Holiday house swap?

Oh, goodness I have a hard enough time getting packed and out! I do like to leave the house clean and tidyish and most of the washing done for when we get back, but having to make sure confidential stuff is put away safely, the hob/oven cleaned, fridge cleaned, and everything really spick and span would bring on a nervous breakdown!

I’m the same as Nfk, it’s enough hassle cleaning before I go away and emptying fridges etc. Without arranging extra insurances, cars and having to lock things away. Plus telling the neighbours not to panic if unknown people are in and out. Sounds good on paper though.

In principle it's a good idea and can work well, but...
We have now exchanged twice, once in Europe and once in the US and my advice would be to try it but be careful. Make sure that you correspond many times with the prospective swappers before you commit and if you have a large house or live in a tourist area be aware that people may take advantage, that is, say there are only two of them and then at the last minute admit to several more guests. Some of the sites do advise contracts between the parties, but these are not enforceable. Additionally you may not be insured if it all falls through and finally if the destination is on your 'must see' list, ask yourself if you really want to be stuck in that same place for the entire time? As for sites, we tried two, one low cost and one more expensive. The better one for us was the cheaper one as it had more worldwide destinations. Hope that helps a little.

For me the 'downer' would be leaving my house in decent order and then at the end of the holiday, having to leave the other house as I found it. This situation, for me, wouldn't constitute a holiday!!

What Nfk says - absolutely!!

As gangy says - it wouldn't constitute a holiday!

We did this once, years ago, it was the only way on a limited income that we could manage a family holiday abroad. It worked well for us, swapped cars too. To be honest I didn’t really feel under pressure to leave the house any more pristine than I’d usually do when going away. I reckoned that anyone coming to a house knowing that 5 children and a couple of dogs lived would have realistic expectations!

We tried it once several years ago. We swapped with a family from Belgium. We took my dad too to help out with the kids. It was a nice house and interesting to live in a real community rather than a holiday resort. We arranged for friends to call round and we met some of their friends.
DH and DF enjoyed going to the local bar and made lots of friends there over the two weeks. They ended up having a great farewell send-off on the last night. I was running round like a maniac the next morning trying to get all the sheets off the beds and washed, beds changed, house cleaned whilst looking after two babes while the two men nursed hangovers.
Not the best end to our holiday!
I felt really guilty that we didn't leave the house as clean as I would have liked, and felt even worse when our house was pristine when we got back and they had left presents for us all.

A few years ago there was a TV programme about house swapping, I loved it, but couldn't bear to have strangers in our house. DH suggested yesterday that we let ours out during the upcoming Royal wedding, I think not. (not that it's not grand enough) you understand.

We used to go camping as that was all we could afford and, quite honestly, I think that was preferable to letting strangers use my house when I wasn't there.

Although we always had lots of summer visitors as we lived near the sea - friends and family, and I have left my house with family in it and gone away, but that is quite different.

Thank you. It is really helpful to read what other Gransnetters think. And I am wary of having strangers in my house too - but on line I've seen several people saying when they actually tried it, they found it worked well and that those fears were unfounded. Looking on the Guardian's house swap web site is very tempting! www.guardianhomeexchange.co.uk (I don't seem to be able to include a link, but if interested you can copy and paste this into a search engine, and then you can browse, just for fun) Lots of lovely places in good locations , but I still feel the concern about others being in my house. My DD and her DH live very nearby, which would mean they could drop in , in a friendly way, but also make sure all was well.

I suppose if you are in someone else's house and they are in yours it is a question of trust.

A few years back we did a house swap with some American acquaintances of our family there. It worked out very well. They wanted to visit France, and we needed an apartment close to the family. It just needed a bit or organising, but no more than any holiday would. Can’t remember being worried about cleanliness particularly - just tidied up as I would normally. Security was common sense and trust.
We’re now very good friends.

There was the initial connection tho’, which made a difference, but even if there wasn’t, I’d do it again.

Go ahead and do it if you have an adventurous spirit!

Applegran we have a large walk in (lockable) wardrobe where we put all the stuff we don't want the swappers to have access to. Most people seem to do something like this and we explain that they are welcome to use anything and go anywhere but ask that they respect our privacy as regards the locked space. I can honestly say it didn't bother us at all having folks in our place and people have been respectful.

If you can secure personal documents and paperwork I would think it would be an adventure to anywhere you want to swap to. I know it is not the same but I allowed my nephew girlfriend and friends to borrow our French house and my dh and I joked they would drink all the good wine and champagne but when we next went the house was spotless. Even the windows had been cleaned. I knew because it is on a road and the windows get dirty quickly so they must have cleaned them. I was impressed and wine intact!