Your Trip Guru

When you come back from your vacation, you want to find your home peaceful, quiet and in peace. The last thing you want is to have to deal with break-ins, fires, rotting food or trash and other horrible side effects of an empty home. A few props, timers and preventative measures will ensure that you retain your peace of mind while you’re gone and return to a pleasant, secure home.

(1) Leave your window blinds and curtains in their normal positions. If they’re closed all the way, they’ll give the notion that no one is home. But don’t leave any open that give potential thieves a direct view of your valuables.

(2) Make a photocopy of your passports or drivers’ licenses, along with credit/debit card numbers and the contact numbers for your bank. Place it in a preserved cover and leave it with a trusted friend or family member while you’re gone, in case your wallet gets stolen and you need to get replacements fast.

(3) Arrange to have pets taken care of by a trustworthy friend or family member, or hire a pet sitter. It’s good to have someone once in a while parked in your driveway and going in and out of the house. Make sure you leave enough food, litter, medication and other items your pets will need for the duration of your trip. The pet caretaker can also water your plants, bring in mail, change the position of the window blinds and any other small tasks that need to be done.

(4) Stop delivery of your mail and newspapers, or have an important person bring it within. Newspapers sitting in a pile on your lawn before an overflowing mailbox are sure signs to thieves that you’re not home.

(5) Inform your auto, fire and health insurance policies before you leave. You want to make sure every thing’s accurate, in the off chance that something does occur.

(6) Cut the lawn the day before you leave. If you’ll be gone long enough for it to get out of control again, arrange to have a friend or neighbor mow it for you.

(7) Put outside lighting either on motion detectors, light-sensitive photo mechanisms or timers.

(8) Use timers for indoor lighting as well. If you can, get the kind that randomly turns lights on and off quite than doing it at the same time every day. Replace all the light bulbs with fresh ones to ensure they don’t burn out while you’re gone.

(9) Write out a trip route with contact numbers for each place you’ll be staying, and leave it with a friend or neighbor along with a spare key to your house. Don’t place keys in any of the usual hiding places – thieves know them all.

Warnings

(1) not at all leave an outgoing message on your answering machine that indicates that you’ve gone on vacation, or set your e-mail to auto-reply while you’re gone.