Let’s face it… we all need a working toilet, especially when your house is full of family and friends during the holidays.

In this Angie’s List Report, we tell you how to avoid a toilet mishap during the busy holiday season.

The job of your toilet is pretty simple, but the problems it causes are not.

"Plumbing is one of the most requested categories on Angie's List. Some of the common requests we hear are for fixing running toilets, overflowing toilets and clogged toilets,” Angie’s List Founder Angie Hicks said.

Before your toilet starts working overtime during the holiday season, it's a good idea to make sure everything is flowing smoothly. If you don't want to call a plumber, there are some tests you can do yourself.

"A great way to find out if your toilet is leaking and you are wasting water as well as money is to take a small amount of food coloring, put a couple drops in the tank. Leave it over night and in the morning when you wake up without anyone using the toilet over night, see if that color has appeared in the bowl of the toilet. If that is the case that means that your flapper is leaking,” plumber Russell Hertaus said.

We know you can't predict a plumbing disaster so if something goes wrong during your holiday celebrations, you can make some quick fixe so your party doesn't completely go down the tubes.

"In the event you do have a catastrophe and your toilet is beginning to over flow, you immediately want to shut that water off to that fixture. That will contain the water and keep anything from additionally coming out of the toilet,” Hertaus said.

It's also a smart idea to have a good relationship with a plumber. That way if you do have a plumbing disaster at the last minute, you already have a plumber you trust to call.