subject: House For Exchange? Don't Forget To "clean House" Before Your House Swaps [print this page] You're preparing for your first house exchange, but even veteran home swappers forget things before their house swaps. You've remembered to get all the spoiled leftovers out of the fridge and have changed the bed sheets, vacuumed and swept the garage. So now what? Here are a few things 1st time home swappers tend to forget before their first home swap:
1. Don't forget to leave directions how to check the messages on the answering machine. Cell phones have helped quite a bit with this lately, but if you're exchanging with folks from outside the states, you and they will definitely not want to be making the expensive calls TO an international number FROM and international location. That tends to get quite expensive. And questions will definitely come up. A basic desktop answering machine is usually no big deal, but as systems have been moving "inside the phone" lately, you'll have to make sure your home exchange partners know how to access the answering service and have the required password. When I first arrived in Costa Rica, I had absolutely NO IDEA how to run the washing machines, but this is basic knowledge to Ticos. Had I not been able to contact Angel, I would have been pretty raunchy by the end of our stay.
2. Don't forget to clean out your bedside tables. I imagine we all keep some interesting little gadgets, items sealed for your protection, or just plain erotic tinkerings there within our reach. You might be embarrassed when you read "Thanks for the gift" - semi-colon - parentheses - on your guest's thank you note when you return home.
3. Check ALL your video devices, including your bedroom VCR or DVD player, your living and family room devices, as well as the computers' CD/DVD slots for objectionable material. YOU know what I mean.
4. The home alarm system. Unless you're planning to give your swappers the scare of their lives, please be sure you inform them how to use the system, and don't forget to let any monitoring company know of your swap and newest residents.
5. If you're swapping the car as well, just remember that one of the most frustrating moments when you got your new car was pulling up to the gas station for the first time and not having any clue how to pop the gas door open. On one of my vehicles, it took me a whopping and extremely embarrassing 8 minutes before another Subaru owner pulled in, and sweating and beat red, I asked as nonchalantly as I could for some of that bobbing for apples, sweet and basic kind of help.
6. This has happened to me. You're in a hurry, laundering the last of your "holiday" attire and still worrying about cleaning up every speck of dirt off the back patio. Inevitably, someone's going to forget a load in the washer or dryer. Now imagine getting to your new home swap home and finding your home swap partners' tighty-whities or worn and withered silksters still in the dryer. Turning the buzzer on on the dryer can help, but oftentimes leaving them in the washer is worse for then they have to place them into the dryer for you or else they will mold. Then they'll be left somewhere in the laundry room, usually visible, for the duration of the stay.
7. Please, please don't forget to get the hair out of the tub drain.
If you have not idea what I'm talking about, you might want to consider doing some more research on home exchanges, which allow you to minimize your vacation costs in several ways. For more information, check out www.houseswaps.org/houseforexchange or www.homeexchanges.net/houseswaps
