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

I do it too. With three young children to add to the mix I nearly kill myself doing it. Alll the packing, washing, ironing, load the car, drive etc. it doesn’t feel like a holiday. I’m more exhausted when I get back than I was before I went. Then there’s the washing when we get back. The machine doesn’t stop all week.

Ooh, yes. I have to have the house spotless before we go on our jollies. Mind you, before we retired it used to give me something to do when DH invariably found something vital to do for work right until the airport taxi was outside the door. And coming home the cases go straight into the utility room and the first load of laundry is on within minutes.

I really hope you managed to catch the plane, Serendipity22

I do all of that, always have and my mother did it too. I used to change all the beds the morning we left for holiday too, nowadays, I change the beds the day before and we sleep in them for one night before we do. It’s much better, but I still feel scummy about it.

You are by no means on your own -I do it too
for a start the neighbour comes in and feeds the cats so I don't want her thinking she lives next door to people living in a filthy house and for another thing I want to come home to a clean and tidy house rather than somewhere that I feel like I need to set about cleaning

I am so pleased to read this thread, as Mr C and I have 'discussions' regarding my last-minute holiday cleaning fury (as he calls it).

I, too, have wondered why I feel obliged to undertake this routine and haven't dared ask friends if they're the same for want of sounding as if I am a slattern for the rest of the year!

A quick whiz round with a duster, fresh bed linen, a sparkling kitchen, a general 'hoove' and bleach in the loos are my modus operandi.

It's lovely to know I am not peculiar - at least, amongst a certain sub-set of the population....

You have made my day - I am normal after all!

I do it it’s nice to have a clean house and a sense of pride I think or me being cynical. If we go away and something happens if our adult children come here in our absence they are not faced with a messy house

Condolences to Granto2.

I always give the house a deep clean on nye too. Starts the new year "right"

I just don’t know how to clean-there! I’ve said it!
I dust and hoover-it takes ages. Keep tidy as we go.
Bleach in loos and sinks but it never looks clean and tidy and then. . .it soon needs doing again!
My Mum used to say I was born to be a “Lady”-you know like on Downton except I’m not! ?

What’s all this talk of plastic bags????

The same reason I always insist on bleaching all 3 loos in house just as we are going out of the door to go on holiday. It drives DH bonkers. I just have to do it.

We clean before going to the caravan, and clean the caravan before going home.

It's just nice coming into a place that looks welcoming and nothing to do.

I also like to make sure the house is clean and tidy for our return from hols.
Unfortunately my other half can’t understand it! ?
For our last few trips I’ve started washing clothes while we’re away to save facing a big pile when we get back (mostly on cruises - TIP - always book a cabin close to the laundry.?Handy if you need to use an iron. It can be miles away on a different deck).

We are 4 weeks off our big journey and Im thinking about windows etc. I must be mad?!

Make that 3 crackpots! I get so stressed about cleaning, emptying the fridge, changing the beds, sorting out our cats and Brian our bearded dragon that by the time I get on the plane I have a gin and tonic and fall asleep! I need a holiday to recover ?

I do it too. I love coming home to a clean house and even better clean bedding.

Agree with sazzl, the Elbow Grease spray is fantastic, I buy it from Amazon. I left two white plastic garden chairs out all winter, something I wouldn't normally do as they were expensive; they were terrible but the Elbow Grease and a bowl of soapy water brought them up looking like new. It's amazing stuff, I use it everywhere so when I go on holiday the house is sparkly clean. I get moaned at for manic cleaning before we leave as I always have the fear that I won't be returning. He made me so mad a few years ago with his moaning that the cleaning caused stress when we should be sitting and relaxing the night before ( he was watching tv) that I threw a dining room chair at him. He hasn't moaned since.

My oven was disgusting and I was going to get someone in to clean it for me because I am going on holiday soon for 6 months, as mentioned in another thread, so I cleaned it myself! It is sparkling and I don’t want to use it now! Same with the rest of the bungalow, I have been spring cleaning like mad, moving furniture, beds etc! It’s so nice to come home to, I think that’s why we do it, knowing it won’t get done properly whilst we are away!

I do it! Sometimes I think that, should we not return, our daughters won’t think what a dirty cat I was!! ??

My brother died in hospital. Had obviously been going through (hidden ) depression before that. When we went into his flat it was horrible. Untidy, loads of newspapers all over the floor mixed up with some dirty dinner plates. Could not get into his small kitchen as he used a electricity key and this had run out resulting in freezer and fridge going off and kitchen covered in flies,.

Always have that in my mind when I go off even for a few days. Always like to leave everything totally clean, neat and tidy so that if anyone had to go in there they would find it a pleasant experience.

MerylStreep

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.

?
I'm speechless!

sundowngirl

GagaJo

A friend mentioned doing this to me many years ago. And I started doing it too, after she said it.

It's because I hate coming home to a dirty/untidy house. I want to walk in to a lovely clean home. It stresses me to walk into mess/dirt.

I also hate people that start unpacking downstairs. Take the case to your room and unpack there! Keep the place tidy.

We always took our cases upstairs to unpack. However after our last trip the weight and momentum of the case pulled my husband down the flight of stairs, breaking several ribs and his elbow in the fall. He is still suffering after several months, so from now on we unpack downstairs.

You can borrow my black bin liner sundown girl. Open bags or cases, downstairs and take the bag of dirty washing straight to the utility you can have the first load on before OH gets the cases put away.
I have been confronted about this, machines banging and clattering just before and as soon as we open the b....front door.
My late uncle also fell foul of the dirty bag of washing. He was pulled over by customs and the case he was caring was full of women's pants and bras and t.shirts. He was taken away to be strip-searched as they did not believe his explanation. The plastic bag runs in the family.
We always cleaned for the New Year being told "IF your house is dirty now it will be dirty all year".

Peter Kay does a really funny anecdote about just this subject??

Because it’s just so much nicer to come home to a clean tidy house. Nothing crazy about that.