I always amuses me that people think “running an Airbnb” is passive income. It’s busy, it’s fun, and I love it. But passive, it isn’t!
Here’s a glimpse behind the scenes to a particularly manic Monday last month…
5:00
Alarm goes off. Wakes up husband, dog and cat.
Aarrrghghhggg. Too early.
6:00
Husband leaves for work.
Try for more sleep. Am walked on by cat.
7:00
Get up. Feed cat. Feed dog. Find a dead mouse.
Think about feeding the cat TO the dog, but feed the tortoises instead.
Tidy the kitchen (why can’t we do this the night before?)
Put some dried beans on to soak. Planning ahead! Go me!
Put clothes in the washer.
Bella loves Tilly. Tilly’s not impressed.
8:00
Tea and computer time.
Work through my inbox. Reply to emails. Pay bills. Do the accounts. Photograph receipts and shove them into a folder which is about to burst, so…
… Buy new folders online. (The new ones must match the old ones, obviously).
And while I am at it, I update the subscription for loo-roll.
Pay a tonne of bills including the plumber who replaced the broken shower, and Scottish Water who emptied the septic tank – hopefully just a coincidence….
10:00
Roz and her husband arrive to clean the cottage.
The three of us put the double bed back together after it had been split into twins. It is easier than we expected. Go us!
Back to the accounts – living the dream, here, living the dream!
Read an email about guest blogging and offer my services. Would rather blog than do accounts. This might be part of the problem…
The main bedroom set up as twins and as a super-king (we’ve been rearranging the pictures too).
11:00
Roz rings – not enough single sheets! Yikes!
This should not happen, but we are short of singles sheets because we are fuller this year – woot woot! This was a nice problem, until it wasn’t. I ordered some linen last week but it’s not yet arrived. Eeeek!
I grab a couple of sheets from the dirty laundry pile and shove them into my washer.
I bundle the rest of the linen into the car and take it down to the laundry, and find there are some sheets to pick up! YAY! I love our laundry. It’s good karma for paying their bills earlier in the day. I literally could not run the cottage without them.
Phew!
Happiness is a full laundry cupboard!
12:30
Have lunch. Or is it breakfast?
Sausages and hash browns for the win, whatever the meal is called.
Turn over the dishwasher.
Put the sheets into the dryer even though we don’t need to use them now, but I mistrust the weather.
13:00
Back to the computer.
Why do I let a month’s worth of admin pile up? The same reason I have to tidy the kitchen in the morning, I guess.
Accept an invitation to a call about the guest blogging.
The photographer WhatsApps me – he’d rather not change the day for the photoshoot. Fair enough. I WhatsApp the person who enquired and say “sorry, we cannot manage those dates”.
Put the beans on the hob to cook.
Get tickets to attend a community consultation on local tourism. Sounds interesting.
The electrician texts confirming the date for the annual PAT tests. Committed to safety, but don’t love the admin.
Move the beans onto the simmering plate.
15:30
Pop over to the cottage to set up the welcome basket for the guests.
Realise I have forgotten to buy flowers and a local paper.
Go to Tesco and stock up on Oat milk, Gluten Free and Vegan biscuits and chocs, and get flowers and the local paper too. This is the second unplanned trip out today.
Always a warm welcome at the Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage.
16:15
Guests have not yet arrived – Yay!
Set up the welcome basket in the cottage.
16:30
Go down to my neighbour for a cup of tea and a catch up.
Find another neighbour just leaving.
Blether, and try the Gluten Free biscuits in the name of product research.
Repeat. The biscuits really are rather good.
Spend some time adoring her dogs.
18:00
Arrive home just as my husband does.
Guests are here, but I don’t disturb them. Husband sees them a bit later and makes friends with their dog.
Find the beans have dried out and half are stuck to the pan. Ugh.
Go into the garden and cut some kale and spinach – our first crops of the year.
Make a sag aloo with the kale and spinach, washing up as I go. Ponder the reason why the kitchen needs tidying three times a day. Drink tea.
20:00
Eat curry, pour gin, watch Netflix and knit.
Husband brushes the dog and responds to emails.
22:30
Consider tidying up the kitchen again, but decide it can wait until the morning.
Go to bed.
23:00
Get squashed by the dog who’s feeling affectionate because we went to bed before she was asleep.
Heave the dog off the bed.
Sleep.
Bella says “sleep tight”.
I am Ben. I live at Noss Head Lighthouse with my husband, a small cat and an enormous dog. We welcomed her first guests to The Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage in October 2018, and I keep everything running smoothly with Joy, Kim and Roz, and of course the ladies at Wick Laundry.
