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

I clean before we go. I like coming home to a clean and tidy house. Food shop ordered online too for same day delivery, depending in what time we get back.

Normal cleaning wise but I try to make sure the washing is all up up date because there's enough to do with the holiday washing as it is

Mopping your way out? Madness.

I do empty the bins. and make sure that there are no dirty plates or cups out and run the dishwasher. No fruit left out.

If I have time I rationalise the fridge and throw out things that will be old when we get back. Tho often don't have time.

I make sure the loo is flushed and cleaned.

So that there are no hygiene issues.

Other than that .. it's usually a bit of a bomb site with the chaos of packing!

I love coming back to a clean house so I can just relax and do the holiday washing on return with no other jobs to get done.

We unpack onto the kitchen floor and then take stuff to our rooms.

I'd hate to come home to a load of washing.
Doing sheets is easy, and I just have to put them away when I get home.

A basic tidy and most washing done, if it isn't done though I am not really that bothered

I leave it fairly clean and tidy but am in a different league to the mopping out of the door and food orders lined for return brigade!
That's next level organisation.

I used to do it your way, now I just make sure everything is fairly clean and tidy, bins empty and the bed linen has been changed a few days before. Dust settles while the house is empty so gave that up!

Someone needs to explain the definition of the word “holiday” to you.

It doesn’t include “doing dirty washing from home” in my dictionary.

Clean and tidy, fridge emptied, bins emptied, bleach down 2 x loo's. Gone!

The mop and bucket are put in the coalhouse which is where they live.

should help more with the loading of the car and come back to whatever state the house is in lol

Well I do like my house in a reasonable state before I leave for holiday because nothing is more depressing than coming back off holiday to a house that's a tip and needs cleaning straight away.
However, as a single parent the responsibility for everything including children wrangling and loading the car is on me. So realistically mopping us out of the house etc isn't manageable.

This time I did arrange for a friend's cleaner (can't afford my own as a regular thing) to do 3 hours on the day before we came home...now that was lovely!

I have to do the washing while we're away anyway - everyone does - so there is no difficulty with also doing one set of bed linen.

Our cleaner comes on Fridays so it was spotless when we left first thing Saturday and she came again Friday before we returned. Love returning to shiny floors and no dust.

I'd also changed the beds BUT I hadn't emptied the dishwasher and that annoyed me when I returned last night.

I was advised by a Crime Prevention Officer to leave the house looking as if someone was at home - particularly the downstairs rooms if they could be seen into.
So, crockery on the draining board, mags on the settee, unmade bed.
Most important to mow the lawn & weed - 2 weeks growth on to a garden that already needs it can be a real giveaway.

"everyone does" ?!?!? 😀

No washing done at all by me on holiday, or anyone I know

I have to do the washing while we're away anyway - everyone does - so there is no difficulty with also doing one set of bed linen.

I don't t think 'everyone does' unless you mean everyone you are with? Because I have certainly never spent a holiday doing washing

I’m sat here deciding whether to clean the windows and curtains before we go, or just have an easy Sunday. I’m wasting time on MN, so I can see how this will go.

Only time I do washing on holiday day is if we have done hand luggage only and so not packed enough for clean stuff every day for 2 weeks

This has reminded me why I stay on Mn — the little nuggets of insight into other people’s ‘normal’.

From this thread alone I now know some people mop themselves out the door as they go on holiday, carry dirty bedlinen with them from home to wash on holiday, and regard a lawn not obviously mowed within an inch of its life as a clarion call to burglars.

Now we need a YABU / YANBU poll to find out how many mumsnetters do washing while on holiday! (I don't!)

I think I have finally got over the "what would people think if you were in an accident " line I was brought up with

'How to treat me at the site, get me to hospital and save my life' is my preferred answer.

In asnwer to the OP - neat and tidy. Don't think I've ever 'mopped,' but it seems very popular on MN.

I have a bit of a tidy up and clean the loos and sinks, but I don't go mad. Any outstanding washing gets left to go in with the holiday washing - we put this in a separate bag as we go, so it can go in the washing machine as soon as we start unpacking.

Looking at some of my neighbours' back gardens they have been on holidays for months!

Who does washing on holiday? Definitely not everyone. Where do you dry it? How many holiday places even have washing machines let alone a washing line and legs to dry it on? Not the chalet that we’re going to soon, nor the campsite that we went to earlier in the holidays.

1 bed doesn’t sound as bad but we’d have to take 4 beds worth of dirty laundry with us if we followed your example, that really is bonkers.

I still can’t tell if you’re joking or not!