10 Jan
Leave It Clean
Would you like some advice from That Wife (a girl who now believes she can say she is a world traveler, since she has been to Europe no less than 3 times)?
When you go on vacation, or when you leave for the weekend, or when you just leave… leave your house clean.
The night before we left I was going crazy. I needed to pack, I was trying to get Christmas and Thank You cards in the mail, and I was absolutely firm about leaving the house clean. No plastic bags, no wrappers, no dishes in the sink, nothing.
It was so wonderful to walk in the door and see this after a full 24 hours of flying.
And since I’m jobless (and avoid my schoolwork at all costs) that’s actually exactly what my house looks like right now. I love a clean house.
Do you have a travel rule? Packing extra underwear in my carry-on became essential for me this last trip when the airline delayed my baggage and I didn’t have it for the 2 days we were in Washington.
Also:
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
There is almost nothing worse than coming home to a dirty house. Yuck!
1Great tip- both the clean house and the undies part!
2You’re right on both counts. I hate coming home to a mess of any kind, especially after a trip. My travel “must do” is pack an extra outfit regardless of how short my trip might be, especially if there is no access to laundry. I was once stuck with wet clothing because it rained and I didn’t have laundry machines or a change of clothes.
3You’re so right about this. I’m not going anywhere this weekend, but I should still get out of bed now and do some cleaning, eh?
4That’s why I washed the dang dishes the night before my wedding! I couldn’t face the thought of coming home with lovely gifts, completely exhausted, and still having to wash some nasty two-day-old (or more) dishes!
5We tried cleaning before we headed to Chicago for Christmas but upon coming back with tons of presents and the like we couldn’t just put everything away when we came back we needed a super deep organize and throw away all those old stupid things kinda clean.
It’s amazing the stuff you accumulate when you’re not looking.
6I can’t fathom leaving a dirty house. The thought of dishes sitting in the sink overnight nearly makes me wretch, let alone for the length of a vacation. Ew!
7I’m with you on this, I absolutely have to leave the place clean if I’m leaving for vacation. When we came home from Maui, the journey ended up taking 23 hours. That’s from Maui to San Francisco… everything that could go weird did, including us going to LA, then Seattle, having Seattle shut down for a security breach, then our luggage was lost.
Walking in to a clean, happy apartment made my day a little better
8One of my travel rules of thumb, as well. The few times that I’ve ignored it have been more than stressful- they’ve been icky.
9I always put in my carry-on: underwear (socks included) and a T-shirt, because you just never know, a toothbrush and a small deodorant + a book and snacks.
I agree on leaving with a clean house. At least putting dishes away, taking the trash out, anything that could make smells in the house, and make sure the bed is made.
10my biggest travel rule is pack your bag with everything you think you will need. then remove half.
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