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

[CaramelEmporium]

Adding unnecessary stress or an essential pre-holiday task?

Running upstairs to bleach the loo before locking up the front door and jumping in your car to go on your holibobs is such a mumsy thing to do

Yep, mid pre-holiday clean here. DD is currently hoovering her bedroom. I've just cleaned out the fridges. I'm about to bag DH to empty the kitchen bin and leave bleach in overnight. We don't go until Tuesday morning but we are leaving early so all needs to be done by tomorrow evening really. Have people coming in to feed animals so need to leave it decent!

Essential! I clean the house, do all the washing/ironing, tidy, mow the lawn, clean the fish tank out, change the beds, etc!! The holiday unpacking, piles of laundry & post holiday blues are all I can cope with when we get back!!

Wow! Never occured to me to clean home beforengoing away. It gets dusty anyway??
Plus wouldn’t have the time to do it beforehand.

Normally I would have it vaguely tidy. Unfortunately a hangover yesterday meant we have left and it's not in any way tidy. Lol!

I remember being driven mad by my mum stressing about cleaning before we went on holiday. She'd be cleaning light fittings and all sorts.
We empty the fridge and bins, clean bathroom and kitchen and get all the washing baskets empty. Dh mows the lawn so we don't come back to a forest. I always cook a meal for when we get back and freeze it too. We vacuum every day anyway so don't do an extra vacuum round or anything.

If we were going abroad and would be arriving home late I'd make fresh beds etc but we don't do that. We mostly do weekends at IL's holiday home or 4 nights in the same country. The last day of the holiday is for nothing but getting up, cleaning and going so we're back for lunchtimeish. If we go away for more than a weekend I strip beds, wash and hang out before we go and 'air' the beds while we're gone. I tidy and clean bathroom/ toilet etc. When we get back DH will take the kids out and I'll open every window and the back door, even in winter, make beds, hoover, polish and quickly clean round the bathroom. It takes about an hour because it's tidy when we get back so it's just the settled dust so to speak. Then have an online shop delivered and just chill out for the rest of the day in my clean house! If the bedding us left on it doesn't feel like fresh bedding to me, I don't know why!

I have a house sitter who comes and stays to look after the dogs, and I get my cleaner to come in the day before we're due home. I would hate to come home to a dirty house.

100% essential. Even if we are away for one night. Fully stock up the coffee machine and freezer too.

I like to come home to a spotless house clean sheets and just relax.

And the poster with a lodger who left food out and an unflushed toilet I hope you got rid!

Washing up done and away, kitchen given a good wipe down, clean sheets if possible and toilet bombs, bleach and harpic. An acquaintance took this to all new levels, as her family were sitting in the car ready to go she went into the house and dusted and hoovered throughout.

Absolutely essential.
The way I see it, coming home from a lovely holiday is depressing enough without having to clean your house too!

House swap so have to. Get a team of cleaners in and I work alongside them takes about 3 hours. Worth it for free holiday tho

We have a cat/house sitter (paid) so make sure things are clean and tidy but despite our protestations she insists on cleaning too. She's early twenties the daughter of DM's colleague and lives in a share house, we say she's welcome to have her boyfriend stay and I think she likes playing house, so to speak. We always leave cash for emergencies and she's taken to making sure we've got milk and bread etc for when we return . I'm not going to complain, last time there were fresh parties from the bakery too, she's a star!

I do all of these things except clean sheets! If you go on holiday very early in the morning-surely you don’t change the bedding then?

So even if you change them the day before, they’ve all been slept in once?

A nice idea in theory, rarely happens in our house.

I do the basics for hygiene obvs, but we’re usually last minute enough with the packing without adding a huge clean on top.

I really hate packing.

Oh this is something my dh insists on. I kinda think it gets dirty while ur gone as long as it's fairly tidy! To be fair though i do appreciate when I get bk and I come in to a nice looking house (maybe wee bit of dust). I don't appreciate it when I'm trying to pack and stressing!

We have a cat/house sitter (paid) so make sure things are clean and tidy but despite our protestations she insists on cleaning too. She's early twenties the daughter of DM's colleague and lives in a share house, we say she's welcome to have her boyfriend stay and I think she likes playing house, so to speak.

I suspect you're being naive.
Does she do basic clean after herself or more?

I never knew this was a thing until I read about it on mumsnet.

Never cleaned as part of holiday prep.

Always, but tend to wash up and clear surfaces before I go out unless running late anyway.

But clean sheets, clean rooms and clear surfaces are the minimum when going away as it's so nice to come home to a clean house.

I alway's clean the house and change the sheet's

In an ideal world I like to, but I’ve learned not to stress over it, because otherwise I just started my holiday feeling exhausted and unwell. The biggie for me is getting all the laundry done (as I bring enough home with me!) dirty dishes washed, and any perishables thrown out. Anything else is a bonus.

Why put bleach down loos and put plugs in sinks?? Answer meeee

I keep a clean house anyway and hate it smelling, is hoover, change sheets, change bin, put everything away and give the surfaces and bathroom a quick wipe