How to have an uncluttered vacation home?

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How to have an uncluttered vacation home?

(13 posts) (8 voices)

Started 4 months ago by Geauxfrogs
Latest reply from ninakk
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second home

Geauxfrogs
Member

Hi!

Long time lurker, first time poster!

We are about to rent a vacation home (really an apartment, that is only 10 minutes away from where we live) and I'm hoping some of you can help. We are sharing the apartment with another couple and will have it 2 weeks a month. We work, so plan on being there on the weekends. The apartment is fully furnished and has all the necessary kitchen implements and linens. I am just reaching out to you to see if any of you have this situation and how you manage it.

Other than having a dopp kit with our toiletries stay at the apartment, I am looking for tips about food, etc. We will probably eat most meals out, but want to keep some basics in the kitchen. Also, on the weekends when we have the apartment, we may have friends use it instead of us. They may pay us a little $ to use it, but we also thought we should suggest they bring some toilet paper, paper towels, etc. They will also be responsible for washing the linens, taking out the trash when they leave, etc.

If you are in this situation how do you manage it? Since we are just renting, and wont be making any income on this venture, I don't want to have it become a hassle or a chore.

Hope this was not too long winded!

Posted 4 months ago #
liag
Member

I don't understand why you are having a vacation home only 10 min. from your regular home. Anyway--I always take what I need on vacation. If I had a HOME away on vacation, it would seem convenient to have household things there such as dishes and linens. Since yours already has that, what more would you want? Art supplies if the function is to be a studio or a place to pursue hobbies?I guess it depends on the purpose of this second home in the same neighborhood. Maybe you can explain.

Posted 4 months ago #
Geauxfrogs
Member

I should have been clearer. We live right outside New Orleans and the apartment is in the French Quarter. Only 10 minutes away, but a world of difference from the suburb I live in. I guess I am most concerned with groceries. While we will want to eat out a lot, that will become expensive, and I do want to have some basics or staples on hand for us and our guests. Things that won't spoil in between our visits. I also don't want to haul a lot of groceries each weekend. The more turnkey it is for us to go down there, the happier I will be.

Posted 4 months ago #
liag
Member

Ah! Thank you for the clarification. I guess you have just answered your own question: you will have to take fresh items if you need them, but staples can be kept in the apt.--seasonings, oils, if you do cook. We like to eat breakfast in, even when in a hotel, so we take granola, cereal, fruit that we use up before we check out. Snacks would seem to be in order, perhaps coffee/tea, so you don't have to go out every time you desire something small. Maybe you will eat out for just the main meal, in which case sandwich makings, soups, quick things would help. Laissez les bons temps.....

Posted 4 months ago #
liag
Member

Cleaning up tools are a good idea. Perhaps a friction sweeper--not costly--and some spray bottles of whatever you clean up withto go with detergent, soaps. My friend has a vacation condo and said she forgot chip clips (?) and can opener.

Posted 4 months ago #
liag
Member

Sorry to be so forgetful: I always need scissors on vacation.

Posted 4 months ago #
pkilmain
Member

Though it would be costly, I'd think about how you eat on weekend at home, and duplicate the staples at the apartment, maybe in smaller quantities. We rent a vacation home for 3-4 weeks in the winter (somewhere warm) and the first grocery shopping is always a shock. I know now what is a "must have" for me, and I try to buy it in a size I'll use up. There's always some stuff that ends up being left for the next renter - we don't use up even the smallest bottle of ketchup up in that time.

Posted 4 months ago #
bandicoot
Member

it is possible that i am entirely failing to grasp the situation, but it seems to me that setting up and keeping an infrequently used second home only 10 minutes from where you actually live, is the antithesis of decluttering.
it is going to be a lot of extra work and a lot of extra stuff.

Posted 4 months ago #
pkilmain
Member

I thought that too, but decided that was their decision. So basically, it's just like setting up a vacation home a plane/car ride aways, except if you want something else, you can be home, get it, back in under an hour. My sister-in-law and her DH had something similar years ago - before cell phones - where they'd stay at an RV park on the weekends with no phone (he owned his own business) and where they had a pool and other activities for their 2 kids.

Posted 4 months ago #
rutheverhart
Member

I understand bandicoot's desire to comment on the situation, but I will resist. I'll just say this: I would make a list of 3-4 "pantry meals" -- for us this might be linguini with clam sauce, baked lentils, chili, bean enchiladas -- menus where most of the ingredients are canned or dry -- then I would load the cupboards with those items and know I could always have a meal.

I have a friend with a vacation home, she is hyper-organized and a great cook -- and it is just a fact of life to schlepp refrigerated items from one place to another so they don't go bad. Also to realize you have forgotten some essential item. Such is life.

Posted 4 months ago #
Lori Paximadis
Member

The real complication is sharing the space. If you're sharing the responsibility for keeping food staples around, you should sit down with the other couple and make a list of what should always be there and be replaced when it runs out or runs low. Then figure out a way to keep the finances of that fair.

If you're not up for that (and I'm pretty sure that in your situation I wouldn't be, except for very essential basics like salt & pepper & ketchup), suggest that each couple have their own pantry shelf or cupboard to keep their own staples, and make it a rule that if you "borrow" something from the other couple's shelf, you have to replace it right away.

As for what should be there in the staples stash, I'd take a look at a standard list (lots of these on the web and in basic cookbooks) and edit down from there. Then, before going away, make a meal plan and get what you need before you head out. If leftovers won't keep, bring them back with you.

Posted 4 months ago #
susique
Member

the french quarter may only be 10 minutes away from geauxfrogs, but it is another world. enjoy!

Posted 4 months ago #
ninakk
Member

Welcome!

We never had a summer house like a lot of other Finns do have, but instead we always used to go out on the sailing boat. I know the space issue is not the same in a summer house, but what I would definitely do should I ever own a summer house or rent one that would be "mine", I would not make the mistake of schlepping a lot of junk there - like many Finns do. Many of the summer houses have become trash bins with second-grade stuff that is close to dying or broken even and the places are heaping of it too. Not my idea of a refreshing vacation in a soothing environment!

So I'd remember the feeling of taking only the most important things with me on the boat, selecting the cream of the crop and otherwise relying on my imagination to keep me entertained amid the gorgeous nature (in your case apparently wonderful culture experience). The first time I'd be careful not to take "extra" but would rather take a bit too few things to see what I'd miss instead of conclude what was superfluous once I'd be back home again.

Posted 4 months ago #

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