AIBU we leave on holiday tomorrow morning and …

Leave the DH to it he’s a grown up

God no don’t leave them to it unless you want to leave at 12 tomorrow. Teenagers are always like this. I used to go in and sit on the bed and suggest we do it together. Works a treat, they’ll do anything to get rid of you.

@Fitasafiddle1

book shopping?? Just get them from
Amazon hun! And why does the car need to be washed??

Let them sort themselves out!

I am so torn between these two methods
A Just get it sorted now or tomorrow will start with drama.

B if they aren’t ready go alone and enjoy!

but as I get older I more and more tend to veer towards "what are the compensatory features " of the person driving me round the bend .
So ,if they are generally loving ,kind ,good fun ,show appreciation and this is just a small annoying habit I'd go for option A .
If not ...option B

what happened ?

Same.

We’ve just returned from a week in Spain and I started packing at 8pm the night before we left at 4am for our flight!

“Last calls to family”? It’s a holiday, not your last night on Death Row.

Genuinely amazed that 92% of people feel it’s a problem not to have packed anything at 7.45pm for a holiday that starts at 8am the following morning. How long does it take people to pack a suitcase? If I’m getting a suitcase packed for a morning start, I do it just before I go to bed. It only takes half an hour, surely?! Especially for a UK holiday.

am assuming OP is ready to go.

I completely agree with you - except that i would have had one family meeting when the arrangements were finalised and explained, once, to everyone what the hard deadlines were.

I am a boarding school kid with Packing Trauma. I never pack for ANYONE else, and never have. Poor DH did all of it (to be fair, only for him and the DC, all the family, general stuff i did slightly more of it than he did)

I think this list does definitely make sense.
i would definitely have some kind of hair/ mani / pedi/ eyelash tint/ eyebrow shape and wax type beauty time before going on a main overseas hot holiday.
… And definitely a small shopping trip to get something new!
In the past my cleaner used to come whilst I was away so she didn’t drop wages, now I don’t have one, I definitely clean before going as I want to come back to a nice house.
I alter any deliveries that are regular to come before or after like pet food.
Definitely water plants.
Depending on when traveling I would also do a specific wash beforehand so everything clean and in cupboards to make packing easier.
Prob wouldn’t bother with car unless taking it with me.
Actual packing is quite quick.
Food shop for return I would do on the app from holiday. I’m always a bit rubbish at planning trips and excursions whilst I’m there so I don’t do that in advance 😬 as want to go with the flow but often then feel like we’ve missed out - so am going to do this in advance too!

LOL - you've done a good job with the kids OP.

Mine are younger, but I also expect them to be able to pack for a holiday/weekend away with no input from me, and they've got pretty good.

Ex never managed it.

On the other hand it’s easier because there’s no restriction on how much you can bung in the car.

I decided a while back that if I stuck to just navy, yellow and white, packing was so much easier. Everything went with everything else. Absolutely simple.

Mine does tbh

I absolutely LOVE packing. I spent a whole afternoon last weekend packing for going away this weekend. I enjoy planning outfits and laying them all out. It’s almost like a hobby (I go away a lot) and have many systems in place to facilitate it. I realise I’m not the norm in this respect though.

Shower, dressed, shut the house down, check and think about passports/charge leads etc. Sounds reasonable to me. I'd rather be at the airport with coffee than rushing.

Tell them you are rolling off when the pips go at 8 and actually do it.

My Dad used to drop my sister off for her job at the station on his way to work. She used to reduce him to tears of frustration with her lateness until he started giving her an actual time (07:20) and synchronised watches.

She was never ready and went nuts at him over and over and he repeated the rolling off at 7:20 over and over until she got her act together. It was a long and protracted process but he was being driven batshit crazy with her antics.

It’s now just 0800… I hope you’re about to drive off. Happy hols!

You have a dh problem.

Did you make it on time?

Looking promising
this too sends me up the wall.
DH always packs about 11.30pm the night before and always has a grumbly moment when he realised he forgot to pack xyz. Had tears when ds forgot a phone charger once

the hard work I.e packing the shared stuff, self catering stuff, bins, clearing out the fridge etc never gets a look in by anybody but me

Why did you let your DH gaslight you, OP? You say you’ll show him the texts later but why does he think it’s ok to pretend it’s all news to him? One to think about.

Whatever about your teenagers, your husband would make me lose my mind.
Gaming while you’re cleaning the fridge and emptying the bins? Sorry, no.

Then denying that he knew/you informed him of schedule. Weaponised incompetence.

I think packing for a UK holiday is worse than abroad because the weather is so unpredictable.

Lol - I'm not stupid, I fully understand the theory. I have a list (multiple in fact depending on the type of trip) on an excel spreadsheet. It's just the practice I'm terrible at. I have no idea why as in most other areas of my life I'm efficient and detest faffing. It's a blind spot. I think it's the decision making - specifically which tops/dresses/shorts etc do I take? I don't even own that many clothes, especially not summer holiday ones.

However this thread has inspired me to improve and pack for my upcoming short European trip in minimal time.

Hope you are almost on the road OP!!