Clearing the Table Quickly

There are many great things that come from having friends and family over for dinner, and unfortunately there are also a few bad things. Perhaps the largest of these problems is how often the dinner table is stacked to overflowing with dishes, pots, pans, serving dishes, and trays. The reason that this is a problem is readily apparent when dinner is over, and everyone wants to go into the other room to visit. What do you do? Leave the dishes alone and visit with your friends and family, allowing the dishes to become even more difficult to clean; or, perhaps, learn a few tricks that will make clearing the table quickly an easy task.

• Everyone helps. The best way to go about clearing the table quickly is by making sure that everyone helps. If every one that sat down at the table all took their own dishes in, then that would reduce at least half of the work right there. If you are having an informal dinner party or simply have some friends and family over, it is not out of line to request that everyone take their plates into the kitchen. All it takes is about thirty seconds worth of work, and then they can go onto other things.
• Work smarter, not harder. Once all the dishes have been removed from the table, you can still find yourself faced with a bunch of items to remove. Typically these will be things like pitchers, casserole dishes, pots, pans, serving trays, and so on. While you can always remove each item individually, why work harder than you need to? If you don't have one, invest in a serving tray like those that are used at a restaurant, and you will be able to remove several items from the table at once. If you don't have one of those you can always use something like cookie sheets, or cutting boards. Either way, the goal is to work smarter, not harder.
• Assign a "task" to each family member. Another effective method for clearing the table quickly is to give each member of your family a pre-assigned task. This way when the meal is complete, everyone can simply get up and begin working on their "chore." For example, you can have little Sally pick up all the silverware, while Bobby gathers the plates and your significant other gathers the drinks, and you gather the food. By assigning a task to each member of the family, not only will the work get done quickly it will also ensure that no one feels like they are having to do all of the work themselves.