Things to do before leaving home

[dyna]

Those especially goin to water parks don't want to forget to trim toe nails and kids toe nails before leaving home. Nothin like bustin a toe nail at water park then walkin thru the other parks with a sore toe that could have been easily prevented.

 

[John's Mom]

Going in a different direction: Don't forget to stop your mail and newspapers.

 

[cepmom]

don't forget to pay your bills that will be due while you are away....no need to come home to late fees!

 

[ScoJo15]

adjust your thermostat & run your house a little warmer than normal to save some $$ when the electric/gas bill comes along

 

[ScoJo15]

Oh yeah, and don't forget to set the TiVo to record shows while you are out!!

 

[dzneelvr]

1.Make a copy of all your prescriptions (even the vision ones) in the event you need some medicine or new eyewear.2. Take an adequate supply of everyday drugs: tylenol, allergy, vitamins, etc. in a zip loc bag for easy viewing and security clearance. 3. DM and DD: treat yourself to a manicure/pedicure with pale polish and you won't have to give a second thought to your nails the entire trip. 4. Get your hair cuts, colors, and highlights 7-10 days before the trip to minimize care. 5. pack powder detergent and dryer sheets to avoid the high cost of buying them in the resorts. WDW June 2006

 

[Jen D]

Oh yeah, and don't forget to set the TiVo to record shows while you are out!!

Second this-- but don't forget to cancel series records that might clog up your machine and start batch deletes. I have a series record on some Noggin shows for my son, and some HBO series, and I clear them off every couple days because they record so many times. Left alone they would fill up my 35 hour DVR!

If you have someone coming by to watch your cats, make sure you are overstocked on food and litter.

Day before leaving town is a frenzy... Morning, finish laundry. Then go to work a few hours. Then by last minute stuff, toileties (there is always something.) If I didn't get to pedicure and waxing yet, do that. Come home, pack pack, pack, order take out. At the end of the night.... make sure phones, camera batteries are charged, iPod synced. Make 2 calls: 1 setting up town car to the airport, 1 cancelling newspaper. One e-mail to important folks detailing travel plans and contact info. Attempt to sleep. 2 hours later the alarm goes off!

Oh, and if we don't finish the milk that morning, I dump the rest down the drain.

 

[mickeysaver]

Don't forget the Disney Dollars! Last time we went, my honey forgot to get them out of the safe. We were about half way there when I jokingly asked if she had gotten them out of her safe. It was right then and there that Brad Paisley's song, "Little Moments" became a bit of an anthem for us. lol Maggie

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Clean the house! Coming home from WDW is depressing enough, but coming home to my usual chaotic clutter is even worse after all of those nights in beautiful hotel rooms! Soften the blow of coming back to reality a little by having everything nice and clean.

Buy food! I somehow keep managing to come home to a barren kitchen, and having to go out grocery shopping. It's bad enough to have to readjust to having to cook for myself, I don't want to have to shop, too!

I second the tip about paying your bills before you go, too! Having to call your credit card company and do a phone payment while you're on vacation sucks!

And a different kind of what to do before leaving home tip- Watch Disney movies! I like to watch a couple of Disney movies in the weeks leading up to my trip, to build the excitement. Somehow seeing the characters and locations is more exciting when their stories are still fresh in your mind.

 

[michvin]

Don't forget to shut off the water to fridge and washer...my aunt and uncle had once gone on vacation and their new fridge with the ice maker and water dispenser leaked for a week while they were gone! Ended up ruining most of the ceiling of their finished basement.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

Make sure your laundry is done before you go. It's awful to come home and have to do vacation laundry AND the laundry sitting there before you left.

Make sure you have a day's worth of food. So when you get home you have some cereal, a can of soup of frozen pizza, etc. Enough food to last you until you can go get some groceries

 

[mjh8955]

I toally echo the sentiment about coming home to a clean house and empty laundry baskets! Once we forgot to run the garbage disposal right before we left and oh my did our kitchen smell when we got home. Make sure library books are either renewed or returned. I always clean out the refrigerator and make sure all the trash cans are emptied. We have to board our dog so I make those kennel reservations early. I also clean out my work and personal e-mail accounts.

 

[JillU-DVC]

DON'T leave the dishwasher closed/locked the whole time you're away!

Someone told us about this, but we forgot one time, and ran the dishwasher as we were walking out the door for a 7 day trip to WDW. Luckily, the dishwasher didn't leak (though now that I think about it, we shouldn't have started it right before we left).

But even though it didn't leak or have any other problems, when we got back and opened it, the dishes had MOLD on them - seems the moist dark environment of a closed dishwasher is a breeding ground for mold.

So if you run the dishwasher, or even have dishes in it before you leave, leave the door to the dishwasher opened a bit while you're away.

Maybe this only applies to running the dishwasher right before you leave, andleaving it shut up during the trip - I can't remember if we've had the mold problem when we left dirty dishes in the dishwasher (OK, i'm not the greatest homemaker, I have left dirty dishes in the dishwasher while we've been away!).

But this HAS happened when we've run the dishwasher and left it closed (either a full cycle or a rinse cycle).

So leave the door cracked open a bit, or leave the door open all together.

 

[rae662000]

Don't forget to turn the alarm clocks off and set the security system. Take out ALL trash including bath/bedrooms.

 

[MelodyMack]

Don't forget to plug in your auto-light thingamajigger....always make me feel better anyway.

Turn off your icemaker

Get your neighbor to grab your mail while you're away

I always sprinkle some of that carpet deoderizer around BEFORE we leave, and when we get home our house smells GREAT (we dont have pets who can be harmed from this FYI)

I agree with other poster re: laundry done, house clean....its nice coming home and being able to just SIT, especially because we usually start back to school/work the next day.


MAN I CANT WAIT FOR OUR TRIP.....getting SOOOOOOO excited!

 

[Gooofy-Blade]

If you do not have the metal hoses, make sure to turn off the water to your washing machine. The rubber ones can burst and the water will continue to flow during your entire trip!

 

[dyna]

I'm glad I got older DD's who choose to live at home and have used up all their disney visits on my bill.

No stopping mail no boarding dog dishwasher and garbage disposal gets ran, if pipe leaks they should know to shut off water.

I do clean and do laundry before I leave and HOPE it is done when I get back.