Vacation Safety for Your Home While You Are Away

Whether taking a weekend road trip, spending the cold winter months in a warmer climate or something in between, ease the worry of conditions at home by taking several precautions. Your choices range from never leaving home to making things look like you have never left home.

• Tell a Neighbor.  Of course, not ALL your Neighbors. Tell A close Neighbor, one you can trust, when you’ll be gone and ask them to keep an eye on things. You might ask them to park a car in your driveway of and on to give the illusion of someone at home.

• Tell the Authorities.  Some communities now have a crime prevention unit of the police department with a vacation security program that will check on your house from time to time.

• Lights On! Lights Off! The use of different timers to operate lights in different rooms of the house at different times will help create the illusion someone is at home.

• Illuminate the Yard. Install exterior motion-detector lighting, especially in the side yard and backyard.

• Secure Sliding Doors. If your home has sliding doors, use a supplemental lock. Old broomsticks or even PVC pipe laid in the door track are effective yet inexpensive means of securing sliding doors.

• Pick Up Your Mail and Newspapers. In today’s electronic world your postal mail volume may have decreased, but the junk mail probably has not. Suspend delivery for the time you’re away. Don’t forget the newspaper. Nothing says “nobody’s home” like a pile of newspapers.

• Sidewalk Shovel. Arrange for someone to regularly clean off the sidewalk in front of your home. In many areas, it is a law, but moreover, a shoveled sidewalk and driveway are signs of an occupied home. Don’t forget the decks and entrances.

• We Are Here! We Are Here! Although the desire to tell the world you’re on a vacation is strong, please consider saving it till your return. Facebook posts or Tweets about your travels are a criminal's Christmas present.

• Temperature Sensors. Install a couple of Temperature Sensors (like the Winter Watchman). These relatively inexpensive units are available at most hardware stores. Install one to operate a lamp with a green or red bulb in a window of the residence, and then notify your watchful neighbors that if they see the light come on, the temperature has dropped and a serviceman must be called.

• Water Pipes. When away from the house for an extended period during the winter, be careful how much you lower the heat. A lower temperature may save on the heating bill, but the disaster you could return to is not worth it. If a cold spell strikes, pipes that normally would be safe can freeze and burst. A good solution is to turn off the water and drain the system, because with no water in the pipes, there is no freezing.

Find more Life Hacks in these pamphlets:

Home Preparation Life Hacks     Guide to Departing Worry Free