Having your family and friends over for the winter holidays can be a blast—but the state of chaos your home is left in afterwards often feels anything but festive. Whether it’s a Thanksgiving meal or overnight visit, holiday hosting can be messy, and knowing where to start when tackling a reset of your entire space is difficult.

To help ease the stress, we spoke to a CleanTok creator known for her viral closing shifts and cleaning routines, who shared six of the most important spots to focus on when cleaning up after guests.

Decor and Dinnerware

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the post-holiday mess, content creator Rosa Picosa recommends starting simple and tackling the cleaning and putting away of your holiday hosting essentials to ensure everyday surfaces are left clear and ready to clean.

“Nice dishware and serving platters, linen napkins, and large food storage containers aren’t needed in your everyday life, so properly storing them following your holiday events can go a long way when restabilizing your home,” she says.

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Kitchen Cabinets and Surfaces

One underrated pro tip from Picosa? Pause before putting your holiday serveware back, and use the opportunity to wipe down your already-emptied shelves, the insides of kitchen cabinets, and any corners you may normally neglect during your weekly cleaning routine throughout the rest of the year.

She also advises using a multi-purpose cleaner on the dining table and any kitchen islands, breakfast bars, or china cabinets right away, as these areas see much more activity than normal over hosting season, and are prone to building up food residue, water rings, and collecting crumbs when guests come to visit.

The Entryway

We all know how important setting up a warm, open, and welcoming entryway is for a great first impression when guests arrive, but Picosa reminds us this area is equally as important to clean after they depart.

The space surrounding your front door often acts as the spot for wet, snowy, and muddy shoes and coats to come on and off and be stored over long holiday weekends, so washing bench cushions, dusting console tables, and thoroughly vacuuming and mopping are all key steps in the reset.

Handles and Light Switches

There’s no denying visitors bring holiday cheer, but unfortunately, they can also bring germs from traveling and dirty or sticky hands when dining, which tend to build up in the frequently-used areas around your living space, such as door and fridge handles, remotes, and backs of chairs.

“Walls, light switches and other high-touch areas can also pick up scuffs, smudges, and fingerprints that may stand out once your company leaves,” Picosa says. “Remember to also wipe down the sinks and faucets, light switches and toilet flush handles.”

Kitchen and Bedroom Linens

While you make sure the surfaces and floors around your home are clean, Picosa recommends multitasking and running the necessary loads of post-hosting laundry before they can accumulate and impact your household’s regularly scheduled weekend clothing washes.

“Launder your tablecloths, runners, and linen napkins before you put them away for the year,” she says. “Then, collect any used towels, strip the bedding and sheets, and wash all your guest linens to truly reset the space.”

Guest Bedroom and Bathroom

Once daily areas such as the kitchen, living room, and dining room are feeling fresh again, Picosa emphasizes the importance of resetting the spaces your guests spent their stay in—whether that means dusting a nightstand, deep-cleaning a sleeper sofa, or disinfecting an en-suite bathroom.

“You may not use these areas of your home frequently, but the guest bedroom and bathroom are the most important spots to clean before guests arrive,” she says. “So, it’s best to treat them the same way after guests leave.”