You’ve created a lovely tablescape, cooked all day long, organized and planned the whole evening down to the kids’ activities and when to open which bottles of wine. Everyone has a great time and you have truly hosted a magnificent party… now you have to clean it all up. BOOO! [for the record… I offered to help last night and you said no]
There are some things you can do prior to hosting to help your post party clean up, but we all know that no matter how much you do ahead of time the clean up is another process itself. Here are some of the things I do and use to help prevent a breakdown, and to have a clean house before you head to bed.
Organize Ahead
Do the damn dishes (earlier in the day) – make sure your dishwasher is empty and ready to take on dirty dishes. This will help with at least your first load of dishes. For those tough to clean dishes that are hand washed and larger, I use Dawn Powerwash Dish Spray, just spray and rinse a few minutes later, it helps reduce the amount of scrubbing you’ll do on those bigger dishes later.
Line the trash can – throw in three trash bags layered over each other then as you fill up all you have to do is take the bag out and you’ve got the next one ready to take on the mess. This will help as the day/evening is going on so you’re not constantly managing the trash. [this actually sounds like a great hack for everyday life – because i constantly forget to put a new bag in and dump something in the empty can]
Set your table and plan your dishware – not only should you set your table ahead of time but take out all the dishware you want to use and put sticky notes on them with what will go into each. This will allow others to help you without losing your vision and also prevent you from digging around for that one white platter.
Clean Up Crew
To help manage your clean up, here are some of my go to products that have cut down the clean up time (allowing me to enjoy one more glass of wine before bed) and also allow me to delegate responsibilities to everyone else 🙂 [again… you said no]
Mr. Clean Clean Freak Spray – this not only smells great but will tackle all your counters and stove top within minutes. It breaks through tough messes and also lifts counter stains like turmeric… because this is a constant thorn in my side.
Swiffer Two-in-One – this one thing will tackle both wet and dry needs for your floors. You no longer need multiple items to tackle one wood floor mess.
Dyson V8 Animal – if you ask my husband he’ll tell you that my form of therapy is using this one vacuum. [same here – I vacuum constantly and this is my favorite gadget] It is the BEST gift I’ve gotten and I love to use it…. any time of day. For clean up it’s amazing – lightweight, has multiple cleaning heads, and isn’t loud and bulky. Find a great black friday deal and do yourself a favor and buy this. You’ll thank me later!
What are some of the things you use and do to help tackle the hostess cleanup job?
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