No - I make it a point never to clean or oranize anything at home - there's too much organizing at work to bear to do any at home too.

And I'm lucky I have time to pack for the trip.

That's why there are housekeepers.

Would I like to clean and organize my whole house before a trip? You bet. Do I? No. I am, sadly, an extremely organizationally challenged individual. I can't possibly manage organizing everying for a trip plus my house at the same time!

Should be everything, of course, not everying!

What a relief! I thought I was alone in my all-consuming need to clean, organize and update the will before travels!

Female, of course.

I used to have a cleaning lady, but I would end up organizing and tiding up stuff in anticipation of her arrival and cleaning after she left. This is not to mention that I could never allow her or anyone else to do--or fold--my laundry! So, now I just go shoe shopping on the money I save!

Anna Roz

I clean my house so my housesitter doesn't think we're complete slobs.

I clean out my fridge because our housesitter couldn't cook to save his own life, and I don't want to deal with the smell when I get back.

I wash my clothes because I'll need something to wear when I get return, because I sure as heck will be sick of what I've been wearing for the past two weeks or more.

Then I clean the whole house again when I get home because my housesitter has been sleeping in my bed, and as a straight single man, I can bet he didn't change the sheets or towels for me like I did for him.

But my cats, fish and dog are all alive and no one broke in the house, so it's a good price to pay.

I'm female, long since out of college and willing to embrace my inner OCD. ;)

Jules

Female here, and yes I absolutely need to have my place clean, fresh linens on the bed, refrigerator cleaned out, all paper work done, daughter has all necessary information in case I die or collapse while on the trip (LOL I think) etc.

When I return home I want and need to walk into an organized and spotless residence.

Than reality hits. The luggage to unpack, the laundry to do, the mail to go through, the phone messages and email messages to return, the grocery shopping to do.

Oh well, for the first evening it is a nice feeling.

I might also add that I am apparently incapable of editing my own posts... Sorry about the typos. I really do have a journalism degree that wasn't downloaded off the internet. ;)

I love this board...where else would I find people who clean before they go? As for me, I am always afraid something will happen to us and I want the house to be cleaned and organized.....

Female:
Yes I clean and tidy, not to excess ie no window washing etc. This last trip we left our 15 year old (well cared for in temporary boarding school) and we made sure our wills were updated to within an inch of their lives, or our lives as the case was. I even made sure there was provision for the care of our dogs.

If something went wrong and someone had to come into the house whilst we were away I wouldn't want them to think I was messy!!! So of course everything is clean and tidy, fridge cleaned out of perishables, clean sheets, garbage out.
However my sister is very different, she went to South America for 10 weeks, asked the teenage daughter to set the dirty dishwasher, never checked it had been done and of course - you know the rest!!! 10 weeks of dirty plates etc, pheweee.

Another Female here

I used to tidy frantically before we left but the last few trips we've made we've left the kids (23 and 16) behind and I don't think they do any housekeeping while we're away but I do come back to an incredibly tidy house - they must spend a whole day 'putting things to rights' :-)

Our neighbors are alerted to the fact that we will be away and there have been no parties so far - touch wood!

I hate the pile of mail on the dining room table, even after you've recycled the junk mail there's still so much!

But it is nice to dump the dirty washing from the suitcase into the laundry room and have DS take care of it :-)

Another female -

I don't change the sheets, but I do make sure all the laundry is done and put away, the garbage is all out, the dishes are clean, and beds are made. I send a copy of out itinerary with hotel and flight info to relatives, leave a key and travel details with a neighbor, unplug major appliances, turn off computers, and check to make sure the refridgerator and freezer doors are shut properly.

I also make sure the fridge and pantry is stocked with juice, water, diet cokes, and other nonperishable stuff - so when we arrive home, I don't feel a need to rush to the store right away.

I have a checklist posted that I go through for each trip. Since all of our flights seem to leave in the middle of the night, we are often leaving the house at 1 or 2 am. The checklist is a help when the brain is a little fuzzy!

Of course!
I don't want the burglars to see an untidy house.

"Hoy, 'Erbut I am sometimes shocked at the way people live!"
"Yes Albert, she hasn't even done the laundry.

My children lived in a typical student house and one day they were burgled.
A fatherly policeman looked at one girl's room and said sympathetically that the burglar had made a dreadful mess in there.
She didn't tell him that the room was in its usual state.

Missprism - What a hoot!

We always leave our house spotless but usually come home to it with dishes (washed but not packed away)in the kitchen! Why do our kids like to come over and party at our place when they have a home of their own?!!!
I once came home to find my entire wine cellar devoid of any wine!

I usually will schedule a cleaning before we leave or do it myself. I will do just about what everyone else has said they do prior to a trip. That way, I can handle the unpacking and subsequent laundry to do upon our return without going nuts because I think the house is a mess. I am a bit OC about clean and neat anyway.

I like to make sure that it's tidy and as clean as I would have it on a daily basis, but I don't bother doing anything like changing sheets specially.

When I was a child our neighbours went away for a fortnight and asked my parents to go in and water the plants for them (they got on OK but weren't friends in any real sense). My mum went in and found that they had eaten a meal before they left and just left all the dirty plates and pans over the kitchen - she was horrified! She washed it up but never saw them in the same light again. Let's face it, that's just plain dirty!

Yes, the house has to be clean and tidy, although that doesn't necessarily include clean sheets on our bed.

Like an earlier poster, I have a fine-tuned checklist that kicks in several days before our departure. It starts with "Passports from the safety deposit box," ends with "Lock the door," and includes such things as "Turn off taps for the washing machine and dishwasher" and "Set timers on the lights."

Male, by the way, and like indytravel, happy with my OCD.

Anselm

tod, I think you've answered your own question.

Trips are nice, but's there's no place like home, and I prefer coming home to a clean house. Yup, clean sheets, clean towels, vaccumed floors, clean bathrooms.

Funny thing though...after unpacking the mountains of cloths, souvenirs, etc. it doesn't seem clean.

I'm so glad to know that I'm not the only (female) out there who does this!

Some years ago, our little group of friends, after years of talking about it, finally planned a trip to Europe together.

As departure date neared, there was unfortunately a very well publicized plane crash, which scared the bejesus out of one of our bunch.

Being extremely OCD about everything, he, after doing the usual cleaning, etc., pinned a note on his favorite suit to the local undertaker, which read,

"Use this one."

Now that's planning ahead.

Byrd