OK I'm having a 'pre-going-away' tidy up........

[HRHQueenOfQuotes]

who's going to join me?

We're going away for 2 weeks on the 17th of August, and although my house isn't messy per se (although I guess to some it would look at tip LOL) - it doesn't look it's best. I've started the kitchen today things to do are

• scrubbing down all the worktops, cleaning the window sill and window, wiping down the cupboard doors, cleaning the extractor fan hood, sweeping and mopping the floor and wiping down the 'white goods'.

Probably won't get it all done today - but I want to tackle a room at a time so that by the time we go away it's looking really nice, so that when we get back it's nice and relaxing - anyone want to join me??

no ta

you sure? Don't have to do a lot each day - so far today I've only cleaned down one worktop and sorted all the papers that were lying on it. Got 3 1/2 weeks to do it.........

I did mine before we went back in June.

No...I lie.....paid someone to do it.

Not that I do normally....got a cleaner since the car accident and now like it too much to give her up.

Can try to keep company tho

oh I wish I could afford to get someone in to give it a really good 'blitz'. It's not really dirty, just got 'stuff' all over the place and looking a bit dishevelled - if a house could look like we do on a 'bad day' that's what it would be like. I guess it just looks stressed out LOL.

Why are you cleaning it before you go away? Have you got people staying in your absence? Or are you just using it as an chance to catch up with all those chores?

I'm with HRH - it is depressing enough coming back home after hols without coming back to a stale, dusty, messy house...I always have big tidy before I go away. In fact, I should really go away more often, that way my house might be permanently tidy LOL!

Cleaning before we go so that when we come back it's nice and relaxing and I don't find myself thinking "must do x,y and z" - it's going to be a long trip - it'll take us about 24hrs to get home from leaving where we're staying to arriving back in our house.

plus I want to be able to spend the last few days of the summer holidays making sure that DS1 has got everything he needs before going back to school - especially as I'll 'lose' one of those 4 days, the day before he goes back to school, as I'll be working the night before.

right had a 20 minute break, off to finish the dinner off and clean the window/windowsill (the only bit in the kitchen that is actually dirty) - involves me climbing onto the worktop and straddling the kitchen sink.........

I'm glad someone else does this - I end up on the day before we go on hols each year frantically scrubbing at midnight, as I want the house to be perfect to come back to (my definition of perfect, may fall short of Anthea's!)

So far:

• Blitzed our bedroom (including inside wardrobes)
• Blitzed living room (including emptying toy boxes, throwing out/donating a couple I though I could get away with, matching parts to toys/games)
• Kitchen cupboards - sorted shelves, restocked where needed, thrown out-of-date stuff away.

Am going to tackle ironing - final wash to be on Wednesday night then it's non-holiday-clothes for everyone Thur/Fri.

Hairdresser coming tonight so no point cleaning kitchen floor until after.

Well - I've now almost finished one side of the kitchen - it's a long(ish) narrow one, just got one section of the window left to clean, and wipe the tops down on that side and it'l be done - think once I've done that I'll it quits for the day - looking a million times better already (it's the worktop we 'dump' stuff on as I don't using it for preparing dinner.

I always like to leave the house clean and tidy when I go on hols for exactly the same reason as you QoQ. I like to change the bed too so I come back to lovely clean bed linen. It's especially good after camping. Dh thinks I'm barking and always comments about me leaving the house nice and tidy for the burglars! It normally turns into holiday argument no 2 as he's chomping at the bit to get away and I'm busy hoovering. Holiday argument no 1 is "we'll never get that lot in the car" "well next time we go away you do all the packing then".

Glad it's not just me! We're a really untidy lot here so it's a huge event trying to pack and get the house looking fab too. I just know that the minute I walk back in after the holiday, the first words I'll say will be " ffs, look at the f state of this f house"

Then I start prowling round wondering what the cats have brought in that the neighbours have chosen to ignore!

Dh thinks I'm barking and always comments about me leaving the house nice and tidy for the burglars!

Even more reason to leave it tidy - should the worst happen and you have a break-in while you're away it's MUCH easier to work out what's missing/been touched if the house is tidy.

I am so bad with mine that i get them up early to strip their beds before we go, and remake them too so that we come home to fresh bedding .

Now tho I have had to promise from now on to leave later so that I have time and they can sleep, rather than being 'mean' (that they dare think that....)

thankfully we're not leaving until 3pm on the day we leave - so I'll have plenty of time to strip, and remake the beds - and hopefully get the sheets washed and dried too (she says hoping it's sunny on the 17th August LOL).

Lol have done this today too, dusted n hoovered, n swept n mopped, just washing/ironing to do tomorrow. Also cleaned car this pm ready to get more flies stuck to it!

oh I'm not doing it as quickly as that! I've only done half the kitchen (haven't even mopped the floor ) but hopefully I'll finish the kitchen off tomorrow, lounge/diner doesn't need much doing to do it, and I blitzed the bathroom not very long ago so that should just be a quick job too - it's the upstairs I'm dreading.........

I did this at the weekend and when DH came in from work he said "ooh blimey, we've got surfaces". I hit him obv.

I feel so much better now there isn't a pile of paperwork to sort through (most of it filed in the bin anyway) and the kitchen is sparkling!

I want to steam my carpets next but it's too hot (good excuse huh?)

I can't wait to see DH's face - the pile of papers on the worktop on the window side of the kitchen always starts off as a single pile - and then spreads - until there's only a small space between it and the sink - and there's usually papers shuffed down the side of the bread bin too - they're all gone. I even dunked his lovely engraved silver cup he got when he left his job in Zim into a bowl of boiling hot water, with tin foil lining the edges of the bowl and lots of Bicarbonate of Soda - and then polished it afterwards (it was loooking decidely 'dull' and horrible).

We're leaving two weeks before you and I haven't even begun to think about the cleaning aspect. You are mega-organised!

But if you're leaving in 3 1/2 weeks, won't you have to do it all again just before you leave?

no - this dirt and mess has been there much longer than 3 1/2 weeks - so there's no way there'll be even a fraction

no - this dirt and mess has been there much longer than 3 1/2 weeks - so there's no way there'll be even a fraction