7 Tips on Cleaning Up after Family Meals

If your dinnertime's are anything like mine in our house, I’m sure you will agree that even a monkey’s tea party creates less mess than two young children.

Spills, dribbles and even the occasional throwing of food (OK, its every day at ours) can lead to eating sessions destroying your carpet, home and mental health.

Here are my 7 simple tips to make the clean up a little less stressful -

• Put a plastic tablecloth or an old plastic shower curtain under the highchair for easy cleanup. Or spread out a section of newspaper and pull off one page after each meal (wrapping the crumbs inside). For those stains that somehow still manage to hit the carpet, I find carpet cleaners, specially ones that have stop clean attachments are great.

• Unless you’re hosting a party or want to impress your in-laws, there’s no need to use a fancy tablecloth for dinner. Choose to use a tablecloth that’s machine washable or one that can easily be wiped down when the plates are cleared. The same goes for cleaning your place mats – the easier those are to clean, the faster clean up duty will go!

• Place a plastic or metal highchair in the shower and let hot water spray all over it for a few minutes. Caked-on food wipes off easily.

• I like to clean as I go, this may seem like an obvious one, but it’s easy to forget when you’re whipping up dinner. As the onions are sauteing, or you’re waiting for water to boil, try to clear away the pots and pans you’ve already used. Same goes for clearing the table, I use an empty basin to clear the table, this means everything is in one compact space instead of all over the kitchen.

• Use the same pot you boiled pasta in to heat sauce after you've drained the pasta. Use the same cutting board to slice bread, then chop veggies and then prep meat (but never the other way around!). Pour liquid ingredients into the same measuring cup (assuming they're all going in the same dish). Or, even better, estimate amounts when you can and eliminate extra measuring utensils altogether.

• Let everyone do something. Have one person wipe the counter, one rinse the dishes, one load the dishwasher or wash the dishes and one put things away. Even my young children get jobs, CC is great at clearing the table and Cassi will give his hands and face a clean with a flannel I have given him, and chances are he will also give the table a little clean with it too.

• Have a little order of how you clean up, I find if I work my way through my list I am more efficient.

If you're exhausted, it's okay to put the clean dishes, silverware and glasses away in the the morning. If you loaded silverware into the third rack, it will take practically no time to put it away.

This is the time to pour yourself that last glass of wine—you’re done.