Ahhh…. it’s the most wonderful time of the year…. right?
Christmas is a wonderful season for catching up with friends and family, eating good food, giving and receiving presents, and being generally happy and thankful. However, in the hustle-and-bustle to get your parties planned, gifts bought, and home cleaned and decorated, we can often get a little stressed.
Today, we’re going to give you a few pointers on making your holiday season a little less stressful, and a little more enjoyable.
Holiday party tips
One of the biggest issues is planning the party itself. Make sure you don’t procrastinate too long and leave yourself too much to do, and not enough time to do it. A great idea is to always carry around a little notepad in your pocket or purse, and every time you think of something that needs to be done, add it to your list. “A short pencil is better than a long memory”, and not having to worry about remembering everything will reduce a lot of stress. You should also think about ways your guests can help – maybe try having everyone bring one small item that will enable you to avoid the cost and hassle of having to pick up everything yourself. Most guests are happy to have something specific to bring so they don’t have to figure it out for themselves.
Keeping your kitchenware clean
How to clean glassware and remove hard water, lipstick, and coffee stains
For hard water and lip stick stains, wash your glasses in warm soapy water with a dishrag and add about a half cup of white vinegar to your water. If you soak them in the vinegar overnight that will help to loosen and remove the stains even more. Use a fine steel wool pad in the vinegar, and use it to scrub the loosened hard-water stains off your dishes and glasses. Rinse your dinnerware and glassware off with water and towel dry.
You can also use lemon juice and table salt to remove any remaining hard-water stains on your glasses or dishes. Mix equal parts of both together and allow the paste to stay on the surfaces for 10 minutes. Lemon is an effective hard-water stain remover and will help you clean off remaining stains.
How to remove burnt stains from pots & pans
One of the best things to use to remove “burnt stains” from pots and pans is Pepsi or Coke. Let is sit for a few hours (overnight is best) and the stains practically wipe off.
Lemons, salt and dishwashing soap are great for cleaning copper pans. Give them a good scrub with dishwashing soap, then take a half a lemon and pour salt on it, use it to scrub the copper, you will see the shine come through. Keep adding salt to the lemon as you clean.
Baking soda is another great remedy that most people have readily available. Baking soda on a damp sponge removes grease easily from stove, back splash, and more.
How to clean solid silver
Wash the silverware as soon as possible after use, quickly removing remnants of acidic foods such as salt, olives, vinegar, or egg yolks that can break down the silver. You may clean the flatware using warm soapy water, rinsing thoroughly and drying with a clean towel.
Line the bottom of a heat-proof glass or plastic dish with aluminum foil, shiny side up. Add 1 tbsp. baking soda, 1 tbsp. salt and 1 gallon boiling water and stir. Immediately put the silver pieces in the dish, making sure they’re completely submerged and touching the foil. When the tarnish is gone, rinse the silver in warm water, dry and buff with a soft cloth.
Another great silver cleaner is right in our own homes: toothpaste can remove tarnish from silver and costs a fraction of what traditional silver cleaners do. Rub the silver with toothpaste and run under warm water, working the paste into a foam and then rinse off.
We hope you found our party hints and cleaning tricks helpful! Happy Holidays!