We’re back from our crazy wedding road trip… and by the time we arrived home last night, I think Dave and I were just as tired as Nora was! It was a really fun {but really busy} five days — and although it actually went much better than I anticipated, I’m still glad to be home again.
As much as I like preparing and packing for a vacation, I like unpacking even more. I love coming home, restocking our fridge with groceries, putting everything away, and plowing through laundry. I know, I’m a sick woman!
However, one thing I DON’T like to do when I come home is clean the house. I want to walk in the door to a relatively clean home (dusted, vacuumed, bathrooms cleaned, dishes washed, etc). I don’t want to have to clean the house on top of all the laundry, grocery shopping, and unpacking.
So if I can help it, I always make sure to clean the house thoroughly before we leave for any type of vacation.
Of course, our kitchen is still a dusty, dirty mess; but we have the kitchen partitioned off from the rest of our house… so the rest of our house was still very clean when we arrived home. I washed all the laundry (including the sheets), cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed, and mopped the hard floors the day before we left. Then when we arrived home, everything was clean, organized, and welcoming.
Am I crazy?
Maybe, but it sure feels great come home after a busy family vacation and know that everything is nice and clean!
Do you share my obsession with cleaning before your travel? Or do you just save it all for when you get home?
Shelley says
I though I was crazy until I read this articule. I also clean the house, do laundry, clean the fridge before I go on vacation. I really hate to come home and find a mess. I am so glad I am not the only one.
Ree says
I also do the tidy house thing (and clean sheets if I’m able to).
While on vacation, I’ll do laundry while we’re away if I can. It’s nice to only have one or two days worth of dirty clothes when we get back.
Donna Wright says
I always clean before ai go anywhere for more than a day. It is my treat to myself to come home to a clean house. My husband thinks I am crazy but sometimes he will take the time to help.
Stephanie says
This is great advice,
While I don’t go on a cleaning spree before a long trip, there are a few areas I do pay attention to and make sure are caught up before traveling and those are the things that tend to get worse if left alone 🙂
– Laundry
Dirty laundry will get musty over time sitting in the hamper. Add a 2 week vacation to clothes that have already been in the hamper for a while, and it’s going to be hard to get the odors out of your clothes.
– Kitchen
Get rid of stuff that’s out of date or will go out of date before you return. Give the kitchen a quick cleaning. Make sure all the dishes are done. If you have a disposal. right before you leave, you can throw some lemon into it to knock down odors.
– Bathrooms – quick scrub and leave bleach in the bowl (just remember to flush when you get back)
– General – make sure all the trash is taken out. Cut off the hot water heater (in case there’s an unexpected problem with the water while you are gone) Set thermostats – in spring winter and fall, you should set the heat at 40F rather than completely turning it off, so that if there’s unexpected cold weather, it shouldn’t get cold enough to freeze pipes.