After many vacations, coming home is a welcome treat. You can sleep in your own bed, hug your favorite couch pillow, and if you have pets, pick them up from the pet sitter/pet boarding house for an emotional reunion. Remembering to clean before you go, however, is a good way both to have peace of mind on your trip and a relaxing homecoming.
1. No Bugs
If you go off on vacation without having cleaned the kitchen, the space in front of the place you sit on the couch when you watch TV, or even under your computer chair, then you very likely will have lots of little friends visiting. They’ll come in to have a hearty snack on the crumbs, remnants of oil and/or butter, and other assorted edible detritus around the house. It’d be smart to vacuum and mop the floors, clean and wipe the countertops, and even toss stuff that’s close to the expiry date in the refrigerator. After all, the stuff that’s close will likely expire while you’re on your trip.
2. Gives You Peace of Mind
You’ve all seen the movies where people go on some sort of road trip, or other vacation, only to experience stress and/or anxiety about having forgotten something. That “something” could be cleaning up before leaving. Worrying about all the “little friends” who’ll be visiting your house if you forget to clean the kitchen is a fine way to ruin your mood on vacation. If, however, you’ve cleaned the house before leaving, then you can think better and more enjoyable thoughts while you’re away.
3. Doing the Laundry
We’ve all heard the jokes and funny stories at family dinners about people who pack too much. If you’re sensible and don’t try to pack everything you own before leaving, then there will be clothes left behind. If you do the laundry shortly before you leave, then you will arrive back home with full drawers and an empty hamper. The added bonus is that if you’ve planned what you’re going to take with you on vacation, then by doing the laundry, you’ll be able to see if you’ve forgotten to pack an outfit, pair of shoes, or what have you.
4. The Most Important Reason of All
You won’t have to do it when you get back. Imagine that you’ve been gone for a month. You’ve had dances under the stars on a Danube cruise, tanned on Copacabana Beach, taken a boat ride through the Nile River, hiked in the Great Smoky Mountains, hopped the Orient Express, climbed up and down all 1,665 steps of the Eiffel Tower, and seen the Mayan Ruins. You get home, jet-lagged and exhausted, and you just want to fall down and sleep for a week. Now, imagine that you’ve got four loads of laundry to do, the kitchen to clean, “little friends” to catch and evict, vacuuming, dusting, and all the rest of the cleaning as well. If you have already done it before you left, then the only thing you have to do upon your return is dust. And, the dusting can wait until the morning.
Daniel 
Sarah Ross