You’re all packed for your trip, and you think you have thought of everything your family will need while away, but it is important to consider how to keep your home protected while you are gone. Taking a few steps to ensure your home safe while away on vacation can lend great peace of mind as you travel and relax on your vacation. Here are a few action items you should consider to prevent break-ins and add to your peace of mind while you are away from home.
- Put your mail and newspaper services on hold
If newspapers are piling up on your porch, it is easy to guess that nobody is home. Hold services can often be placed online, so you can have all your mail and papers delivered once you return.
- Arrange for yard maintenance while you are away.
Keeping the lawn trimmed while you are out will keep up the appearance of your home being inhabited and add to your home safety while away on vacation. You can hire a service to take care of cutting the lawn, or maybe you have a friend who can help keep the front yard from looking abandoned. Thieves are lazy, so if it looks like you’re home, they’ll move on.
- Consider your interior and exterior lighting.
Use timers to turn your inside lights on at the right times some downstairs some upstairs and to keep the outdoor lights on at night only. It’s a little thing, but having the porch light on all day may be a giveaway that the lights are one but nobody is home.
- Get good locks on all outside doors and on all windows.
Of course, a window can be broken, but it is easier for a thief to keep a low profile by opening doors or windows that may be easy targets. Install deadbolts on exterior doors and keep a dowel or good window lock on all windows.
- Check all your faucets.
It is a good idea to look at all your faucets indoors and out to make sure they are not leaking. You would not want to come home from vacation to find interior flooding from a sink that should not have been left running.
- Update your homeowners or renters insurance policy.
Having adequate coverage against theft will insure that you can recover your losses should you have a break-in.
By taking a few extra steps before heading off on your travels, you can add to your home safety while away on vacation. Get your home well protected, and take care of safety details now so that you can avoid worries while you are out.
