Cleaning up after the silly season

The post-Christmas and New Year clean up can seem daunting, especially if your property has been the location of some large-scale celebrations.

Follow these tips before you start tackling your cleaning job, and your home, lawn or office will be sparkling clean in no time.

Tidy up your lawn

Outdoor parties and events may have left your backyard looking a little worse for wear. If your patio has been tarnished with black marks or scuffs from excess traffic, you may want to consider concrete cleaning to get it back to its best. Hire a concrete grinder to help ensure this process is as quick and easy as possible - and while you're at it, why not give your driveway a quick polish?

If you've let your lawn or garden grow over this period, now's the time to get stuck in and clean it up before the weeds take over. Consider sprucing this space up with some fresh plants while you're at it, either in established gardens or brightly painted pots.

Take part in Oosouji

Oosouji is the Japanese version of spring cleaning that occurs as a new year tradition. Its purpose is to welcome in the new year with a clean, clutter-free home, which is believed to welcome the gods into the home with respect.

Get the whole family involved in Oosouji and give the entire house a thorough clean from top to bottom. Equip the kids with dusters, tackle the oven and stovetop, wash the windows inside and out and sort through all your excess clutter.

This job can take hours or even days to complete, so consider breaking it up into smaller portions. You could approach one room at a time, or focus on individual jobs such as vacuuming and scrubbing.

Store your Christmas products

Save yourself a world of stress next Christmas by ensuring you store fairy lights, baubles, ornaments and wreaths as sensibly as possible.

Wreaths can be stored in specially designed containers, or you can simply wrap them in rubbish bags and hang them in a safe spot so they don't get crushed.

Nothing spoils the thrill of putting up Christmas lights quite like a tangled set, so make sure you store all your lights separately. Wrap strings separately around a piece of cardboard or wrapping paper tube, then pack in bubble wrap in a clearly labelled box.