…nor do I own a SpotBot. My husband and I do own a full-size Bissell carpet cleaner, though (the SpotBot is on my Christmas list) and it is a life saver! The reason I am recommending the SpotBot rather than a full-size machine is simply because of the time factor. I love my carpet cleaner, and it is great when I have uber amounts of time to clean the floors and let them dry. But with a little one toddling around, my carpets are constantly bombarded with random spots. I don’t have time every week to do a full clean of the downstairs carpets just because there are some new Pop-Tart stains. That’s where the SpotBot comes in! It would be a huge life saver to be able to clean just one or two spots at a time as they happen. For me, if you have a clean floor, the rest of the house will look 20x better by default, so it’s worth the investment! Extra plus? The SpotBot offers hands free use!
Swiffer Dusters
I know, I know … there’s already a Swiffer product on display here. But, how can I possibly pass up the Swiffer Duster? I seriously use these things all. the. time! They’re super easy to use and clean virtually every surface in my house. If you get the extenders, you can easily dust your fans and grab those hard-to-reach decorative shelves. I also like to use them to do a quick dust of the baseboards without having to bend over (not an easy task at this point in time).
Holiday Tip: Use the Dusters that have Febreze so every time you break them out your home gets a burst of fresh scent.
These products are all great, and they are definitely time-savers during the holiday season. They’re perfect for those times when someone texts you that they’ll be over in 30 (and you know you’re house is not quite company-ready), and just for keeping up with the insane schedule that comes along this time of year. But, nothing can replace good old-fashioned work!
My top recommendation for keeping a clean home for the holidays is to create and keep track of a cleaning schedule. I try to break my work up into tasks that are repeated either every day or once per week. This helps me cut down on the amount of time I spend cleaning each day, and keeps the tasks more manageable. You can find an instant digital download of the cleaning schedule I use at home in my Etsy shop.
Do you have any go-to cleaning products? And what is your favorite tip for keeping a clean home during the holidays?
Good choices! I had the hardwood floors replaced and now don’t have the rugs down because the floors need time to amber up. I’m loving the swiffer duster and might never put the rugs down again. It’s so easy to just sweep up now. :)
Hi Sam! I found you via The Shabby Nest. What a great and timely post. It always seems harder to keep things clean with the constant stream of visitors during the Festive Season. I try to put all of our usual trinkets away and focus on just having the Christmas themed decorations out. It seems to reduce the clutter and make the house look really quite glam!