Holidays and vacations are the biggest reason people change their cleaning schedule. If you want the basics of skipping or moving a single visit first, read How to Skip or Move a Cleaning Visit. This guide is about planning ahead for the busy seasons — Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break, summer trips and those long weekends at the lake.
With a little planning, the holidays can actually be the time your cleaning service helps the most.
The holiday rush is real
The weeks around Thanksgiving and Christmas are busy for everyone, including cleaners. People want their homes ready for family, parties and out-of-town guests. That means open slots fill up fast.
If you know you want an extra visit before a holiday, or you need to move your regular visit, tell us early. A few weeks of notice is ideal. The closer it gets to the holiday, the harder it is to find a time.
Before the holidays: make your visit count
If your regular visit lands right before a big holiday, it is a great time to add extras:
- Inside the oven before you roast a turkey or bake for a week straight.
- Inside the fridge to make room for all the food that is coming.
- Guest room linens changed so your visitors walk into fresh sheets.
- Interior windows and glass doors, which guests notice more than you would think.
- Walls and doors in high-traffic areas, especially the entry and hallway.
It is also a good time to move a visit a day or two closer to the holiday so the house is as fresh as possible when people arrive.
After the holidays: the reset
The week after a big holiday is when the house needs the most help. Pine needles everywhere, crumbs in every corner, a fridge full of leftovers and a guest bath that saw more use in four days than it normally sees in a month.
If you can, keep your regular visit right after the holiday, or ask to add one. It is one of the best feelings of the year to have the house reset while you put away decorations and get back to normal life.
Going on vacation
When you are leaving town, you have a couple of options:
- Skip the visit if nobody will be home to make a mess. The house will be just as clean when you get back as when you left.
- Move the visit to the day before you come home so you walk into a fresh house. This is a favorite for people coming back from a long trip.
- Keep the visit if someone is house-sitting or watching pets. Pet sitters still bring in dirt, and dogs still shed.
Just let us know your travel dates and what you would like to do. If your entry details change while you are away — a pet sitter using the lockbox, for example — tell us that too.
Lake weekends and summer trips
North Texas summers mean lots of long weekends at Lake Bardwell, Joe Pool or wherever your boat lives. If you are gone most weekends, a Thursday or Friday visit means the house is ready when you get back Sunday. If you come home with wet towels, sandy shoes and a cooler that needs washing, a Monday visit can clean up after the weekend instead.
Pick whichever fits your summer rhythm, and adjust when school starts again.
Spring break and school breaks
When kids are home, the house gets used harder. Spring break, winter break and summer vacation all mean more snacks, more traffic and more mess. Some families bump up to weekly during these stretches, then go back to every two weeks once school starts. That is easy to do — just let us know when you want to change and when you want to go back.
If your regular day lands on a holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas, we will reach out ahead of time to move or skip it. You can also tell us your preference in advance. Most people move the visit a day or two earlier so the house is ready.
Plan once, relax all season
The easiest approach is to look at your calendar for the next few months and send us every trip, holiday and break at once. Then you do not have to remember each one as it comes up. Our recurring clients across Mansfield, Red Oak and the south DFW area do this every fall, and their holidays go a lot smoother for it.
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Holidays and vacations do not have to throw off your cleaning routine. Plan early, add extras before big gatherings and move visits around trips so you always come home to a fresh house. See how recurring service works on our weekly and bi-weekly maid service page.