The plane is waiting but I have to hoover, dust and clean ! WHY ???

Jalyn

Another one here who cleans, changes beds etc before going on holiday so that we return to a clean home. There is also the dark thought at the back of my mind that if we fail to return, (think plane crash) then whomever has to sort everything won't have an untidy or unclean house to cope with. I feel ridiculous just writing this

Ohhhh heck !! But yes I see the logic in it !!!!

Callistemon21

Serendipity22

I don't know but I do too (or used to, not so much now). It's better than coming back to a mess.

Do you remember Kim of Kim and Aggie fame? I remember her saying that when she was going away, she "hoovered herself out of the door" ?

Have a relaxing time.

Ohhhh yes I remember her wow, she came across as a force to be reckoned with.....

As others have said, coming home to a clean fresh house it's simply that! Ideally, but I don't always have time, I like to wash towels and change our bed and not leave any dirty washing hanging around, happy to leave it washed and on an airer. My husband knows me so well, he always pre empts any of my laundry plans the night before with a "you're not going to start all that towel washing before we go are you?" me "I'll only put on muffled x washes"

CatCrone

I have always done this - mainly because if I don’t return from the holiday whoever has to deal with the house etc won’t think I didn’t keep my home clean and tidy. Not sure what this says about my thought processes!

Here's another crackpot, and I'm with CatCrone and Jalyn. It is indeed nice to come back to a clean, tidy house, but I've always thought about the poor souls who would have to clear the house if we don't come back. I don't want their first thought to be "Well she was a real slob, wasn't she?"

It is lovely returning to a clean house with fresh bedding and then I only have to worry about the washing from the holiday and getting food on the table.

Being Scottish I was also brought up to clean the house before the start of a new year.

My mother was a clean freak and my father and I were not allowed to read the Sunday newspapers until all the chores had been done.

Wheniwasyourage hahaha.

She wasnt as tidy, tidy, tidy as we were lead to believe....

Ohhhh heck !!!!

I do it, my mother did it, and now DD is the same!

Does it come from the same frame of mind, as making sure you have clean underwear on in case you have an accident?

After staying in a beautiful, clean hotel my house seems dirty when I return. It is not but compared to a place that is thoroughly cleaned every day it is.

I always clean well before going away. This time I also gave the guest room a spring clean and made up the bed. So glad I did as we were both quite ill when we got back and family were visiting.

Oh I do it too! Clean bedding, clean towels in the bathroom, laundry basket as empty as I can make it. Unwashed towels, although not dirty, can smell a bit stale after a fortnight in a locked up house I find. I too worry, completely irrationally, about how mourners would judge me should I be wiped out on holiday.... "such a shame about Mr & Mrs HPQ, tragic, but did you see the state of her shower cubicle, and her pillow cases could have done with an iron over them, perhaps it was a blessing"

HousePlantQueen

Oh I do it too! Clean bedding, clean towels in the bathroom, laundry basket as empty as I can make it. Unwashed towels, although not dirty, can smell a bit stale after a fortnight in a locked up house I find. I too worry, completely irrationally, about how mourners would judge me should I be wiped out on holiday.... "such a shame about Mr & Mrs HPQ, tragic, but did you see the state of her shower cubicle, and her pillow cases could have done with an iron over them, perhaps it was a blessing"

Hahahahahahaha...

I think this comes under the same banner as ‘always wearing clean underwear in case you get run down by a bus’.

I too belong to the clean til you drop group, prior to holidays, before Christmas and on New Year’s Eve. My worst offence I believe was one New Years Eve,leaving my husband sitting in the car with the engine running whilst I dashed out (wearing a full length evening dress) to empty the hoover into the dustbin. I don’t think I ever reached those dizzy heights again.

The Hoover was always the last thing I put away as I went out the door, years ago.
I would trail it behind me, vacuuming everywhere I had walked until it was time to go.

Not me. Good enough is good enough as I lock the door behind me. Yay!
#lazygran

I used to do this before holidays and Christmas when there was a family of three children. Please note used to.
I am by myself now but I do have a new habit, tidying around before going to bed just in case…..

I do all this at PG Towers and at Mi Casa and it’s not just cos I’m a sad bat ? - we’ve always offered the use of either to friends and family while we’re away!

I wouldn’t want them to have to ? and ? the minute the arrived on holiday, and I’m sure they wouldn’t ?! I also do expect them to leave it as they found it, ready for the next occupants, which seems fair enough for a freebie!

Callistemon
I can beat Kim. When we had cream carpets ( silly idea, I know ?) all our luggage was in the car and I would shampoo the carpets. In my defence that was because I could give them a real good go and know that they would be perfectly dry when we got home.

Wash behind the fridge?

Unless your property is occupied, while you are away, console yourself with the fact it will be as you left it.After all whats wrong with a few spiders having moved in? weaving a few webs here and there.

Not here I’m afraid, although we’ve only been away for a few days at a time since covid. Prior to that we used to go abroad for 8 months, total clean down as our house was rented out, so from one extreme to another!

Me too, if I die non holiday my children will be so delighted the beds have fresh linen on and the house is immaculate.

Pre-holiday, or pre friends coming to stay is the only time my house gets a good 'bottoming'. The rest of the time, it is a lick and a promise, all surface clean. The only time I clean behind the fridge is when we move house or buy a new fridge. I would certainly fail the Four in a Bed test, plenty of fluff under my beds, streaks on the shower screen.

Sago

Me too, if I die non holiday my children will be so delighted the beds have fresh linen on and the house is immaculate.

Mine’d be amazed, Sago!

Well, I belong to the generation that is quite, quite sure, that if the planes, trains, cars etc I intend to travel on should crash killing me and / or the rest of the passengers, I should waken up in the afterlife black-affronted at the thought that those who have to dispose of my home and its contents would be going into a messy, dirty house!

I suspect this is the main reason for cleaning before leaving - simple superstition.

BUT it is nice to come home to a clean and tidy house, unpack my suitcase and fling my dirty washing straight into the washing-machine or the dirty clothes basket.

I tidy make sure everything is off about 6 times but spring clean no never I don’t even do that in Spring I just do things when they need doing
When I go away everything is put away and nice and tidy but ……….