The Ultimate Guide to Vacation Prepping for Busy Moms

The Ultimate Guide to Vacation Prepping for Busy Moms - in only 3 easy steps per day.

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Picture this, mountains of laundry, empty bags, dirty children, and a messy house. Oh, and we leave for vacation in a few short days. This has been my reality for the last 10 years. It feels like vacation sneaks up on me every. single. time. Well, I decided it's time to put an end to this madness and developed a one week plan for vacation prepping. One week sounds like a long time but since this post is for busy moms, I wanted something doable. Something easy. Of course you can follow this plan in whatever time frame you would like but since my schedule is insanely busy, I need an entire week and my guess is lots of other moms do too. Also, I can't be the only one that wants a completely clean home to return to, right?

Before we get started, I wanted to share a realistic daily time frame to commit to Vacation Prepping for busy mamas. When I have a day off, a day where I don't have as many commitments as others or a few hours of "free time" - does that even exist? I like to set my timer for 45 minutes to clean, pack, and put away the dreaded laundry. As soon as my timer goes off I'll set it for another 45 minutes so I can go play with my kids. Sometimes 45 minutes is just not possible which is my reality for 95% of the time so I commit to three 20 minute time frames in the day. Usually this is as soon as I wake up, before dinner and then again before bed but you can make it fit to your personal schedule.

Day One: Laundry, Dishes and Meal Plan, Oh my!
Before even finishing this blog, go throw a load of clothes in the wash and a load of dishes in the dishwasher or, if you don't have a dishwasher, fill the sink with some hot soapy water and let the dishes soak while you finish reading this. We're going to spend this day getting caught up on all the laundry and all the dishes. This includes putting. them. away. Oh my, that rarely happens here but this week I'll make sure all of the clothing in this house sees the inside of a dresser or a closet at least once. Now that you have the laundry started and the dishes going, you can finish reading this post. I promise you'll be done reading by the time you need to go switch over the laundry.

Next you're going to go check out your fridge, freezer and pantry. I want you to be creative and meal plan with what you have. Of course, you might need to grab a few things at the store but the idea is to spend this week eating up what food you already have in the fridge so that it doesn't go bad by the time you come home. So there you have it! Day one isn't so bad amiright? Just keep the laundry and dishes moving until every single dirty dish is clean, every single piece of soiled clothing is put away and you know what food you're going to be eating for the week.
*looking for a great way to meal plan? Check out this meal plan note pad on amazon.

If it takes you more than today to get caught up on your mountain of laundry, that's ok! It's going to take my like 3 full days - ha! Oh, and just because you finished all the laundry today doesn't mean you can slack off the rest of the week. Keep it moving so that by the time we get to packing day, it's all still clean and ready to go - I'm really talking to myself here.




Pro Tip: If you don't have the time to baby sit the washing machine all day, head to the laundry mat. Its a great way to get all of your laundry knocked out in 2 short hours. I would probably head to the grocery store to grab the things I need for my meal plan while the clothes is washing.




Day Two - Four: Clean, Clean and Clean some more. 
By now you've probably realized that I'm a little wordy so I'll cut to the chase. These 3 days have 2 steps. You might get to both and you might not. Either way is perfectly fine.

Step One: make a list of rooms that need the most attention. For me, that's the kitchen, toy room and laundry room. They seem to be a catch all for just and the most visited rooms so they definitely need more help when it comes to being cleaned.  Start with your most visited, messier rooms. I like to go through and collect all the trash, make sure there's no hidden cups or dirty clothes anywhere, and do a quick pick up of toys, knick knacks and anything else that might be laying around. This can usually be done within 15 minutes per room for me. We're not doing a deep clean right now, just making it so everything that was on the floor, a counter or a shelf is put in its respective home. Once you have finished picking up in your rooms that need the most help, do a quick run through of the rest of the house. If you completed all that before day four move on to this next step. If not, no worries! Move on to day five. Your house will still be cleaner when you come home than it was at the beginning of the week.

Step Two: Do a little bit of deeper cleaning with whatever time you have left. I did a quick wipe down of all of my kitchen cabinets and appliances, cleaned out some cupboards, organized my desk, wiped down all of our furniture and cleaned out from under my kids beds. This is also when I vacuum and sweep & mop all of my rooms that aren't as heavily used such as the master bath and bedrooms.


Day Five:Today we're dusting, scrubbing and everything else in between.
It's day five, we're getting closer to your vacation, and you've meal planned so that your fridge should be getting a little empty. Take today to clean it out. Remove any of the food that you're not going to finish by tomorrow or the next day, trash anything that will go bad by the time you get home and scrub down the trays, bins and sides of the fridge. Place everything back in nicely so when you get home you have room to put a gallon of milk and tea. I can't be the only person that stops at a convenience store on the way home to grab a gallon of milk and tea. I would rather come home to a messy house than come home and have nothing to drink. Anyway, once you have your fridge cleaned out, grab a rag and some dusting spray. Wipe down everything you have time for. If I'm short on time, I just wipe down the big things like my entertainment center and bookshelves. If I have more time, I will wipe down everything including my trim. Do whatever works for you. This is also the day I scrub my bathrooms. Again, only if I have the time.
I LOVE Mrs Meyer's Multi-Surface spray in Lemon Verbena. It smells so fresh, so clean and is soft on my surfaces. Plus I can feel comfortable using it around my pets and children.


Day Six: Packing and the finishing touches.
The count down is on! Only one day left until vacation, you're ready to pack but first, go grab all of the bedding off your families and beds and get the laundry started. Bedding usually takes me an entire day so I get it started first thing in the morning in order for it to be dry and put back on the beds before 8 pm. Back to packing- Packing should be super quick and easy for you now that everyone's clothes is folded and put away. When I pack I always start by making a list. I have some great packing tips as well but that's a post all its own so keep an eye out if you would like to see my packing method for myself, my husband and our three children. I will mention these packing cubes though. They're a must have in my opinion and keep my packing so organized! As soon as you're done packing, take some time to vacuum, sweep and mop as much of the house as you can.

Day Seven: It's go time!!!!
By now your whole house is clean, your fridge is empty and your bags are packed. I hope you're feeling a huge sense of relief as you get ready to pack your car and leave this town. This is quite the change from previous vacations, right? I am actually excited and ready to leave for my trip. I'm not stressed, there's no tears, and best of all, I'll be coming home to a perfectly clean home! You can choose to use paper products for today so you don't have any dirty dishes or you can load your dishes in the dishwasher and run it right before you leave. I don't mind coming home to a full dishwasher as long as the contents are all clean. Oh, and don't forget to make your beds!

Need a checklist? I have a FREE DOWNLOAD HERE!!

Enjoy your vacation!! I would love to know if you have any pre-vacation traditions or other helpful ideas in the comments section.

Angie

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