How do you leave your house before you go on holiday?

[AJOC]

I'm the sort of person who has to come home to an immaculate house! Clean bed sheets, hoover lines, mopping us out of the house sort of thing!
DH really doesn't mind how the house presents when we return! He thinks mopping us out of the house is an unnecessary stress added to the already stressful task of packing for a family of 4.

Just curious to see if anyone else shares my passion for a deep clean before going on holiday or am I OTT and should help more with the loading of the car and come back to whatever state the house is in lol

My mum and neighbour shared the cat feeding duties so I did a full- on clean, plants watered, bleach down loo. Mowed and edged the lawn, too, as both are keen gardeners.

We remove anything from the fridge that might go off, empty bins, and check door locks (obsessively) but no special cleaning, I’m too busy thinking about what we might have forgotten to pack. Definitely check the toilet though, after that time when we returned after a week to discover one of the kids hadn’t flushed his last wee before leaving 🤮

I always bleach the toilets and leave it clean as I can.

I like to leave the house clean and tidy- so change the bed sheets the day before and a general clean, get all washing and ironing up to date, empty fridge etc. Would never have have time to 'mop us out of the house' though- concentrating on making sure I have everything packed, pets sorted, and house is secure and safe- all lights/taps/appliances swithched off/ windows locked etc. etc.

I think YABU, by the way, if your DH is having to wrangle four kids and you’re not helping because you’re cleaning the skirting boards or whatever.

Definitely tidy with clean sheets, my cleaner comes in on Wednesdays whether I’m at home or not so it’s always clean to come back to.

I’m the same. Thorough top to bottom clean of the house, clean sheets on the beds, fridge cleaned and bins emptied. Bleach down the toilets and all laundry etc put away. I like coming home to a clean house and empty wash basket.

One year DH went back into the house just before we set off to use the toilet after I’d bleached it!!! He then refused to tell me if he’d added more bleach after he had flushed - had me stewing in the car on the way to the airport thinking about it 🤣

We make sure it’s clean and tidy - just the usual really. It’s lovely to come back to a clean house.

We leave it tidy and clean. We also leave the 2 adult kids there so even if we left it messy, they'd tidy up. Wouldn't think of sweeping or washing a floor though.

Tidy, clean sheets if I have time, make sure dishwasher is empty. I do turn all appliances except fridge freezer off.
I usually end up with washing in the washing basket half full. And sometimes some an ironing pile.

I'm a bit of a slattern, but my lovely neighbour comes in to feed the cats and water the plants, so I do pull my finger out before we go. I definitely enjoy the benefits of coming back to a nice clean house, but that's very much a bonus.

I mop us out too even when we go out for the day as it is the only chance for the floors to stay clean for more than 5 minutes.

Tidy but I arrange for the cleaner to come while we are away

Are you stripping the beds and washing the linen in the morning before you go away?

If I have time to prep properly I'd make it immaculate and hoover and mop us out the door. But if it's been particularly busy in the run up before leaving I just make sure the basics are done. Bin empty, washing up done, bed stripped.

We're leaving at 04:30 tomorrow morning. There is no way I'm changing 4 x beds and mopping/ hoovering us out of the house.

Bins emptied, washing up done, hot water switched off. That is it.

Hang on, so ‘mopping us out the door’ isn’t just a mildly lunatic individual quirk of the OP, it’s a mildly lunatic quirk shared by quite a few people? My mind is blown. Everyone else is sitting in the car with the suitcases on the roof at some godforsaken hour in the morning, and the mopper is carefully backing down the hallway obliterating his/her own footprints till they get to the front door, raise their arms triumphantly and lock it?

And I still want to know what the moppers do with the mop. Do such people keep a small specialist mop cupboard just inside the front door?

I’m not. Sheets changed on a Sunday here. Sheets changed on a Friday evening if we’re going away. DC has psoriasis and the creams and lotions used means that sheets really do need a wash after a week’s use.

I work full time and am also studying a full time course in part time hours, home life has to be organised or it doesn’t happen, packing is usually finished the weekend before.

Spotless.

Everything wiped, dusted, washed, vacuumed and mopped.

All beds with clean sheets. Clean towels hanging in the bathroom.
Fridge cleaned out and emptied.
All laundry washed, dried and put away.

I change the beds and take the dirty sheets with me to wash while we're away.
I don't want to come home to a pile of washing.
And the whole house is cleaned and hoovered.

Depends on time of departure and arrival.
Last holiday we left home around 4 so plenty of time to wash and dry bed clothes and we arrived home at 11am so time to put them on the beds. It was nice to let the mattresses air.
If we had been arriving home late I would want the beds ready to fall into

I use a flat head mop with disposable floor wipes. Mop goes in cupboard under the stairs and I wipe down the hallway with floor wipes on my hands and knees. Then dispose of the wipe in bin outside when im done. Id be mortified if someone walked in to find a mop and bucket 🤣

I'm so unorganised that I couldn't possibly think about doing house work in the lead up to a holiday. I struggle with day to day stuff due to autism and ADHD so if I manage to pack instead of sitting starting into space for 6 hours the day before we leave I am doing well

It blows my mind that anyone would take dirty washing away on holiday with them! I guess life would be boring if we were all the same 😂

This is batshit and I can’t tell if you’re joking!!

4 beds worth would half fill a case! Do you then pay hotel laundry costs to wash it, or only go to places where you have washing and drying facilities?