Home Management & Summer Vacations
Summer trips can be the best part of the season that we plan for months, or even years in advance. Booked that camping spot back in January? Or maybe saved your airline miles for years to get to Hawaii? Local trips up to the mountains, or big trips out to the sea. No matter how big or how small, how near or how far, vacations are fun. And… also create a bit of chaos in our home management systems.
A bit of chaos prepared for can be minimized and easily dealt with. Unprepared and dealing with it at 2:00 in the morning returning from a trip and realizing the trash wasn’t emptied and the house smells like your last meal (and not in a good way) is a recipe for frustration and a few R-rated words.
The goal is not to just prevent catastrophes from occurring, but to create a smooth transition back from vacation life to home life. To go from smiling, happy, cozy family time at the beach to yelling, crying, frustrated family unpacking the car can be an abrupt about face. And you may end up never wanting to plan another vacation.
Your home is an organization with departments. Plan ahead of time for how each department will need to adjust for your vacation.
Examples are:
Office: Pay bills ahead of time that will be due while you are gone or shortly after you return. Put your mail on hold.
Laundry: Before the trip, do as much laundry ahead of time knowing that when you return it will be overflowing.
Kitchen: Empty the fridge of about-to-spoil items and have ready to eat items in the freezer that can be easily cooked on your return. Wash all dishes, and leave dishwasher door cracked open.
Bathrooms: Flush all the toilets and leave the seat up (unless kitty is curious, then door closed!).
Living Things: Water your plants, feed the fish, and book that dog sitter way ahead of time.
Bonus level is putting all of your home specific instructions in a document that you can print off for each trip and check off the tasks as they are completed. Time to type it up and print it out, five minutes. Peace of mind, priceless.
This extra time to prevent frustrations can help create that smooth transition lane so the happy vacation memories linger a little bit longer and you are excited to plan your next trip instead of regretting taking the last one. So after you have booked those plane tickets and hotel reservations, game plan your home preparation to make your return as smooth as possible. Savor those vacation feelings for as long as you can!
What is the craziest mishap that happened to your home during a vacation? Share your story and home management questions with Sara@YourAlignedHome.com.
Originally published in Simply Saratoga Magazine