Essential Christmas cleaning hacks from the ‘Queen of Clean’ Lynsey Crombie to make the festive season easier

Christmas is the busiest time of year. Not only do you have a whole lot more shopping and cooking to do but there is all the cleaning up to tackle as well. There is cleaning the house before guests come to visit then tidying up when they have left. Of course, there is the dreaded washing up to do after the big Christmas day lunch which lets be honest after that big delicious meal no one wants to do. No matter how much you try to avoid it, cleaning up needs to be done. 

But don’t worry ‘Queen of Clean’ Lynsey Crombie is here to help you with her best Christmas cleaning hacks. These tips will help you feel like you're doing less cleaning and leaving you with more time to enjoy the festivities. Lynsey Crombie is a cleaning expert who has featured on ITV daytime show This Morning and has written books with her best cleaning tips. Her insights promise to bring comfort, joy, and a dash of her signature 'cleaning sparkle' to every corner of your home.

What to do with Christmas Tree Pine Needles

As beautiful as real Christmas trees are, if you have carpets and have tried hoovering the needles up, you’ll know the only time they ever seem to come out of the carpet easily is when they are stuck in your feet! Plus who wants to get the vacuum out for a few stray needles. Duct tape is the answer! Simply wrap around your hand two or three times, sticky side out, and use to remove them quickly and easily.

4 Simple steps on how to polish up your silverware 

Don't spoil delicious Christmas dinners with tarnished silverware. 

• Make your cutlery shine with a bicarbonate of soda and salt.
• Lay your silverware in a bowl of warm water and sprinkle in a good helping of both
• Leave soaking for 15 minutes.
• Dry and buff using a lint free cloth. 

The Dreaded washing up! 

Who has time for scrubbing dirty (possibly burnt) pans over the Christmas period? You can rescue them quickly and save yourself lots of scrubbing time by adding in used tea bags. Wet the marked area with warm water and pop in your used tea bag. Enjoy your dinner. Then once finished eating, simply pour away and the burnt bits will disappear before your eyes.

Oh No there’s chocolate on the sofa!

What’s Christmas without a tub of your favourite chocolates to hand?  It's Quality Street for me, but whatever your choice they can often end up squished into your sofa. To stop this happening, chuck throws over your sofa before your guests arrive but if you are too late...

• Scrape any solid excess off quickly with the back of a blunt knife.
• Dab the stain with cold water (hot water will cook it into the fibres).
• Add a drop of liquid laundry detergent to a cloth and gently rub into the stain, do not work in a circular motion instead dab up and down. 
• Use a fresh damp white cloth to blot dry, I always suggest white because this way you can see the stain being lifted away. 

Lynsey Crombie is the UK's No1 home expert, best-selling author and This Morning's expert. For more tips & tricks from Lynsey please follow Lynsey on Instagram @lynsey_queenofclean and Facebook Lynsey Queen of Clean