Cleaning up after holiday celebrations can be exhausting. It can feel like a chore, especially for seniors putting away decorations themselves - which can also be dangerous. For instance, the Centers for Disease Control states that 1 in 4 seniors aged 65-plus has reported falling in their homes this past year. Climbing a ladder for those hard-to-reach decorations can be intimidating, especially when seniors live alone or have balance problems.
Falls aside, cleaning after the holidays can be safe, organized, and fun. Who isn't all for easy cleanups?
Make Holiday Cleaning Safe
Arguably one of the least thought-out strategies is how to clean safely after the holidays. Avoiding falls, back pulls, and keeping those drop-in viruses from attacking the status quo, usually takes a back seat to "throw everything in its box and put it away as quickly as possible." Seniors may want to check out a few other strategies like chunking out cleaning time and effort, getting some help for the high places, and easily wiping away pesky germs.
Chunk Out the Chore
If there's time, it's easier - and safer - to chunk out holiday cleaning for several days. This strategy allows seniors time to destress naturally and enjoy holiday decorations a little longer.
Enlist High-Level Help
If local family or friends helped decorate, ask them to help take down any decorations that require a ladder to reach. It won't take them long. Cookies rewards can thank them for their time.
Wipe Away Germs
Whether seniors have had a houseful of family and friends or just spent the holidays alone, it's flu season, and keeping germs at bay is the top priority. Keep cleaning supplies by using a germicide to wipe down decorations and surfaces around the home.
Make Holiday Cleaning Organized
Making a list and checking it twice makes holiday cleanup easier. It's also satisfying to cross tasks off the list! Totes with write-on lids, reducing cleaning supplies to one-handy wipe, and placing holiday decorations in the same place each year helps seniors stay organized, especially when they live in a home with limited space.
Use Smaller Totes With Lids
Cardboard storage boxes can break down over time. Investing in easy-to-carry totes with lids allows for moisture-free storage and easier labeling. Make sure to have a sharpie handy to write tote contents on the lids. Better yet, see-through totes with write-on lids may be the ticket during the holiday season. Clear totes give a clear view of what's in them for easy decorating in later years.
Store Decorations in the Same Place
Seniors who have downsized over the years probably store holiday decorations in the same place each year for space reasons. Keep it up unless you've accumulated more decorations. Get rid of consistently unused decor by giving them to family and friends with handwritten notes they will cherish.
Cleaning and Disinfecting Surfaces
Many visitors can make a home feel like a revolving door over the holidays. It's also a haven for the trifecta of Covid, RSV, and flu viruses. Germicidal wipes need surfaces to dry after wiping them down. Most germicides kill 99.9 percent of surface bacteria, use no bleach, and disinfect in two minutes, with the Norovirus killed in as little as five minutes. Most containers contain 75 wipes, are easily stored, and cost around $6.99.
Make Holiday Cleaning Fun
Cleaning can be a chore unless seniors put themselves in a fresh mindset to make it a fun wrap-up to the holiday season!
Add Music to the Mix
Make cleaning up pleasurable by listening to some favorite tunes while sorting through the holiday decorations and boxing them up. If bound in by the weather, choose your favorite summer tunes. If still in the holiday mood, choose the sounds of the season to elevate the spirit. Singing (and dancing) along are great stress relievers and elicit memories of happy holidays past.
Make It a Movie Day
Invite a few friends over. While cleaning up from the holidays, order some favorite pizza and watch a movie together for fellowship.
Are You Game?
Seniors often enjoy having a friend or two visit for a sleepover. Music, movies, cards, dinner, and homemade breakfast can make cleaning up creative and fun.
Ask for Help If You Need It
If you don't have anyone to help with the post-holiday clean-up and find that it will be too much for you to do alone, call Senior Helpers of the Alle-Kiske Valley. Our professional caregivers can take down seasonal decor and clean up for maximum relaxation after the holidays. Contact us if a helping hand is needed. We cover the Indiana, New Kensington, Pittsburgh, and Kittanning areas.