Easy Ways to Clean Up After Halloween
Cleaning up after Halloween messes shouldn’t be the scary part of Halloween! Make sure to have a few items on hand for all of your Halloween mess needs. A quality all-purpose cleaner should be on available at all times when preparing for Halloween crafts. It can also help to keep a carpet stain remover ready for any spills. Some of your residual Halloween messes may find their way to the bathroom when you are done. Make sure to also have a bathroom magic cleaner on hand to handle these messes! Being prepared can save you so much time!
Let’s Start with Prevention
One of the best things you can do before starting your Halloween decorations is to do a bit of mess prevention. This might mean laying down painter’s plastic before carving pumpkins, decluttering and dusting areas before decorating, or emptying the sink before starting Halloween treat making. Spending a few minutes of preparation before taking on your Halloween projects can be a big help to preventing bigger messes! Even better, many of the prevention methods will require little to no time. This will mean you can have more time for Halloween fun and we have a few tips for you!
- Tip 1: Start by cleaning your workspace/decorating area - One of the biggest issues when cleaning up Halloween messes is dealing with messes that were already in place before decorating. Take some time to clean up the area you plan to work in of dust, clutter, and other things that would cause bigger messes later.
- Tip 2: Put down a barrier for messier crafts/projects - When doing crafts with paint, glitter, spider webs, or other messy items, it can be easy to spill things and make bigger messes. Taking the time to put down a barrier will protect surfaces while making cleanup quick and easy.
- Tip 3: Empty the sink and counters - If you are going to be preparing Halloween treats or working on projects using the kitchen, take some time to empty the sink and counters of mess and clutter. Use an all-purpose cleaner to wipe down any stuck-on messes.
Cleaning Common Halloween Messes
Even with prevention in place, it can be easy to make Halloween messes. Paint spills, pumpkin seeds fall on the floor, and crafting supplies can take over spaces. Cleaning up after Halloween crafting and fun can be simple with a few simple steps. This will help you to avoid stains, larger messes, or damage to an area that might come from those messes. Here are a few great ways to clean up after popular Halloween messes.
- Tip 4: Pumpkin seeds and their insides - Carving pumpkins for Halloween is a time-honored tradition. Removing the insides to prepare them for this tradition is definitely the less glamorous part of the process. If pumpkin insides get on clothing or the carpet they can easily stain. For clothing, you will want to rinse with water immediately and wash with stain-fighting laundry soap. For stains in carpets, use a carpet stain remover when the pumpkin is spilled to help safely clean your floors.
- Tip 5: Glitter, glue, and paint - Crafting during the spooky season can be a great way to spend time together. It can also be a perfect way to end up with glue in the carpets, glitter on everything, and paint fingerprints on the walls. Don’t let it stress you out though! For the carpets, a carpet stain remover will do the trick. For the glitter, a lint roller is your best friend. Don’t let those walls stress you either. With the wall cleaning bundle, you can have those walls washed in no time!
- Tip 6: Yard décor and debris - When working on decorating the outside of the house it can be easy to get overwhelmed with yard messes and end up frustrated. You might find yourself looking at your gutters closer than planned while hanging lights or see your siding with new eyes as you set up your spooky decorations. Windows might even need a facelift so that window décor can really be the star. For the gutters and siding, we recommend the clean gutter bundle. To make those windows really shine use an all-purpose cleaner and microfiber cloths to give them a fresh clean look!
What About Those Halloween Pranks?
Another thing that is a time-honored tradition for Halloween is the pranks that some will play. There’s a chance your house could get toilet-papered, egged, or your kids could take a prank inside the house a bit too far. While these pranks are well-meaning, they often leave behind messes that don’t are truly scary. The good news is cleaning them up doesn’t have to be scary. Here are a few simple tips for cleaning up after Halloween pranks:
- Tip 7: Toilet Paper - Toilet paper can be an innocent prank item until it gets wet. Wet toilet paper becomes a different kind of monster and is very difficult to get off as it hardens. Using the clean gutter bundle can help you to get this stubborn toilet paper off of the side of your house or out of the gutters.
- Tip 8: Eggs - A broken egg that has dried is not a simple clean up but it’s not impossible. Spray with an all-purpose cleaner and let sit for up to 30 seconds before using a microfiber cloth to wash it off of the surface it is stuck on.
- Tip 9: Prank messes - There are a variety of other messes such as flour that has spilled, paint that is in the wrong place, or even silly string or gum that finds itself stuck on surfaces or walls. For flour, use a vacuum to pick up as much as possible and try to avoid liquid cleaners at all costs. For paint, it can help to use a carpet stain remover or all-purpose cleaner depending on the surface. For items such as silly string and gum, start with a product meant to remove goo easily and then use an all-purpose cleaner to remove any residual mess.