Messes are a natural part of holiday gatherings. Between hands reaching across dining room tables, overloaded kitchens, and tipped glasses of various bevies, spills and stains are inevitable. That said, these moments don’t have to be stressful.

“Get your planning and prepping done early, if you can,” says Dionne Livingstone, a cleaning expert at Home Spritz. 

If you’re hosting, she suggests cleaning out your fridge and oven before guests arrive so everything is in order before the chaos begins. Close the doors to the rooms you don’t want guests in, deep clean your powder room, and focus on tidying the areas where most people will be gathering. But once it’s time for dinner, pause your well-intentioned cleaning.

“Overall, don’t stress about it,” says Livingstone. “The dishes can wait; go sit with your family and enjoy your meal.”

Once it’s time to give your home the post-Thanksgiving washdown, you’ll want to have these tips handy. Here are Livingstone’s expert-approved tips for cleaning up three common holiday messes.

1. Grease on your stovetop

Grease spills on your stovetop are no match for you! Simply wipe your stovetop with warm water, a microfibre cloth, and dish soap (Livingstone recommends Dawn Powerwash Dish Spray) to remove the spill. 

“It’s not too often that you’ll have to break into a heavier degreaser,” says Livingstone. For a glass stovetop, use a specified glass cleaner or something similar, like VIM.

2. Grease drips inside your oven

Whether your turkey, potatoes or any other delectable dish is dripping into your oven, you can typically spot-clean these messes with an oven cleaner. “Oven spills don’t always require a full oven clean,” says Livingstone.

That said, if your kitchen starts filling with smoke or your oven is coated in cooked-on food, take advantage of your oven’s cleaning function. If you have the setting, a quick cycle should do the job. 

Don’t forget to remove your oven racks and clean them separately. Livingstone suggests wiping them down with a pumice stone to remove stuck-on food.

3. Stains on your tablecloth, fabric napkins, and clothing 

Stains from red wine, gravy, and cranberry sauce are perhaps the most frustrating mess of all. In a pinch, you can use a spot cleaner—such as a Tide Pen—to remove a small mark on your top or tablecloth. “But if we’re talking about grease that’s going to sit on the table for the next 24 hours, you likely need something stronger,” says Livingstone.

Her solution? Enzymatic cleaners. These sprays gently break down common stains (like wine and grease) and leave the fabric like new. 

For fancier fabrics like silk and satin, Livingstone suggests using hydrogen peroxide, lemon, or white vinegar to remove stains. Gently pat (not scrub) the stain to remove it.

In general, make sure you’re using cold water and following the laundry instructions of clothing and tablecloths for optimal results. And though these methods are expert-approved, Livingstone stresses that if you dropped gravy on a nice new shirt or spilled wine on your white couch, time is of the essence. “Any kind of staining that can be attended to quickly, should be,” she says.
 

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