To ask....cleaning the house before going on holiday....

[CaramelEmporium]

Adding unnecessary stress or an essential pre-holiday task?

Optional. Hoover, bleach loos, empty bins, wipe counters. That's it.

I like coming home to a tidy clean house after work so I don't have to do much extra before going away as most things are usually done.

No but i do leave the place tidy, no mess and washing all done, put dishwasher on, empty bins and fridge/ beeadbin etc. Cleaner comes in in between times but if shes on holiday too its not a problem.

Not big on cleaning my own house all day long. Im too busy and so I'd rather pay a cleaner.

We would always make sure the washing up was done and bins emptied but otherwise there was often last minute packing chaos.

Now we usually have pet sitters so the house has to be tidy apart from our room where we dump everything else.

Essential. I'm away at the moment for a long weekend, not back until Wednesday and made sure the place was spotless before leaving. I'd hate to come back to mess.

Always.
But in total agreement with a PP, I leave my house the same way every day.
It doesn’t take me hours, everyone in the house keeps on top of little jobs so before I go to work in the morning I just clear up breakfast mess and load the dishwasher, have a quick hoover if it needs it (cordless hoover, takes literally one minute) tidy and fold the blankets on sofas etc.
Despise the thought of coming home to a messy house no matter where I’ve been.
I like my job but look forward to getting home every day to somewhere peaceful and tidy. I’d hate to know all day while I was at work that when I got home the house was a mess.
And I’m certainly no neat freak - I have 3dc and neither dp nor myself are naturally tidy people.
Our cleaner comes every week and while we’re on holiday though so she makes it even nicer to come home to.

I don’t clean before we go, but the Cleaner always comes whilst we are away 😀

Essential. I once nearly rang the police when I went round to water my sisters plants whilst she was away. It was such a mess I was convinced she'd been burgled.
My mum managed to convince me she always leaves it a shit tip

We have the cleaner pop in whilst we are on holiday so when we come back all we need to do is unpack.

Essential for me.

Essential! We go away for the whole school hols (teachers) and it's grim to come back to a dirty house after so long. Clean sheets, spotless floors, kitchen & bathroom are a must. Didn't have time to clean the fridge this time alas.

Every time

Yes to coming back to a clean house
Nowadays I arrange for my cleaner to come in but back in the day I used to stay up to the early hours/get up early to ensure all was tidy/clean before I went away

Seems like unnecessary stress when you're doing it, but actually essential!

I hate our house when we come home. It always feels so cluttered after a nice holiday house - so no, I don't now but I did when the DC were tiny.

Definitely an added stress but I always do it. Love walking into a clean house and that first night home in a clean bed!

I thought I was the only one who did this. I’m already planning on cleaning the carpet before I jet off tomorrow so it dries while I’m away

Never. Wouldn't occur to me to do it.

Absolutely essential, wouldn't enjoy the holiday if I didn't.

And I always leave dishes in the sink and in the drainer and the chopping board out. I also leave washing on the line. I read once that the police say don't leave your house looking like it's empty. But I do live in a dodgy area.

Essential for me, amd I'm far from a clean freak. I feed a friend's cat when she goes away though and she'll leave pots in the sink, wet towel on the bed etc. It would depress me knowing I had a mess to come back to.

I used to make sure it was immaculate. Turf folk out of bed to wash bedding, be hoovering and dusting while mentally counting down how long before we need to leave yada yada yada.

Then I realised that stripping the beds the day we meant, meant an extra 2 loads of washing to come back to. That when we unpacked the cases, they were usually full of sandy clothes that got everywhere, that the dcs would want their souvenirs (ie bloody tat) out to show visitors. That if ee were getting back really early or really late the dcs and dh would be home all the next day making mess.

So now I do my normal weekly clean the day before we go, wash and dry bedding and put it back on, empty the fridge and bin. Leave bleach down the loos but not sinks incase the bleach damages any seals or pipes. The beds are still clean after 1 sleep, I don't have a fuckton of washing to do and because I have emptied the fridge we go out for tea the night before.

Then I wash and dry the holiday clothes, get them and the suitcases away and then do a big clean when everyone is back at work and school.

I don't get as stressed, dh and the dcs dont get shouted at and my holiday starts the night before with a pub tea.

100% essential!
I didn’t do this once and when I got home from hols it was the biggest dampener on my trip.
Now I refuse to leave unless it’s spotless.

I have to as MIL is coming to house sit 😭😭😭

I like it to not be in chaos. Obviously do washing up, empty bin, clear fridge. But wouldn't change sheets or worry about it being perfectly clean. However we quite often have family or friends staying in our house when we are away so that means it has to be pretty good.

When we have a cleaner we have them in once while we are away.