8 Tips for “Take Back the House and Get Back to Routines Day”!

What?  You’ve never heard of “Take Back the House and Get Back to Routines” day? With all the crazy holidays out there, I’m surprised Hallmark hasn’t picked up on this one!

I love the holidays and the lack of structure. It’s often a little crazy before and during Christmas with everything that needs to be done and all the gatherings and events to attend. And then the days after Christmas/New Year’s are usually more relaxing and fun as we enjoy some of our new gifts, play games, work on puzzles, read books, sleep in, have brunch instead of typical breakfast and lunch, and stay in pajamas all day.

But, I also love structure and routine, and an uncluttered house. Which is what this post is all about! Today I’m sharing the things I typically do towards the end of the holidays to take back the house and get back into routines.  And I’m sharing 8 tips to help you do the same! 

Tip #1:  Get up before your kids so your morning runs smoother

Your morning routine actually starts the night before the kids go back to school… as all good morning routines should. This is the time to get their backpacks ready with everything needed to go back to school (and clean out anything that wasn’t cleaned out on the last day of school before the holidays!). It’s also a good time to clean out lunch bags.

Make sure their homework, library books, indoor shoes, etc. are all packed. I forgot my kids’ indoor shoes one January (they’d taken them home to wear during the holidays). Poor kids had to stay in sock feet all day at school. Bad mom moment #486, but lesson learned. Those indoor shoes got packed every year after that so there was no chance of forgetting them in the morning!

Tip #2:  Start your morning routine the night before

The night before school starts, I always set out my kids’ clothes for the first day back and made sure we had everything we needed for lunches for the first few days. I also went through each part of our command centre and updated or refreshed it.

It’s a great time to update your weekly notes, review the kids’ morning routines with them, clean out all the file folders on the wall, and file any schoolwork pages that came home in December that didn’t get filed.

It always made the first morning back flow better when I did this the night before. The kids got pretty good with their morning routines and knew what they’d have to do on the first morning back to school after the holidays.

Tip #3:  Establish a morning routine for your kids

Having a morning routine established helps the kids remember what they need to do and make it second nature to them so there’s less complaining and grumbling about what they need to do to get ready for school.

What you include will depend on your kids’ ages, but when my kids were little ours included things like use the toilet, get dressed, brush their teeth, wash their faces, and brush/comb their hair before they come downstairs.

Once they’re down, my son got out the breakfast stuff (bowls, spoons, cups, cereals, milk, and juice) while my daughter fed the cat. I made their lunches while they ate. After they ate they put their dirty dishes in the dishwasher and put the breakfast food away.

Tip #4:  Build some “cushion” time into your morning routine

When all the getting dressed and eating breakfast things are done then my kids had some time to play or watch TV and I could tidy the kitchen. This was intentional. Would it have been nice to sleep a few extra minutes each day? Sure, but I always built in some cushion time for when things go wrong.  And thing will go wrong sometimes.  Like spilling milk all over themselves and the floor. That’s always fun.  But it’s not as bad if you’ve built in a little extra time to deal with it, instead of having to suddenly rush to clean up and get out the door on time.

OK, so those are some tips on getting back to routines. The other part of today’s unofficial holiday is taking back the house. Our homes can become overwhelming through the holidays. Things coming and going and being dumped everywhere. New gifts that need “homes”. Decorations that may or may not have been put away yet. Evidence everywhere of holidays that have been enjoyed (e.g. toys, books, games, etc. all over the house and a fridge that has been used more the last few weeks than it usually is).

I love having the house all Christmasy… for about 4-5 weeks. But the tree takes up a lot of space in our small house, and even though I put away a lot of our everyday decor during the holidays, we have a lot of Christmas decorations, so the house feels a little “busy” during the holidays. Once everything’s packed away, I feel like the house can breathe a little more again.

Putting all the Christmas bins back in the garage feels sad, but great at the same time.

But, before the house can completely breathe again, some cleaning and tidying needs to be done. It’s amazing what gets left in the wake of un-Christmasing a house (that’s a real word, right?!.)  Tables that were moved around have to be put back, extension cords need to be put away, tree needles have to be swept up (even from artificial trees!), dishes need to be returned from Christmas celebrations, gifts need to be returned/exchanged, etc.

Here are a few more tips get your house back to “normal”.

Tip #5:  Don’t worry if you didn’t stay on top of cleaning during the holidays – make a plan to get your house clean and tidy this week

I usually try to stay on top of some cleaning tasks during the holidays. My kitchen is always a disaster for a few days, but I usually take care of that at some point during the holidays. The bathrooms are always used more than usual with everyone home so much, but we manage to keep them fairly clean. 

What I don’t usually do during the holidays are things like vacuuming or sweeping or floor washing. With all the decorations, I don’t worry about doing any deep cleaning. And with guests and kids in and out all the time, there’s little point in cleaning the floors near the entry because they’ll just get dirty again.

So, with all the decor gone, and no one home, I take time in early January to vacuum the house and wash the floors and put everything back where it usually belongs. It’s a big part of taking back my house.

Tip #6:  Whenever you leave a room, take a few things with you that belong where you’re going

If you’re doing lots of returning things to their regular spots, because things were shifted throughout the house during the holidays, this tip saves a lot of time. I put a basket on each floor and as I see things that need to be relocated, I add them to a basket and take it with me when I go to another floor. Then when I make a return trip I take the empty basket back along with a full basket of items going to the floor I’m heading to. It saves time and stair climbing. Although, after all the goodies and treats and special meals I consume over the holidays I can always use the calorie burning.

Tip #7:  De-clutter before holidays so you don’t have to do it afterwards.  Mark that on your calendars now so you don’t forget next Christmas!  

One thing that used to stress me out after Christmas was finding “homes” for all the new gifts. Often when we took down our tree we’d be scrambling to put away lots of gifts that were still hanging out underneath it because we weren’t sure where to put them.

But once I started declutteringi before the holidays it was different!

• We put our new clothes away in our dressers/closets, which had space in them because we’d de-cluttered clothes before Christmas.  
• We played with our new games, puzzles, and toys, and then put them away in the games, puzzles, and toys spaces in our house, which had space in them because we’d decluttered toys before Christmas. 
• We watched new DVD’s and played new video games and then put them on the entertainment shelves, which had space on them because we’d de-cluttered entertainment before Christmas.

See a pattern? I can’t believe the difference it made to have space to put away new things once we started doing this! At one point my kids, who finally understood the “one-in-one-out” rule, asked if they had to give away an old toy/book/game/puzzle because they got a new one. But because we did our de-cluttering before Christmas, they didn’t have to!  Happy faces all around. I highly recommend it for future holidays!

Tip #8:  Put away gifts gradually throughout the holidays to avoid an overwhelming pile afterwards

You don’t have to have a full-out “it’s time to put away all your Christmas gifts” push. Several years ago we started to just put away a few things every day, as we used them, or as we headed from the main floor to the basement or upstairs. Much better than the overwhelming feeling of having to put everything away all at once. 

You may not be able to implement all 8 of these tips right now, especially since some of them are things you’ll need to do before next Christmas.  But, set reminders in your calendars for mid-November, so you can remember to do them early, which will make “Take Back the House and Get Back to Routines Day” easier next year.

If you didn’t de-clutter before Christmas and you can’t find places for gifts received this year, apply the “one-in-one-out” rule now to make room for the new items.  If your home is feeling extra cluttered, you can even purge more so you start establishing de-cluttering habits early in the new year!  (You can even follow my 31 Days Easy of Decluttering series or join the 365 Items in 365 Days challenge to start off the new year.)

If you’ve got a busy day today or week ahead, set aside some time each day to follow one of these tips and by the end of the weekend you’ll have some routines set up and you’ll have taken back your house!

And if you’re snowed in or dealing with extreme cold today, enjoy your extended holidays and spending time with your kiddos. You can take back your house another day.

Which tip(s) will you use to get back to routines? How do you take back your house?

If you need help decluttering, contact me for in-person organizing services in the Mississauga area, or virtual organizing services anywhere else.

Happy “Take Back the House and Get Back to Routines Day”! 

And happy organizing!