Thanksgiving Hosting Cleaning Checklist: What to Do the Week Before

Thanksgiving Monday falls on October 12 this year, which means most of us are serving dinner on either the Sunday or the Monday. Either way, you have about a week.

The mistake almost everyone makes is leaving all of it until the two days before, then spending the Saturday scrubbing an oven you are about to fill with a turkey, while also trying to shop, cook and find the good tablecloth.

It does not have to go like that. Spread across a week, the cleaning is genuinely light. Here is the countdown we give clients who host, working backwards from the day itself.

First, Be Honest About What Guests Actually Notice

Before you write a list that covers your whole house, it helps to know where people actually look.

Your guests will see the entryway, the bathroom they use, the kitchen, and wherever everyone sits. That is essentially it. Nobody is inspecting your bedroom closet or running a finger along the top of your bookshelf.

So the plan below puts almost all of the effort into four rooms and lets the rest of the house wait until after the holiday. If you try to hold the entire house to hosting standard, you will run out of week.

The other thing guests notice, more than anything visual, is how a home smells when they walk in. More on that further down, because it is the part most people get wrong.

Ten Days Out: The Jobs That Cannot Be Rushed

These are the ones with drying time, soaking time, or a real chance of going wrong. Do them early and they stop being a problem.

Clean the oven. This is the single most important item on the list and the one most often left too late. More on why below.

Wash the windows in whatever room you will eat in. October light in Toronto is low and comes in at an angle, which shows every streak and every smudge. Clean glass makes a bigger difference to how a room feels in autumn than at any other time of year.

Deal with the floors properly. Not a quick mop. If you have carpet in the dining or living room, this is the moment to get it properly cleaned, since it needs time to dry. For hard floors, a full clean now means you only need a light pass before guests arrive. Our guide on preparing your home for a deep floor cleaning covers how to get it right.

Launder the linens. Tablecloth, napkins, tea towels, guest towels. Wash them now so you find out this week that the tablecloth has a stain on it, not an hour before dinner.

Sort your serving dishes. Pull out the platters, the good glasses and the serving bowls now. Anything that has sat in a cupboard since last Christmas needs a wash, and you will almost certainly discover you are two wine glasses short.

One Week Out: Deep Clean the Rooms That Matter

This is the main block of work. Split it over two evenings and it is very manageable.

The Kitchen

You are about to cook the biggest meal of the year in here, so it needs to start clean.

• Degrease the range hood filter by soaking it in hot water with dish soap
• Clear out the fridge completely, because you are going to need every shelf on the day
• Wipe down the inside of cupboards you will actually be opening in front of people
• Clean the microwave properly
• Descale the kettle and coffee maker, since Toronto water leaves buildup faster than most people expect
• Run a cleaning cycle on the dishwasher and clear the filter at the bottom, because it is about to run four times in one day
• Scrub the sink and polish the tap

The Bathroom Guests Will Use

This is the room that gets judged hardest, and the one where every guest spends a few minutes alone with nothing to look at.

• Full clean including the toilet base and behind it, not just the bowl
• Grout and any spots of mould around the shower or tub
• Descale the tap and the shower head
• Clean the mirror properly, without streaks
• Wipe the light switch, door handle and the back of the door
• Empty the bin, and put a fresh liner in
• Clear the counter down to almost nothing

The Dining Area

• Wipe the table down including the underside edge, where hands go
• Clean the chairs, particularly the seats and backs of upholstered ones
• Get into the seams of dining chairs with a vacuum crevice tool
• Dust the light fixture above the table, which is directly in everyone's eyeline all evening

The Living Room

• Vacuum the upholstery, including under the cushions
• Wash the throw blankets and cushion covers
• Dust everything above eye level, including the tops of picture frames and the ceiling fan
• Move the furniture and vacuum underneath
• Clean the coffee table properly, including any plastic or laminate surfaces that have gone dull

The Entryway

October in Toronto means everyone arrives in a jacket, so this small space is about to hold fifteen coats and fifteen pairs of shoes.

• Clear the closet so there is genuinely room for guest coats
• Wash both doormats
• Clean the inside of the front door, the handle and the frame
• Sweep and wash the porch or walkway
• Work out where wet shoes are going before people arrive, not while they are standing in the doorway

Three Days Out: The Details

The small things that make a home read as cared for.

• Dust the baseboards in the rooms guests will use
• Wipe down light switches, door handles and railings
• Clean the inside of the front hall closet
• Change the hand towels in the guest bathroom
• Check that every light bulb works, especially in the dining room and bathroom
• Empty every bin in the house so nothing has that end of week smell
• Clear the flat surfaces of paperwork, post and general accumulation

The Day Before: Light Touch Only

Do not schedule anything heavy for this day. You will be cooking, and the kitchen is going to get messy again anyway.

• Final vacuum and mop of the main rooms
• Wipe the kitchen counters down
• Set the table if you can, which saves twenty minutes of stress on the day
• Put out the guest towels and fresh soap
• Clean the toilet once more
• Take the rubbish and recycling out, and make sure you have empty bins and spare bags ready for the volume that is coming

The Morning Of: Thirty Minutes, Nothing More

Set a timer. Resist the urge to start a new project.

• Quick wipe of the bathroom sink, mirror and toilet
• Sweep the entryway
• Clear and wipe the kitchen counters so you are starting the cooking with clear space
• Empty the dishwasher completely, so it is ready to swallow the first round of dishes
• Fluff the cushions, straighten the throws
• Open the windows for ten minutes, even if it is cold, then close them

That last one matters more than it sounds. Ten minutes of fresh air before you start cooking makes the whole house feel different when people walk in.

Clean the Oven Now, Not the Night Before

This deserves its own section because getting it wrong causes real problems on the day.

Baked on grease from months of cooking is what sets your smoke alarm off halfway through roasting a turkey. It is also what makes the whole house smell like burning while your guests are sitting in it.

Oven cleaner needs hours to work, sometimes overnight, and the fumes need serious ventilation. That is not something you want happening the evening before Thanksgiving, in a kitchen you also need for prep, with windows open in October.

Do it ten days out. Then the only thing that goes into that oven is dinner.

If you would rather use something gentler than commercial oven cleaner, a thick paste of baking soda and water left overnight does a surprisingly good job on everything except the very worst buildup.

If You Have Overnight Guests

Family coming from out of town changes the job, because now a bedroom is in scope.

• Wash the bedding, and remember to wash the pillows too, not only the pillowcases
• Vacuum the mattress and under the bed
• Clear enough closet or drawer space that guests can actually unpack
• Dust the surfaces, including the window sill and the tops of the door frame
• Check the room actually gets warm enough, since October nights in Toronto get cold and spare rooms are often the worst heated in the house
• Put out fresh towels, and make sure there is somewhere obvious to put a suitcase

If your furnace has not been on yet this season, run it before guests arrive. A spare room that has been closed up all summer takes longer to warm than you think, and you want the dusty first heat smell out of the way before anyone is sleeping in there.

Make Your Home Smell Right Without Faking It

Here is where most hosts go wrong. They spray something floral in every room an hour before guests arrive, and the result is a home that smells like air freshener layered over whatever it was covering.

Guests notice that. It reads as a home hiding something rather than a home that is clean.

The better approach is to remove the sources first. Bins emptied, fridge cleared, drains flushed, dishwasher filter cleaned, laundry not sitting damp in a machine. Then air the place out for ten minutes.

After that, if you want scent, use something that belongs in a kitchen on Thanksgiving. A pot of water on the stove with orange peel, cinnamon and cloves does more for the atmosphere of a home in October than any aerosol, and it smells like something is being cooked rather than something is being hidden.

The Thirty Minute Emergency Version

If you are reading this the day before and none of the above has happened, here is the triage order. Do them in this sequence and stop when you run out of time.

1. Clean the guest bathroom completely
2. Clear and wipe every kitchen counter
3. Sweep and tidy the entryway, and clear the coat closet
4. Clear all flat surfaces in the living and dining rooms into one basket, which goes into a bedroom with the door shut
5. Vacuum the main rooms
6. Empty every bin
7. Open the windows for ten minutes

That is roughly forty minutes of work and it covers everything a guest will actually see. Close the doors on everything else and forgive yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should I start cleaning for Thanksgiving?

About ten days before. Start with the jobs that need drying or soaking time, such as the oven, carpets and windows, then deep clean the four rooms guests will use in the week before, leaving only light touch ups for the final two days.

What should I clean before guests come over?

Focus on the entryway, the guest bathroom, the kitchen and wherever people will sit. Those four areas cover almost everything a guest sees. Bedrooms and less used rooms can wait until after the holiday.

How do I clean my house fast before Thanksgiving dinner?

Work in this order: guest bathroom, kitchen counters, entryway, clear all flat surfaces into a basket, vacuum the main rooms, empty the bins, and air the house out for ten minutes. That takes under an hour and covers what guests notice.

When should I clean the oven before Thanksgiving?

At least a week ahead. Oven cleaner needs hours to work and good ventilation, and a greasy oven is what sets off smoke alarms while the turkey is roasting.

How do I make my house smell good for guests?

Remove the sources first, which means emptying bins, clearing the fridge, flushing drains and dealing with damp laundry. Then air the house out. Finish with a pot of water simmering with orange peel and cinnamon rather than an aerosol spray, which guests can usually tell is covering something.

Should I hire a cleaner before Thanksgiving?

It is worth considering if you are hosting a large group or have not deep cleaned recently. Book early, because the two weeks before Thanksgiving are among the busiest of the year for cleaning companies in the GTA, and last minute availability disappears quickly.

Book Your Pre Thanksgiving Clean

If the week before Thanksgiving is already full of shopping, cooking and getting a spare room ready, the cleaning is the part worth handing over.

Scrubishly is a fully insured cleaning team serving Toronto, North York, Etobicoke, Scarborough, Mississauga, Brampton, Markham, Vaughan and Richmond Hill. A pre holiday deep clean covers the oven, the floors, the bathrooms and everything on the week out list above, so you can spend the days before dinner cooking instead of scrubbing. If you are unsure which service fits, our guide to one time versus recurring cleaning breaks it down, and you can see what a clean costs before you get in touch.

Get a free quote and book your Thanksgiving clean online

The first two weeks of October fill up fast, so book sooner rather than later.

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