Thanksgiving 101: A Guide to Keeping Your Home Clean on the Big Day

Can you believe next week is already Thanksgiving? Yes, soon you will eat your weight in food with friends and family, watch lots of football, and take part in festive games.

I gave you some tips to get your home ready for Thanksgiving and other holiday get-togethers a few weeks ago (you can find them here: https://conta.cc/2XZytqq). Your home surely won’t stay clean if you’re planning on anyone taking part in Thanksgiving festivities. You, your household, and your guests should feel comfortable in your home, but messiness makes that difficult.

Not to worry! I’ve got some tips for you to defeat that dirt before it becomes a problem, and together we’ll banish your Thanksgiving blues!

Space Your Tasks Out

Give yourself some wiggle room, maybe a week, to complete your tasks. You are doing this in order to keep your home clean during your Thanksgiving celebration, but that doesn't mean you should only clean as the day progresses. Besides, you’ll be too busy cooking on Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving Eve to squeeze in big cleaning tasks right before guests start arriving (or before your household sits down to eat).

You’ll need the extra time for your bigger tasks, like moving furniture in the rooms you’ll need to vacuum or deep cleaning the guest bathrooms. Thanksgiving and the day before will be the days you do smaller tasks — like polishing dishware and faucets, and emptying the dishwasher. You’ll also use the days before Thanksgiving to check the work you already have done, so you can make sure you are thorough without stressing yourself out.

Clean As You Go

You will do your heavier cleaning through the week before Turkey Day so you don’t have too much to do while you cook...but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to do anything.

You don’t want your cooking mess to overwhelm you; the mess will make you focus on it, and it'll keep you and your guests from feeling joyful. Wash your dishes while you’re cooking as you notice them piling up. If you spill cranberry sauce on the counter, wipe it up (you’ll need more than water to do so, because cranberry sauce gets sticky). Keep a trash receptacle (a can or a bowl) by you to put turkey or vegetable trimmings in while you cook.

You’ll want to eat and have good times with your family/guests, so why add something major to your already-brimming plate (that’s not food)?

Check and Double-Check Your Bathrooms

Even if you’re only planning a short Thanksgiving affair, your guests will spend some time in the bathroom. That’s inevitable.

Because we spread germs in the bathroom, it’s important to focus on thoroughly cleaning yours a week in advance. I already said that you should give your bathroom a deep cleaning, but look the bathroom over periodically to ensure everything is still okay. Remove smudges from your bathroom mirrors on Thanksgiving Eve. On Thanksgiving morning, remember to put new hand soap and towels in their appropriate places for your guests.

Make Room in Your Fridge

After a hearty Thanksgiving dinner, one game I hate playing is Thanksgiving Tetris. You know the one, and you’ve likely played it too: you look for spaces in your refrigerator to fit in the leftovers that no one can bring home with them, and sometimes you have to put the food in weird positions. It’s a profoundly frustrating game, and you shouldn’t have to play it.

To get yourself to the day’s more enjoyable festivities quickly, clean out your fridge (and spare fridge/icebox) a few days beforehand. What you keep in your refrigerator(s) should reflect the amount of food you plan to have and your household’s needs. For instance, you won’t need to completely clean out your fridge if you’re cooking for 4 people, but you’ll need to get rid of that leftover fried rice you'll never eat.

An added perk of cleaning your fridge for Thanksgiving: you can get what you need when you’re cooking without rooting through old leftovers.

Let Everyone Do Their Part

Cleaning up for your Thanksgiving celebration will be hard work, and it will feel impossible if you plan on doing it by yourself.

I’m not insinuating that your guests should clean your house; your guests are there to spend Thanksgiving with you, not clean for you. Anyway, you will have already done the big cleaning tasks, so there won’t be a need to ask them.

Your guests should clean up after themselves, within reason. Place trash bags in the rooms where there might be spillage, so your guests don’t feel like they’re going out of their way to throw away their paper plates.