Owning a Beach Home: Preparing for the Unexpected

I’m not a big shopper. I tend to stay out of the stores whenever possible and rarely spend money on unnecessary items, but when I do shop I often find myself lured to certain departments. Take the home and bedding departments for example. Ever since I purchased my beach home I’ve been on the look out for comforters and rugs.

The reason is simple; renters tend to spill every item imaginable on our linens and in my opinion nothing is grosser than sleeping with a blanket covered in stains. I do my best to clean out the blankets at the end of the rental season, but sometimes the stains just won’t come out and the linens are sent off to the donation center.

A lot of times the blankets aren’t terribly soiled, but a few stains here and there are enough to make a renter choose a different house the following year, so I do my best to clean them and when all else fails I head out in search of news ones. Lately I find myself searching for spare comforters knowing that I’ll need to replace them sooner or later.

I’ve looked at a whole host of online stores and found great bargains on quite a few. I found a number of colorful, modern bedding options as well as a bunch of beachy rugs and wall art. I tend to search for items that are high quality, but also highly discounted.

I want my guests to recognize the quality of the products in our home, but I also need to be very price conscious when purchasing items with brand names. When I’m not scouring the Internet for deals I find myself lured to the bedding and decorating departments at a host of discount stores including Marshalls, TJ Maxx and Burlington Coat Factory. In fact, when I enter one of these stores I typically find myself lured to the back of the store in search of a bargain.

When I find a really good deal I buy a spare comforter, rug or other household item. Every few months I load these items into our car, drive them to our beach home and store them in an owner’s closet.

Just this past week I came down to the beach to find a soiled shower curtain that could not be repaired. Rather than running out to the store and paying full price I pulled a colorful, beachy curtain out of the closet that I purchased at 75% off the retail price.

Within a matter of minutes I replaced the old shower curtain with the new one. I saved money by purchasing the item in advance and didn’t waste any time on my vacation searching for the replacement.

5 thoughts on “Owning a Beach Home: Preparing for the Unexpected”

  1. I wish all owners were like you, if I were to see a stain on my bedding I would spend all night awake wondering what had caused it. I have even been known to take my own bedding on holiday with me just in case. ( obviously that is if we drive to where we are staying. )

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  2. You might try that new Oxi-Clean gel stick. I decided to try it because I seem to always have grease stains, and my 19-year-old son is really hard on his clothes. It's gotten out old stains that have been washed and dried multiple times! I'm not usually brand-loyal, but I'll definitely get this stuff again. (When it's time. It has actually lasted a good while.)

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  3. I've had much success soaking stained linens in Oxy-clean. I had a pair of pillowcases made by my great aunt; they're at least 40 years old, if not 50. They were yellowed from being used (hair oil, etc). It took about a week, but the Oxy-clean removed every trace of the yellow and I can now use these pillowcases happily. I also had a comforter that was bloodstained (injured pet). Worked well again.

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