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How I’m Getting My Home Holiday-Ready With Two Hours, A Magic Eraser, and a Sweet List of Podcasts

Shifrah Combiths
Shifrah Combiths
With five children, Shifrah is learning a thing or two about how to keep a fairly organized and pretty clean house with a grateful heart in a way that leaves plenty of time for the people who matter most. Shifrah grew up in San Francisco, but has come to appreciate smaller town life in Tallahassee, Florida, which she now calls home. She's been writing professionally for twenty years and she loves lifestyle photography, memory keeping, gardening, reading, and going to the beach with her husband and children.
 publishedDec 14, 2017
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Hibernating with my family at home during the holidays is extra nice when the den is sparkling clean. And snuggling under a faux fur blanket with a mug of hot cocoa beside a roaring fire is justthat much betterwhen the bookcase to my right isn’t layered with a veneer of dust. Here’s how I plan to — pretty painlessly — get my home ready for ensconcing myself in.

I find that this time of year is the perfect moment for me to reset my space. A holiday-ready home, for me, means that, aside from routine cleaning, the grimy areas that don’t get much attention get some extra love. Most of these areas can be cleaned, and cleaned well, with a Magic Eraser.

First, I Need Some Entertainment

The satisfaction of making smudgy, dirty places look like new is its own reward, but tackling these spots in the whole house all at once can be a tad tedious without a spoonful of sugar. My Magic Eraser Cleaning Fest will be set to the background of my favorite podcasts, which at this time include:

Then, I Need a Plan

A Magic Eraser — aka melamine sponge — is just the thing to tackle the sort of top-to-bottom polish I’m after this time of year (and, by the way, the generic oneswork better比品牌)。

The places I’m going to dust and then “erase,” in top-to-bottom order are:

  • Door jambs附近的所有道路,但特别是在动物bodies rub and kid fingers curl
  • Light switches and light switch plates
  • Walls, especially near the kitchen eat-in table
  • Bookshelves(might not be as much use for the melamine foam here)
  • Baseboards(this will take the bulk of the time)

Some people can thoroughly enjoy themselves in a house that’s less than perfect — and it’s a state we should all be able to achieve. But for me, holiday sparkle includes the gleam from polished baseboards, and, honestly, getting our home this level of “ready” is a gift I like to give myself.

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