Christmas Cleaning Checklist – Plus Free Printable

Getting your home ready for Christmas entertaining or to host overnight guests can be overwhelming! Using a Christmas cleaning checklist will help you get your house ready for Christmas in no time! Even if you have a busy schedule, you can break down this checklist over a week and get everything done in time. This simple Christmas cleaning checklist will help you get started.

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With this simple Christmas cleaning checklist, you can be sure that all of the main areas of your home our cleaning, tidy, and ready for your houseguests.

Use this checklist to work through all of the important areas in your home before your Christmas guests arrive.

Do a quick but thorough deep clean of the important spaces in your home with this Christmas Cleaning Checklist. Having a plan and all the right cleaning tools on hand can make the process even smoother, letting you focus more on enjoying the holiday season with your friends and family.

Essential Areas to Clean Before Christmas

Before you jump in and just start cleaning without any direction it’s a good idea to make a plan.

First, think about the different areas that your guests will be using while they visit with you. Typically the bathrooms, kitchen, dining, and living areas are the most important to clean before your guests arrive.

If you have guests staying overnight in your home, make sure to spend time cleaning the guestroom and guest bathroom. Once you have a list of “must-clean” areas that’s where you want to start!

The First Thing Most People Notice When They Visit

What’s the first thing you notice when you enter someone’s house? The smell!

Prioritizing adding nice scents into your home when entertaining during the holidays will make your home even more welcoming and cozy. There are many ways to add a festive fragrance to your home.

1. Candles
2. Lamp Candle Warmer – I love these so much more than burning candles. I don’t have to worry about the flames and the timer automatically turns off if I forget.
3. Reed Diffusers – I love these for in the bathroom because they can give off a consistent soft scent and you don’t have to worry about unattended flames. This scent sounds really nice!
4. Essential oil diffuser
5. Homemade potpourri
   • This one smells like a Christmas tree
   • Or you can put sliced oranges, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and cinnamon in water and simmer on your stovetop or in a mini crockpot
6. Store-bought room sprays
7. Bathroom spray – a must-have! We have loved the Christmas-scented Poo-pourri

Tidy up – Then Clean!

Before you dive into the deep cleaning, the first step is to tidy up each room. You’ll want to clean up all of the trash, put away items that are lying out, and declutter the flat surfaces. Once you have most of the clutter cleaned up and things put away where they belong, you can start the cleaning process.

Shake out and wash your rugs

In most rooms, you’ll start by shaking out any area rugs you might have. If they’re washable, you might want to take the time to throw them into your washing machine while you’re cleaning the room.

Wash towels and linens

If you’re working in your kitchen or bathroom, I like to take this time to grab the hand towels or cleaning towels and throw them in the wash as well. If you are in a bedroom, take all of the dirty sheets, pillowcases, and blankets and get them in the wash as well.

While the laundry is going, you can start organizing and cleaning out different areas in that room.

Work from the top down

If possible, it’s always best to start cleaning from the top and work your way down. So you’ll want to start by dusting off any ceiling fans and lights then wiping down the walls, door handles, and light switches. Clean off countertops and flat surfaces, then wipe down the front of cabinets, furniture, and appliances. You may also want to dust your blinds and window sills and wash your windows.

You may even feel motivated enough to wash curtains. (I applaud you for that attention to detail!) Just remember your houseguests probably won’t be too worried about how clean your curtains are when they are busy celebrating Christmas with you and your family.

Clean the Floors

Now that you have cleaned off most of the surfaces and knocked most of the dust down to the ground, you can clean the floors. Always start by vacuuming or sweeping, then mopping any of the rooms that need it. I personally like to wash down the baseboards after washing the floors that way I can wipe up any splashes that mopping may have caused. I don’t necessarily do a deep scrub of my floors if I’m having a bunch of people over. They are just going to walk all over your floors and make them dirty when they arrive anyway!

It’s not just about cleaning and tidying up; it’s about creating a space that feels welcoming and ready for your Christmas celebrations.

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