Coming home from vacation to a SPOTLESS house!

VACATION TIME!

Are you a little insane when it comes to going on vacation? As much as I do love getting away for a while, I have to admit, I love to prepare for vacation. I love making up my little lists, anticipating dinners, what we will do, I think on these things for months! It is truly all about the anticipation for me!Another thing I love to do is to prepare the home for when I return. There is just something awesome about coming home to a clean home. With that in mind, I start my cleaning about a month before leaving on vacation. I know it sounds crazy, but coming home from vacation to a spotless, clean house is priceless. Here is what I do!

The month before leaving for vacation:

1. Clean out the fridge (and keep it clean!)
2. Clean the bathrooms (just do one bathroom each week!)
3. Start washing all the baseboards
4. Clean out the closets
5. Cleaning the laundry room (like REALLY cleaning it)
6. Dust and spot clean my walls
7. Vacuum under my beds
8. Organize my linen closet

Then the week before leaving I will:

1. Clean my kitchen real well and keep it clean
2. Pick up the home and get rid of all clutter
3. Try to see my home as a stranger would see it and put things away
4. Replace all the trash cans with clean liners (I'll even wipe out the trash cans if needed)
5. Vacuum and wash all the hard floors in the home
6. Keep up with the laundry

The day I leave I will:

1. Put fresh sheets on the bed
2. Take all the trash and recycling out
3. Give the house one last look over
4. Put a lemon in the garbage disposal and run it
5. Vacuum all the carpets as I am walking out the door for vacation (how awesome is it to come home what looks like a "just vacuumed home")

However, if you are one of those people who has a house sitter, why not schedule a house cleaning the day before coming home! You will come home refreshed (or not?) and having a clean home upon return is the very best feeling that is icing on the cake of vacation!