Beach House 101

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pay your own full share for the house rental. Don't be a mooch. The other adults will respect you more, and that makes all adult relationships easier.

OP here. We *are* paying for our full share of the rental, and we are not "mooches." Thanks for assuming otherwise. All adults respect one another in this group at all times, regardless of who pays. We are a family of well-behaved adults who actually like one another. Crazy, huh?

Thanks to all others who have given good tips!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we go to the beach with three other families every summer. Each family is in charge of dinner and cleaning up one night. We do leftovers one night, bring in pizza one night and go out to dinner twice. Everyone is on own for other meals and snacks. every family does one big grocery run. We try not to worry about who bought what b/c it will make you crazy and for the most part it evens out with our group

We do basically the same. Every adult is responsible for one dinner and then there is a night of pizza or leftovers. Breakfast and lunch we all fend for ourselves when we are hungry. There are couple boxes of cereal, eggs, fruit, bagels, etc. that we all share. Lunch is sandwiches, salad or leftovers from dinner. No set time for dinner. Drinks start getting mixed and poured, put out some small appetizers and then we soon start gathering for dinner.

For the grocery run - we each get something our family likes for breakfast and lunch and that all gets shared.

You can buy everything there, but bring some ingredients that you may just need a small quantity of. Last year someone brought a small tupperware of flour. She needed it for a recipe and it would be ridiculous to buy a big bag of flour there. Ziplock bags from home were useful too.

[Anonymous]

Like the PP who said she might want to be at the beach at 'dinnertime' --

Just figure out what kind of rough schedule people want to keep. Do they like their kids to eat at 6pm sharp every night? Are they more relaxed? Just knowing can make things calmer for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pick a house that turns on Friday. Do not plan to go anywhere on Saturday afternoon.

+1 Thos year I'm renting my beach house on off day turnover - it makes it easier with traffic.

[Anonymous]

When I go with folks, we generally provide for our own breakfasts and lunches, although we share stuff if others are interested. It's fun to try new foods. And then we rotate on meals. We all usually go out at least once for dinner as well.

Each person is responsible for their bedroom and bathroom. We all agree to do a once-over of the whole house before we leave.

I always take linens and towels then take them home to wash.

My mom owns a beach house and she puts a list on the fridge door with wifi password, trash day, tennis court keys, pool pass, etc. But like a PP said, it can't hurt to ask upfront.

[Anonymous]

Make sure the some aren't making plans for all. It might be "dinnertime" and the some want to fish. Or swim. Or stay on the beach - too much planning tends to ruin vacations for others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make sure the some aren't making plans for all. It might be "dinnertime" and the some want to fish. Or swim. Or stay on the beach - too much planning tends to ruin vacations for others.

Well then how does that work if each family makes a meal for everyone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people make this stuff harder than it needs to be. If you can't easily figure this out don't go on vacation with these people. All of this who cooks and cleans what and when ruins the whole vacation part. Just be adults.

I agree. I frequently vacation with my extended family (8 adults, 7 kids total). We did take turns providing dinner one night out of the week, but dinner could be ordering pizza or cooking frozen lasagna, which is what I did because I don't want to cook on vacation. It wasn't required to everyone join for dinner or anything. Everybody brought food or purchased it once they got there and we all shared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people make this stuff harder than it needs to be. If you can't easily figure this out don't go on vacation with these people. All of this who cooks and cleans what and when ruins the whole vacation part. Just be adults.

Cooking and cleaning is not my idea of a vacation. OBX is overrated.

[Anonymous]

My family takes turns (and when we beach vacation, we are a crew of about 12 adults and 12 kids; so cooking 1 night is a chore but each couple usually only cooks once). I usually prefer to make ahead a couple of casseroles, freeze it for easy transport. That way, "my night to cook" usually involves unthawing and heating the casseroles, and hitting the grocery store for fresh salad ingredients and bread. Otherwise, it is sandwich stuff and snacks, which we bring with us. Along with lots of la Croix. And bourbon.

Do be sure you know more or less what is supplied in terms of pots and pans and spoons and such.

[Anonymous]

my favorite meals to cook are done outside on the grill and not casseroles or anything using the oven and heating the house.

[Anonymous]

We frequently travel with another family for skiing. People do their own thing for breakfast (we get plenty of supplies), and dinner is a group activity, although it's a little easier since everyone is basically on the same schedule. We just buy everything when we are there since we are all flying in so the advance prep is nothing. We usually eat out about every 3rd day to make it easier. We do simple meals like pastas and salad, or rotisserie chickens and sweet potatoes. No real advance planning because we know it will all work out.

At our beach house lunch is a make your own sandwiches picnic with chips and watermelon or some other fruit. Simple is good. Dinner is usually grilled.

Agree that it can be helpful to take things you might need a small amount of. Spices tend to be the most expensive things to buy to get 1t of something. At least with oils and vinegars you can bring them home and use them up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people make this stuff harder than it needs to be. If you can't easily figure this out don't go on vacation with these people. All of this who cooks and cleans what and when ruins the whole vacation part. Just be adults.

Cooking and cleaning is not my idea of a vacation. OBX is overrated.

I posted the comment questioning why people make it harder than it needs to be. I vacation in outerbanks. How much cooking cleaning you do is up to you and what services you are willing to pay for. I don't understand why you feel OBX is overrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would suggest a meal rotation if you plan to cook & grill. DH's parents are in charge of dinner on Monday, sister/her husband Tuesday, you/your husband Wednesday, eat out Thursday night, repeat. If you choose what you want to make ahead of time, one family can watch the kids while the other does the grocery run when you arrive. You can bring meats (frozen homemade meatballs and sauce, beef for burgers etc) in a cooler to save money if you are driving, and put in big plastic bins for your car the basic staples like salt, pepper, sugar, spices, toilet paper, paper towels, clorox wipes, and laundry and dishwasher pods. We tend to buy fresh fish once we arrive.

Ask the owner exactly what your responsibilities are. Do you bring your own linens and towels? Do you have to wash them all before you check out or just load the washer? When is trash & recycling day? Usually there's a handbook in the kitchen near the guestbook that has this information along with wi-fi information etc but it never hurts to ask.

Are you my MIL??? Why would you bring meat in a cooler on what's likely a long drive in the summer if you're gonna go to the grocery store once you're there? If you want to penny pinch/coupon by shopping ahead, do it with the non perishables!

If your car space is tight, don't freak out if you can't load up on paper goods, etc. the vast majority of houses (especially if done through a good rental agency or direct through the owner) will leave you with a roll of paper towels, toilet paper in the bathrooms, etc. so you can survive until making it to the store.

Consider bringing/buying paper plates/bowls for some meals and snacks - nothing ruins the vacation feel like someone having to wash dishes 4 times a day for a big group

If the house has a pool, the heating fee is a worthwhile investment if it's early in the season!

I'm not your MIL! We vacation on Kiawah where the one grocery store on the island is quite expensive, so we like to save the money by bringing what we can - and that includes steak, paper towels etc. It also saves time. I'd rather be at the beach than grocery shopping, so we keep that to perishables and fish. HTH.

Are you talking about the Harris teeter on johns? Maybe it's expensive if you normally shop at Aldi...but Kiawah's not exactly a budget beach destination, so that seems a little unlikely.

OP, don't worry too much about the store. If you want to plan ahead, sure, go and pack coolers to your hearts content, but if you shop once you're at the beach, it's fine. Prices are not sky high. For the most part, they're normal stores with normal stuff that families at the beach want and need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spend the extra $150-ish for the linen service.

For not having to deal with our own linens and towels, it was totally worthwhile.

Also, leave the DC area NO LATER than 6am Saturday morning. Otherwise you'll have a traffic nightmare. There's plenty of stuff to do in OBX while you're waiting for the house to open on Saturday afternoon.

In that same vein, consider leaving for home later Saturday night. Because the Sunday go-home traffic is pretty bad, too.

Also, pay attention to construction on I-64. VA 460 is a viable alternative if they're working on 64.

Nowhere in the post does the OP indicate that they're going to NC or the outer banks in particular. But we all bow down to your Obx expert status, pp

Why are you an ass?

I wish I would've known ALL these things prior to our first trip.

Thank you PP.