Travel planning can be a challenge unless you’re prepared! Thanks to a few mistakes made and lessons learned I have 10 ways to prep your home for travel.
Prep Your Home
Prepping a family for travel is one thing but it can be easy to forget about prepping your home for your family’s absence. Trust me I know how it feels to simply want to get out the door and get the travel fun started BUT in just a few ways you can make sure coming home is just as much fun as leaving – kinda 😉
Clean
One of the most depressing parts of coming home after a vacation is coming to a dirty home after a vacation. That’s why I make it a point to clean as much as possible before we leave that way when we get back I can go straight into vacation recovery mode.
- Floors
- Rugs
- Bathrooms
- Kitchen Counters – you don’t wanna leave any sticky residue to draw bugs or creepy crawlies.
- Wipe down the microwave (inside and out)
- Wipe off the stove top
- Wipe down kitchen tables
Laundry
I never leave the house with laundry to be done. I wash it all. Normally I start about 3 days before we are set to leave which gives me time to forget a load or two in the dryer and still finish in time.
Trash
Take out the trash! No one wants to come home to a house that smells like the trash you had before you left. Trust me we learned this one after neglecting to do this a few times. It wasn’t pleasant at all.
Set It Right
Set your thermostat. That’s right folks. No need to heat or cool the entire house when no one is in it. According to my local electric company, the ideal temperature for your home in the winter is around 68° and in the summer is about 78°.
Light It Up
Leave a few lights on. I know the this may be hard for some of my more energy-saving folks but trust me it’s worth it. You don’t want the entire neighborhood to notice your house is completely dark when it is normally lit up. I try to leave at least one light on for each floor.
Turn Them Tight
Next up is something we forgot during a mini stay-cation and although we didn’t notice it for a bit it is something we will never forget again. Turn off your faucets. Like, go check each bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, water hoses/spouts etc to make sure the water is completely off.
That one time we forgot we ended up with a water bill increase because the tap in our Kiddies bathroom, as well as the water hose in the backyard, had been running for nearly 2 weeks! Let’s just say that was a lesson learned.
Park It
If you have a home with multiple vehicles it’s always a good idea to leave one parked in the driveway. It’s a great way to give the impression that someone may still be home.
Prep Your Neighbors
I admit it. I’m not what many would call the most social of neighbors BUT I always make sure no matter where we move that I have one close neighbor I can call friend and trust.
Letting your neighbor know you will be out-of-town for a while will give you the added protection of having someone aware of your home and what is happening around it. It’s also a great way to avoid giving potential thieves the tell-tale signs of an empty house.
Take In The Trash
This is like a sub-tip to taking out the trash. If I know we will be away during trash pick-up I not only make sure we take our trash cans to the curb but I ask my neighbor to bring them back up. Nothing screams ‘nobody’s home’ than trash cans sitting on the curbs for 5 days.
Collect The Mail
If your travel is going to be long enough for your mail to collect or overflow your box I also suggest you ask your neighbor to collect it for you.
Prep Your Security
These last tips can give an added sense of security when leaving your home for an extended period of time.
Alarm’s On
An alarm system is such an amazing investment for any home whether it be a house or apartment. Yet having it is pretty useless if you don’t turn it on. So be sure to set your alarm and notify your alarm service provider that you will be away.
BONUS
Vacation Checks
Should you not have an alarm you still have options for an added level of security for your home through your local law enforcement agency. Did you know you can notify the local police of your vacation dates and schedule extra patrol of your home? Yep! Kinda cool, right? Just give your local agency a call to learn how to schedule and when.
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8 thoughts on “10 Ways To Prep Your Home For Travel”
Great tips, Mrs Tee. One I might add is to turn off the water faucets for your washer. If a hose on your washer sprang a leak, the water would just be flowing until you got home.
Thanks Jean! Oh wow – that’s one I didn’t think of but definitely something I will consider on our next trip. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for this list! Having good neighbors that will look out for you while you travel is such a blessing!
You’re so very welcome!! Amen! I’m grateful for neighbors I can trust.
We do most of these, but we have never turned off the faucet. That is a great idea, I need to do that the next time we are gone for several days. I believe in putting the mail on hold at the Post Office until we return.
That’s great! I’m happy I had one you didn’t think of. Trust me we learned the expensive way about that one…LOL Oh Yes! I have done that for 2+ week trips. Definitely a great idea!
These are great ideas, especially the cleaning part! I would hate to come home to a junky house after traveling!
Thanks! Yes, coming home to a clean house is such a great feeling.