OVER the next few weeks, many families will be gathering around the Christmas tree and swapping presents.
If you don’t want to be finding pine needles until next Boxing Day though, here are some useful festive hacks – and they won’t break your hoover!
Unsurprisingly, many of us hate the mess that comes with a traditional Christmas tree.
With the pines often leaving needles scattered across the living room floor and drying up before the big day, it’s no wonder that most people have an artificial tree nowadays.
This is despite the Soil Association warning that fake furs create over ten times the amount of carbon, even if we use them year after year.
If you are hoping to make your Christmas a little more eco-friendly and even more nostalgic, there are easy ways to prevent pine needles from shedding.
According to Property Rescue’s expert Emily Barron, the best way to stop those annoying needles is to not take your Christmas tree indoors immediately.
Though it’s tempting to take it straight indoors, you should actually treat it like any other guest at Christmas and give it a drink – literally!
After removing the packaging, let your tree sit in a bucket of cool water before moving it to a shady spot, preferably outside, for a few hours.
Emily told the Daily Star that this helps your Christmas tree rehydrate after a car journey and will stop needles dropping all over your carpet.
Once this is done, you can shake off any loose needles before moving it into your home – ready for Santa to put the presents underneath.
This wasn’t the only sage seasonal advice she had though, with the expert sharing a few other helpful tips.
In order to stop needles dropping, you can also move your tree away from the radiator or heaters which stop it from drying out quickly.
For those with overexcited kids at home, you also might want to help them decorate the tree prevent dropping needles.
According to Emily, piling on too many ornaments can cause damage and also stops air from circulating around the branches.
If you aren’t hoping that Santa will bring you a new hoover this Christmas, there is a better method to clean up pine needles.
Thankfully, influencer @lukavala has shared her foolproof way of clearing your carpet on Tiktok – without using any specialised tools.
You’ll just need a rubber squeegee, which you can find a Dunelm for 80p, and then you can scrap those annoying needles into a pile.
Rather than clogging your hoover, you can then use a dustpan and brush to clear up the remnants of your Christmas tree.
Even more amazingly, you won’t have to take a trip to the dump to get rid of your tree either as councils will often collect them and use them for fertiliser.
You just need to check your local authorities’ website and you should be able to find collection times in the New Year.
Now, you can rock around your Christmas tree without worrying.
