Post-Holiday Home Survival Guide: The Clean That Will Make You Feel Human Again

When I got back from my hometown last week and opened my fridge, I almost threw up.

Not figuratively. A fridge that’s been closed for a week but also opened who-knows-how-many-times during the holiday… the smell is something else entirely.

The May Day holiday just ended. I bet a lot of you are like me — you had a great time traveling, and now you’re back facing a home that desperately needs deep cleaning.

Today I’m skipping the philosophical stuff and going straight to the practical: which areas to tackle first, and exactly how to clean them.

Kitchen — ground zero. Start with the fridge.

During the holiday, your fridge was either opened a million times or not touched at all. Both situations are bad.

Step one: take everything out. Yes, everything. This is your only chance to actually organize the inside.

Step two: toss anything expired. No sentimentality here. I threw away a bag of opened hot pot beef that had been there for 20 days. My heart ached. But there’s no choice.

Step three: wipe the entire fridge interior with wet wipes, paying extra attention to the sealing strips and door handle crevices. Then put anything smelly back in sealed bags.

Bathroom — don’t ignore the drain and toilet rim.

The bathroom probably got more traffic than usual during the holiday, especially if you had guests.

The floor drain is the priority: shower drain and kitchen sink drain both need attention. There might be hair, debris, and things you’d rather not imagine. Use tweezers and paper towels to pull out what you can, then pour a cup of baking soda water down the drain.

Toilet rim calcium buildup: soak paper towels in white vinegar, apply to the rim, wait 10 minutes, then wipe gently. It comes right off — works better than the cleaning products you can buy.

Living room/bedroom — the AC filter is the main event.

The weather started getting warm during the May Day holiday, and some of you might have already turned on the AC. But the AC filter has been sitting there collecting winter dust for months. You have no idea what’s on it.

Take it apart and look — I bet your face will look exactly like mine the first time I did this.

Rinse the filter with plain water, using a soft brush. Don’t use dish soap — sometimes that makes it worse. Let it dry completely before putting it back.

My actual time for all three areas: two hours on a weekend afternoon. Done.

No need to buy a bunch of cleaning products. Just three things: baking soda, white vinegar, dish soap. That’s it.

Start when you get home from work today. Don’t wait until the weekend. The longer you delay, the less you want to do it. That’s human nature. Can’t fight it.

— Su Xiaonuan, writing from Chengdu

Your turn: What’s the most disgusting thing you found in your home after the holiday? Fridge? Bathroom? Leave a comment — I want to see if anyone has a worse story than mine.