Weekend Home Checklist

I hope that we have inspired at least one or two of you to consider getting a weekend home.  We have loved our home for the last 6 years.  We are going through a bit of work right now, but even if we knew that we would have to work on the home, we would do it again.  I started thinking about what a person needs to move in to a weekend home.  If you are like my family, we have been collecting things for years at our current home.  It has been a long time since we were college students and moved into a home with almost nothing. 

I found this list and it fits for your weekend home too:
Moving into your first apartment.

My advice to anyone considering a weekend home-

• Keep it simple.  Nothing fussy or hard to clean.  The drapes and bedding are machine washable.  Everything is easy to wipe down, clean up and put away.  Complicated things get the boot at Star Hill. 
• Keep things you like at your home but not things you love.  The reality is that you will spend more time at your city home than your weekend home. I keep clothes that are okay but not great up there.  I hate to pack so we keep clothes in our closet.  I may bring a church outfit or something special, but 90% of the clothes I wear in the country stays up there.  I have tennis shoes, sandals, and flip flops that never come to the city.
• Keep in touch with your neighbors, especially the full time ones.  We know our neighbors.  They are great people and they watch our house for us.  They have even discovered we left a door unlocked once and called us.  They also keep us up to date on what is going on in the neighborhood.
• Keep your supplies up to date.  I keep a shopping list and check for things like toilet paper, paper plates, sugar, flour, foil, nonstick spray, spices, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, trash bags, cleaning supplies, salt and pepper before we leave.  I also have shelf stable canned goods and almond milk at the house.  In the freezer we keep bread, veggies and meat.  It is 20 minutes one way to a really small grocery store that is pretty expensive.  Do I really want to spend my weekend shopping?  I buy the stuff before we leave the city right along with my weekly groceries for home.

Get a programmable thermostat.  Set it so that the air comes on before you get there each week.  Even if you don't make it that week, it is good for the house to have air on regularly. 

Write out the instructions for your home.  We have friends who have used our house when we were not there.  We leave instructions on turning on the hot water heater, where the supplies are, and how to shut the house down before leaving.

Buy extra stuff off season.  I have a supply of swim shoes in a variety of sizes, t shirts, toothbrushes, combs, beach towels, sunglasses, and sunscreen.  I want the friends and family who come to be able to enjoy their visit even if they forgot stuff.  I buy it when it is on clearance and keep it in a basket in the linen closet.

Plan fun into every weekend. 

Have a routine to open and close the house each week.  We can shut the house down in 30 minutes if we are running late and that includes cleaning, turning off the water, taking out the trash and packing. 

Enjoy your home.