Festive season cleaning checklist for Cape Town homes

November: book and plan

• Decide when guests arrive and work backwards.
• Book your window clean and spring clean now. Cleaners across the Western Cape get busy from early December.
• Declutter cupboards and spare rooms so the deep clean can reach everything.
• Check the garden hose, outside taps and plug points will be available on the day.

First two weeks of December: the big clean

This is the sweet spot. The house is clean before visitors, but not so early that it's dirty again by Christmas.

• Windows inside and out — including sliding doors, which take a beating from beach sand and braai traffic.
• Deep clean — kitchen, bathrooms, skirtings, light fittings, inside the oven and fridge.
• Guest rooms — dust, fresh linen, clear the cupboards.
• Patio and braai area — wipe down outdoor furniture and glass balustrades.

The week before Christmas: top up

Keep this light: bathrooms, kitchen, floors and a quick wipe of the glass people touch most (the sliding door to the pool or garden). If you're hosting a big lunch, a regular clean two days before is often all you need.

Plan around the public holidays — 16 December (Day of Reconciliation), 25 and 26 December — and confirm cleaner availability around those dates early.

Between Christmas and New Year

Houses with a steady stream of guests, and holiday homes in Strand and Gordon's Bay, benefit from a short clean between stays. Focus on bathrooms, the kitchen, bins and fresh linen.

January: the reset

• A once-off clean after the last guests leave.
• Windows again if you live on the coast. A month of sea air and sticky fingers adds up.
• Offices and shops: a deep clean before staff return. See our shutdown and reopening plan.