Traveler’s Checklist: Keeping Your Home Safe When You Are Gone

Traveling should be a fun experience, not something that gives you stress and anxiety. You shouldn't be worrying about whether or not you locked the front door. You should be sipping a cocktail on the beach relaxing! Thoughts like that can be a total disaster and can ruin your vacation.

That’s where we come in. Here is a checklist of things to make sure your home is safe and sound and will remain that way until you return. 

Is the security system turned on?

One of the worst things you can do for your home’s defense is not turning on your security system. If your system is operational 24/7, then you’re in luck because you don’t need to worry about it not working during your vacation. Your house is constantly being protected no matter where you are.

Are all the energy suckers turned off?

Such a small thing and yet such an easily forgettable task. Before you leave the house, do a final sweep of the entire house and turn off or unplug anything that will be draining energy. A lot of things drain energy even when you are not using them.

It’s best to make a physical list and cross them out as you turn them off or unplug them. This will help you make sure that everything is turned off and save you money too. Plus they can also be potential fire hazards if not turned off.

Have you stopped your mail?

If you are subscribed to a lot of things like magazines, it might be a good idea to interrupt those services while you are away.

For starters, anything that is delivered to your house and isn’t received by you or someone else might get stolen. Delivery people often leave packages by the front door, meaning it's up for grabs for the first thief that happens to pass by. Secondly, thieves will notice no one is home when mail is piling up by your front door. It’s a clear sign that no one is home.

Do you have a house sitter?

A house sitter is a must when you’re gone for a long period of time. Even more so if you have pets or plants that need to be taken care of.

Unless your pets are coming with you, someone needs to drop by your place daily and give them water and food. The same goes for your plants. They need refreshing and rejuvenating water.

There is also the perk that someone would be constantly coming in and out of your house. For people tempted to break in, it just seems like people are home as usual and will deter them.

Have you given your spare house key to someone?

Oh, you thought you would just leave it in a fake rock? That’s not going to happen. And you can forget about leaving it under the mat or on top of the door frame too. Those are all old tricks which have been done a million times.

If someone goes through the trouble of robbing you, you can be sure that those places will be the first place they check for a key. It’s best to just give the key to somebody. Whether it’s a neighbor you trust, your home sitter, or a relative that lives nearby. It’s important for someone to have in case of an emergency where access to your house is needed.