HGP Family Room Week

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Miss JoDee

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Apr 22, 2011
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Gurnee, IL

Holiday Grand Plan Week 10: Family Room​

Focus on the family room, this week in the Holiday Grand Plan. Prepare for an organized Christmas!
Holiday Grand Plan

Moving into the heart of the household, it's Family Room Week Holiday Grand Plan!
The family room is the heart of the home, and never more so than during the holiday season. We'll clean and organize this central area of family life as we begin to think ahead to holiday visitors.
In holiday prep, we'll celebrate Halloween, then recycle autumn decorations to look forward to Thanksgiving. Keep working on those gifts!

HOLIDAY PREP​

  • Make one batch of Holiday Goodies.
  • Make one extra meal for freezer again labeled HOLIDAY MEAL.
  • Buy two canned food items from menus (get 2 of each item, one to use and one to donate to food drive).
  • Buy 1/8th of TO BUY gifts. Save all receipts, note return policy before buying. Ask for gift boxes.
  • Wrap and label packages. If needing to ship, get some shipping boxes now and store packages in them.
  • Work at least 1 hour a day on homemade gifts.
  • Take down Halloween decorations. Put up Thanksgiving ones.
  • Polish silver; clean glassware (baking soda & water). Put candleholders in freezer to help remove wax. Alcohol removes stains from candles.
  • DO NOT shampoo carpet - partying people spill things.
  • Clean/clear library/front hall closet so there will be room for guests' coats. Give unwanted coats to charity. Store other stuff in attic in empty luggage.

Family Room Cleaning List:
Since the Family Room is much like the Living Room, consult the notes from that week as well, to be sure we haven't missed anything! Here goes!

Start by washing the outside of your windows.

Take everything down off the walls, take down curtains etc. Wash, vacuum or dry clean as needed.

Sweep ceiling corners and other nooks in the room - tops of doorways, windows, arches, bookcases, etc.

Wash inside of windows and sills. Polish and touch-up stain on wood

Re-hang window coverings.

Take cushions off furniture, vacuum thoroughly. Vacuum cushions, checking for wear and turning as needed. Spot treat any stains or shampoo furniture as needed.

Wooden furniture and anything with drawers: Empty, sort, and throw away what you don't really need. Put the rest where it really belongs. Dust/Polish the piece you're finished with, repeat as necessary. Do shelves the same way

Baseboards - dust or wash as needed touch up scuffs on wood or touch up paint on painted surfaces.

Clean the TV screen. Dig out and sort all the accumulated electronic equipment--games, tapes, camera parts, wires, connectors, etc. Put everything where it belongs and get rid of the rest. (I stash things for a few months in the attic and if they don't miss it then I can dispose of it as I please!) If something doesn't work, take action--if it is worth getting fixed then decide when it can be done. Otherwise just liquidate it now.
 
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Miss JoDee

MHH Member
Premiere Member
Apr 22, 2011
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Gurnee, IL
Since I am out town this week taking care of DGDs not much will be happening. I do plan to shop for a slip cover for my family room sofa. It was mom's and has some faded fabric and it is out dated fabric at that. Sturdy furniture though.
I did clean the room just before the plan started but it won't hurt to revisit it. I am also ordering an area rug for the room too. It will not take too long.

I have been going some pictures of last year's decorations and planning what I would like to do this year. I am hoping to do it in a way that after the holidays I can keep some of it up through Janurary. For instance: My stair rails will be green garland, pine cone picks and snowflakes. For Christmas I will have green, red and white tipped pine cones. I will pull the red and green ones and leave the white ones for the month of Janurary.
 

Lori K

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Nov 13, 2018
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Illinois
Thanks, Jody. My family room is connected to my kitchen, but I treat it as a separate room when it comes to cleaning. Need to get the following taken care of --

  • baseboards (Carpet cleaning scheduled for Nov. 15th; will do baseboards when furniture has been moved to clean the area rug; no sense in moving furniture twice.)
  • window blinds
  • windows and patio door (inside)
  • organize end table drawers
  • organize and inventory liquor cabinet; determine what needs to be replaced for the holidays (and dump a bunch of wine that is well past prime. Found out from one of the wineries I used to purchase from fairly regularly that their wines are all low-sulfate. While that's good when it comes to hangover prevention, should you have one too many glasses, they also told me (when I pressed them for info) that shelf-life is probably 6 months for prime, before it starts degrading, and no more than a year, 18-mos. max. I've got some bottles that are 8-10 years old. It's gotta go, not even chancing it!
UPDATE: Dumped about bottles of wine and a case of 3-year-old beer that had been in-cooler out-of-cooler multiple times. Still more to go.
 
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sweetpumkinpye

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Apr 23, 2008
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For some reason I am all mixed up. I am doing the kitchen this week. A few more days and I will be done and then I will revisit a few hot spots.
 

Myron's Mom

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Jul 1, 2018
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I’ll be tying up lose ends this week. I finished my cleaning last week. Gifts are pretty much all wrapped. And I have one batch of cookies yet to bake.

I started my exchange cards and hope to get them done this week. Carpets will be cleaned the end of the week.

My husband wants me to make an ornament for his new massage therapist. I have some leftover fabric I had cut so I need to decided on a pattern and get busy.
 

sweetpumkinpye

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Apr 23, 2008
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Canberra, Australia
I just need to write Christmas cards and wrap my Mum's gifts. Finished the kitchen yesterday so the HGP is officially finished for me. Will revisit hot spots this week and make notes in my planner for next year.