Truth be told, it can be just as satisfying to prepare for next week as to prepare for the zombie apocalypse. Burying weapons and gold in multiple locations is exciting; making sure your pantry is filled is even more exciting.

Your flight is booked. Your bags are packed. You’ve waited all year to take this vacation, and you literally can’t wait to get the hell out of here. You are exhausted to the core and ready for a good, long week of rest. You’ve been walking through these last few days on autopilot. You’ve stepped over the crouton on the kitchen floor every day now for a week. The laundry basket is filled, the contents of your fridge have been whittled down to just a few condiments, and you wouldn’t let a guest use your bathroom if they begged you. You tell yourself that once you get back from vacation and are finally rested and reset, you will have the energy you need to get back on track and get your house in order. 

Sound familiar? Well, a completely counterintuitive but ridiculously satisfying approach to vacation planning would be to do the exact opposite of what you want to do, and do all your chores before you leave, not after you come back. 

Be good to yourself. The best vacation gift you can give yourself is to do all that cooking and cleaning now, before you leave, and give your future self the joy of returning to a clean home. Why squander all the peace and rest you built up during vacation by having to clean a dirty house when you get back? Stretch your vacation by coming home to a house where everything is already done. It’s a cheap and easy way to extend your vacation by a week. 

As tired and as ready for rest as you may be in the days leading up to your vacation, ignore all your instincts and clean the house now. Do all the laundry, clean the bathroom/s, change the bedding, throw a few meals in the freezer, and declutter all the surfaces. You will never, ever regret the decision to clean before a vacation.

Totally Random Sidebar

While you are on vacation, consider the following completely random but absolutely stunning fact: According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Sun is 93 million miles away from Earth (solarsystem.nasa.gov). Yet, even with that mind-boggling distance between our planet and its blazing star, you can feel the Sun’s warmth directly on your skin. As you bask in the sunlight and warmth of your vacation destination, don’t forget how utterly magical that moment really is.

Copyright 2023 Kesel Wilson (entirely, 100% human-created)

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