Any open products left in my fridge by sitters are binned when I arrive home, I don’t want them. I just want a clean empty fridge. I don’t expect sitters to guess how long my leftovers have been sitting there. I empty and clean the fridge, leaving sealed products bought specifically for them and tell them not to replace anything. Is it unreasonable to be be miffed at the fridge not cleaned and leftovers hanging about.
I’m not sure In understand you correctly.are you saying that sitters throw out food that you left in the fridge?
Or do you mean that if they leave open foodstuffs that you will bin them?
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I should have said I throw away any food that sitters leave in the fridge.
I assume they don’t want my leftovers. I don’t want theirs.
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Yes, it is unreasonable to expect the sitters to know what you want without specifically communicating it to them. Also, the food in the fridge is the last thing one would pack, so sometimes items are forgotten.
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I do communicate this to them.
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Definitely not unreasonable to expect the fridge to be cleaned.
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Maybe edit your original post to include this. Also, above you mentioned they should make assumptions.
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Well if you specifically ask them to throw away any of their opened food stuffs then no, it’s not unreasonable to expect them to do so.
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If they otherwise took good care of your pets and home, I’d just figure they forgot and I’d let it slide. If they left your home a mess generally, including leaving the fridge for you to clean, then I’d say it would be reasonable to be annoyed.
Personally, I sit with a cleaning checklist for when I leave, to help avoid forgetting. I just wrapped a sit and tossed leftovers and wiped down the fridge shelves I’d used, for example. (That’s typical and a previous host even mentioned in a review how I’d left their home so clean that even the fridge shelves were sparkling.)
My most recent hosts also mentioned how clean I’d left their place, which they said felt like “a gift” after they’d had a long travel day. I did leave three things in the fridge intentionally, though: a bag of grapes and a pear I’d not gotten around to eating and a mostly unused bottle of salad dressing. As my sit was for less than a week and I’d flown in, I figured they’d know it was still fresh and toss it if they didn’t want it.
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Thank you Maggie that’s all I expect. They obviously hadn’t made any attempt to clean the fridge. Spillages dried on shelves, crumbs and opened perishables left inside. I took time and care to leave it sparkling for them. You sound like a fabulous sitter 
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I generally plan my sits and the food I buy so that nothing is left when I leave. But sometimes if I eat out the last night of the sit, there may be a whole bell pepper or a chunk of cheese or a pack of cookies that I’ll leave if I’m flying to/from the sit and I’ll note that I’m leaving it in my final communication. I don’t like wasting food. I don’t leave cooked leftovers. So far in 100+ sits no one has complained or mentioned it in reviews.
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It’s hardly the crime of the century.
We would never throw good food away, so we always leave items in the fridge when we leave.
If it appals you so much, just throw it away yourself.
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It does and I do. But leaving a dirty fridge at the end of a sit is unacceptable.
By the way your profile is fabulous and I’d be happy to have you sit for me
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I don’t leave any of my leftovers behind, all packed to take home, even the last broccoli floret.
Mr Itchyfeet left a can of Guinness behind this year and the HOs told us about this and could Mr HO drink it. All very convivial
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If it’s really important to you, make sure it is clear in writing on your Welcome Guide and seek out sitters whose reviews indicate cleanliness. Many sitters and HO’s are super fastidious, but not all. Be clear about your expectations so everyone is on the same page.
I might mark them down one star on cleanliness for spillage and crumbs if it was bad or the whole house was not cleaned well, but if my pets and home are good I consider it a win. I do think the fridge/freezer sometimes gets overlooked with all the other necessary chores, packing, and moving a sitter does on the last day. I can’t tell you how much sitter food I’ve thrown away or used, especially frozen foods and condiments. And sometimes it’s fresh pie or homemade sourdough, so there can be perks too! Everyone is different, it just important to be clear.
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I wouldn’t say I was ‘super fastidious’. I just want the fridge in the same condition as I left it. In fact if the fridge was cleaned I probably wouldn’t be so bothered by the food left in it.
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I leave a lot comprehensive information about my home and pet care for sitters. I realize that a lot of sitters don’t read all of it. That’s reality.
I’d recommend for the stuff you really care about that more than one sitter has gotten wrong more than one time, you do something a little more explicit. A polite sign on your fridge might do the trick. Something explaining what is for them and asking them to please bin everything leftover.
Realize that your instructions may be counterintuitive for some people and just feel wrong even if you have your reasons.
I have specific instructions, for instance, about how I’d like bedding left, and there are specific reasons why this works for me. For some reason, this seams difficult for some sitters. To make sure it happens, I now try to verbally mention it. I moved the place where I mention it to make it more visible in my welcome guide where I also have a photo of the bare bed and the linens and blankets on the floor beside it. My new plan is to also have this on a card left in the bedroom.
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Well we have only done 3 sits so far and non had sparkling clean empty spaces in fridge or freezer. Some so full we had to juggle stuff around to fit ours in.
They have all been happy for us to eat veg etc that would spoil before they come back. Equally we would think they may like our extras that we can’t take with us.
But if I had come to a sparkling clean fridge then yes it should be left that way.
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