5 Quick Clean Up Tips for When
the Guests Are Gone
The guests are gone, the family is all in the living room hanging out and you are left with a mess to clean up. If you are anything like me, I tend to get my feelings hurt when this happens. How can they just stay in the living room and not realize there is so much to clean up? And why do they not jump up and help? Don’t they hear me slamming dishes into the sink? Does this sound like a familiar scenario? Over the years I have realized, they are not doing it because they don’t care about me or about the kitchen that needs to be clean. They just have not been asked to help. Over the past 28 years of marriage, I have learned these 5 quick clean up tips for when the guests are gone.
The realization is…
They just have not been asked to help. This 99% of the time the problem. Your family doesn’t want you in the kitchen cleaning just as much as they do not want to be in the kitchen cleaning. Here are some quick clean up tips I have learned that will even get your family helping.
5 Quick Clean Up Tips For When The Guests are Gone
Tip #1
Before the guest arrives, make sure all your dishes that you used to prepare the meal has already been washed and put up. You can do this as you go during the prep time or have one of your children or husband help you do the dishes. This is not just loading the dishwasher, run the dishes and put them up if you have time. Now your sink and the dishwasher is ready for the after party dishes.
Tip #2
Do less amazingly. When you have a gathering, you don’t have to have 10 different dishes. Do 5 dishes that are good and the guest will not care that there is not a buffet of food items to choose from. With you doing less of a variety, you will have fewer dishes to wash. You might have larger dishes to wash but I think that is somewhat easier to clean.
Tip #3
Keep a stock of Rubbermaid or Tupperware containers available. As soon as you can, place the leftovers into containers and put them away. This frees up counter space for smaller items. Usually, the dishes that the food is in needs to be soaked or scrubbed. The quicker you get them soaking, the quicker you will be done.
Tip #4
Take the garbage can or scrap pail to the table with you. Don’t make several trips back and forth from the table to the garbage. If you have the garbage can or scrap pail with you, then you can scrape all the dishes and stack them to carry into the kitchen.
Tip #5
Load the dishwasher with all the plates, cups and saucers. You will use your space more wisely if you load these items first. They take up less space and you can get more of them in the dishwasher than large serving dishes. Fill in the open spaces with the larger items. Run the dishwasher immediately to make sure the dishes don’t sit too long.
Involve your family
Each one of these tips, your family can do. Ask them to help. They can also, take out the trash when you finish, they can wipe down the table(s), and sweep the floors.
Don’t fume in the kitchen and get mad the longer you are in the kitchen by yourself. Ask for help and get out of the kitchen faster.