I am a bit of a neat-freak when it comes to going on vacation. I like everything in the house to be as clean as possible. And I am probably not the only one. That feeling of clean can do wonders for the psyche – at any time. And I find that especially coming home from vacation I am more grateful for clean bed sheets, swept floors and vacuumed rugs, and most of all an empty refrigerator.
For some reason, an empty fridge makes me feel really happy!
Most people probably clean out their fridge when they go on vacation for longer than a week. While there are a few items like condiments and eggs that can last for a week, all perishable fruits and veggies will only stand to leave you with more of a disaster when you return home if they aren’t tossed before you go. And I know this, so I cleared out everything from every drawer before I happily left for our annual 2 week vacation to our family home in Martha’s Vineyard.
It was a beautiful vacation! I have to say, we tend to luck out in the weather department each year and this year was no different. While many at home were experiencing off-the-charts high humidity and heat, we had full sun, a bit of a breeze, and a beach to cool us off just about every day.
It is always sad to come home from vacation but I swear, there is a different feeling when you come home to a clean slate.
Like an empty fridge. It completely beckons you to start fresh – especially when it comes to with what you will fill the fridge. But this this time I decided to take advantage of that empty-fridge situation and clean. As in the whole fridge. I did this task a few months ago, but… you might never have know that. With a totally empty fridge it was too-obvious-to-miss how badly the drawers needed some love. So I took them both out and started scrubbing!
And that my friends made filling feel awesome!
I mean it. When things are clean it makes you feel light and happy. In this case, I was actually excited to go food shopping. And I am telling you, I do not love to do food shopping. It’s boring and monotonous. But I was absolutely ready to go once my fridge was sparkling. And even happier to stock it full of veggies for the week.
I know it probably sounds trivial that something so simple can provide such happiness. But I’ll take trivial, and simple any day if it makes me that happy.
Coming home from vacation is sad enough. Any bit of joy I can add in, works for me.
It all sounds perfectly reasonable! This vacation we left the fridge empty (mostly) and clean. Especially knowing the fact that food would have gone off if we left it made more sense. Coming home from vacation to a clean, empty fridge is a beautiful thing.
It is a beautiful thing!
This post is right up my alley. A clean fridge, fresh food. What a great start to the week! So simple and gratifying.
No better way to start the week, right? Thanks for reading!