The turkey bones are dry, the stuffing is gone, and all your guests have gone home after a great meal filled with family, friends, and football. Understandably, the last thing you want to do at this moment is clean up the dinner table, kitchen, and, really, the entire house. What you want to do is perhaps grab one more glass of wine and relax on the couch a bit. After all, you most likely spent days preparing and cleaning in anticipation of the Thanksgiving Day festivities, and you just want to sit quietly for a moment. Ok, the moment is over. Time to get cleaning. Here are a few cleaning tips from the experts at Anago Cleaning Systems that will help once everybody has gone home.
The more prep work before the big day, the quicker you’ll be able to clean when the big meal is over. Make a cleaning to-do list, and make sure you have enough cleaning products, storage containers, etc. Cleaning and sanitizing your refrigerator the week before will get you ready, so you’ll have more storage space for all the ingredients (especially the turkey) you buy in advance, as well as the leftovers you’ll have to deal with afterward.
When it’s time to clean up, get to it. Don’t procrastinate or put it off. Once you get going, you will get into a cleaning rhythm that will help propel you to finish the task. And make it fun. Put on your Thanksgiving Day music playlist and get jamming. Here’s another tip: place extra bags in the garbage can so you can pull a full one out and have another ready to use. This is also a good idea as you might need additional support if the first bag breaks or leaks.
Getting rid of Thanksgiving Day stains is the only horror of the holiday that we can imagine. Many different foods can go from the plate to the table to the floor quickly. Turkey gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, red wine, and other foods can soon become an issue if spilled on our tablecloth or, worse, your couch or carpet. As with any spills, act quickly! You should be able to pick up as much of the mess as you can with a knife (or flat utensil), then clean carefully depending on the item spilled.
For grease stains, blot the affected area with a paper towel, then apply dishwashing liquid. This will get you 98 percent there. Let the dishwashing liquid soak into the stain for a couple of minutes, then rinse (or run the item through the washing machine if possible). Continue to rinse and dab, then let it dry again without rubbing. Never, ever rub a stain. This only makes things worse, and it works it deeper into the fabric. Resist the temptation to rub!
Remember, there are other ways to accomplish clean-up after Thanksgiving. The best is to have guests help. Yes, that’s right! Assigning small tasks to several people not only creates another activity you can do together, but it gets the job done. You might be surprised at how quickly you all can clean and will most likely have some fun doing it.
