A mum’s post-Christmas clean-up routine sparked a heated debate after she shared a video of herself tidying up the “chaos” of the festive season.
Catherine Benson’s TikTok video showed her living room in disarray, with wrapping paper and board games scattered all over the floor. While her cleaning skills have gone viral, many viewers were left wondering why she was doing all the cleaning herself and why her kids weren’t helping out.
One user asked: “What is the reason you don’t require your kids to clean their own mess?” Catherine didn’t respond to this question, but did reply to another user who asked if she ever got tired of cleaning everything alone, saying: “No I prefer it. If and when I want help I always have it.”
The video has split opinion, with some people thinking Catherine is being too soft on her kids and others admiring her dedication to keeping her home tidy.
One user joked they were “thankful” to see another home in a similar state to theirs during the holidays, writing: “Thank goodness my house isn’t the only house that looks like this.”
Catherine expressed she finds the post-Christmas chaos rather charming, stating: “The after Christmas chaos is always beautiful to me I honestly don’t mind it… for a little while that is.”
The sentiment echoes through her subsequent messages, where despite other users admitting their anxiety peaks amid the holiday disarray, Catherine feels otherwise. She articulated her feelings by saying: “Call me crazy but the after Christmas mess has never really bothered me. It’s a reminder of Christmas morning I normally leave it a mess until the 26th.”
Sharing festive clean-up strategies has become an engaging topic among her followers, with several recommending the use of a large bin bag or box for discarded wrapping paper. One follower detailed their approach: “So we have a big box that we wrapped in wrapping paper that is our ‘trash can’ while opening gifts! That way, in photos, you don’t see trash or big trash bags in the pics!”
There’s a consensus on the idea of using a sizeable container for collecting used wrapping paper, and for some, tidying up serves as a source of gratification. While one person described the joy in compressing wrapping paper into a box as “For some reason I love squishing all the used wrapping paper in to one box like it’s oddly satisfying.”