For quite a few holidays, we’ve gone via the kids pickup at school.
I make them a packed dinner type thing, that I put in a cool bag in the fridge. That’s then the only thing perishable in the house, while I empty everything else out into either bin or freezer.
The evening before holiday I get the children to fill their little bags with the toys they must have, the bag is about the size of a large freezer bag so it’s usually some lego and a couple of action figure type things. The little bag then goes in with their clothes, so not to be brought out on the journey. They also choose books, which go in my carry on bag so they can read while travelling. They all have a backpack each and I find it easier to pack in that way, as everyone’s things are separated and don’t become a mass of stuff. It also stops me from overpacking as they won’t be able to carry more than they actually need.
For years I scrubbed the house from top to bottom and tidied like mad. Now we have a cleaner that comes while we’re away, I’ve substituted the cleaning part with having a massive clear-out. The anxiety about getting it clean has been replaced with anxiety about making sure there’s no excess crap that needs to go. I clear out every cupboard and have bags and bags for charity/recycling/bin over the course of days. It freaks me out how much stuff accumulates, despite me not being a big spender or particularly materialistic - but it just piles up. I knacker myself clearing before holiday, but it’s worth it to come back to almost another holiday. Clear house, clean bedding, no junk under the kids beds or old food in the cupboards.
I don’t know why I feel the need to always combine those two quite stressful things ie spring clean/clear-out plus holiday prep, but I just always do! This year we were all in need of new bedding. I’d got some in sales etc but kept it back for when we came back from holiday. It was so lovely coming home to new bedding, the kids loved theirs and were excited to get in bed. So was I!
I always put in one of those clear recycling bags into each person’s backpacks for dirty clothes. When we get home, the clear bags go straight by the washing machine, and the actual backpacks go straight back into the cupboard so no bags lingering around. If there’s a washing machine on holiday then I use it. It doesn’t make it feel like less of a holiday to me at all, and I love not carrying back tonnes of filthy clothes.
I always put zoflora down the plug hole before going off, and spray everything with fabreeze. I don’t normally like anything chemical-y, but figure we won’t be in there for a while so it’ll kill of smells without choking us all.
I ask the cleaner to turn and hoover all the mattresses too. I used to always do that before going away myself. Another thing I would do is make all the beds up fresh and then drape flat sheets over the top covering it all to protect from dust.
I get a food shop order for delivery while we’re away, but kind of on the way back, and ask my mum or the cleaner to receive it. If not possible, I order it for the morning after we get home and just grab bread and milk on the way home. It’s extra nice because everything’s then being put away into cleared out and clean cupboards and fridge. It’s nice having a food order you can add to while you’re away especially if you’ve missed certain foods, like Asian countries I really miss bread and cheese so order loads when we’re back, or Germany or Netherlands we were desperate for light and fresh salads because it’s quite heavy the food there. I remember being due to come back from Germany and going into my food order and removing sausages. I don’t think we ate pork for months after being stuffed with sausages over there!