Household tasks to complete before leaving for home this Christmas

Stop right there. We know you’re all excited to go home for the holidays. You’re probably looking around your Leeds student accommodation thinking: “sure, I’ve not done everything but it can all wait until I’ve got back”.

This is the moment you’ll look back on at some point in January and wish you had just gotten everything out of the way. We know you don’t want to, but trust us, you’ll be thanking us later.

So with that in mind, here’s the top five household tasks you’ll want to get done before you head off home for the festive season.

1. Complete essential cleaning jobs

Always a point of contention in any student home, cleaning up is probably the most common cause of conflict in any shared accommodation. However, this is a situation that can, and is, only going to get worse.

This is particularly true in the case of washing up and the emptying out of bins. While clutter will just remain over the holidays, leftover food can make your home a hygiene nightmare in a hurry. So make sure, at the very least, you get these crucial cleaning jobs out of the way before going home for Christmas.

2. Turn off your water stop tap

This simple step can ensure that no unknown leaks wreak havoc in your home while you’re away. Leaking water can cause absolute devastation if left for long enough and it may take a while before you even realise a leak is occurring. This means that you could head off home none the wise that you’ll be coming back to a serious headache.

Happily, this possibility can be nullified completely by turning off your water stop tap. Even if you are pretty sure a leak won’t happen, it’s still worth doing, as water can sit around and become stagnant over a period of several weeks. This can then affect the condition of your drinking water.

3. Make sure you turn off all the lights and heating

This may seem like a fairly obvious step but it’s one which is all too easily forgotten. Imagine the potential size of the energy bill for a constantly lit and heated home over winter. It’s sure to put a serious dent in your January sales spending.

We know that you’re pretty unlikely to leave your shared accommodation lit up like a Christmas tree and burning warm like an open fire. After all, they’re hard things not to notice.

What is easier though is leaving something on to charge for example, or perhaps leaving a bathroom light on. Check everything before you head home to save yourself from any nasty surprises.

4. Ensure you lock up securely

This is another entry which may seem like it’s pointing out the obvious, but how many times have you left the house, headed off on your day, only for a niggling doubt to creep into your mind wondering whether you remembered to lock the door?

Perhaps that even turned out to be the case. However, you may have been lucky enough not to have anything stolen, seeing as there were likely to be a lot of other people around at the time.

During the Christmas period, this won’t be the case. Therefore, when it comes to empty student accommodation Leeds areas become a prime target for potential thieves.

This time of the year presents the perfect opportunity for them to strike, so leaving your door or windows open is a huge risk.

Check every point of entry is locked up and secure, and remove any spare keys you may have hidden under mats or potted plants too. It’s also a good idea to close all your curtains so criminals can’t see if you have left any valuable belongings.

5. Throw away any food that won’t keep

We didn’t list this as one of the general cleaning tasks because we don’t necessarily want you to throw away any food that wouldn’t keep over the Christmas holiday.

We’d much rather you put it to good use. Check if you can freeze any food items in order to make them last until you get home.

If you’re not travelling too far away, you could also consider taking them home with you to see if anyone has use for them. Failing that, you could have a leftover food feast the night before going home.

However, if none of these options seem particularly doable, then it’s best to throw it out with the rest of the rubbish to avoid it stinking up your kitchen.