Are you going on a vacation this summer with your entire family? That’s great. But have you taken all the necessary precautions to keep your home safe while on holiday? If you haven’t done that already, you could be in trouble when you get back.
10 Safety Tips to Keep Your Home Safe While on Holiday
Here are a few ways you can secure your home while on holiday.
- Ask a friend to help
- Don’t post your location on social media
- Don’t leave your curtains closed
- Avoid leaving your lights on
- Remove the emergency key
- Put valuables in a locker
- Stop your daily newspaper delivery
- Pull the plug on your electronics
- Turn off the gas and water valves
- Lock all the doors and windows
You should consider following these home safety tips while travelling to prevent any unfortunate incidents and break-ins.
Ask a friend to help
It’s always better to get someone trusted to act as your house-sitter while you’re on vacation. However, if that’s not a possibility, you should ask a friend or a relative to occasionally drop by your house to make sure everything is alright. They can also open the windows to air out the rooms and check if all of your electronic appliances are working properly. Not to mention, they can also water your plants while you are away.
Moreover, the occasional activity will further vacation proof your home by keeping robbers and thieves at bay, as they might mistake your home for not being empty.
Don’t post your location on social media
We all love posting our vacation photos in real time to all of our social media accounts. Unless your Instagram and Facebook profiles are set on private mode, which means only a trusted few can fawn over your holiday shots, avoid updating your location on social media. The reason being that it could tip off people (and potential robbers) that your house is empty.
Another thing you can do is turn off your location settings, so your followers won’t really know where you are at that exact moment. For all they know, you could be back from the holiday and uploading all those photos from the safety of your own home.
This is one of the best ways to keep your home safe while on holiday.
Don’t leave your curtains closed
Another way to keep your home safe while on vacation is to not leave your curtains or blinds closed. Of course, you might feel a little uneasy keeping your curtains open and inadvertently allowing anyone to peer inside your home. However, this is somewhat a necessity as permanently closed curtains indicate that the place is currently empty.
The best way to leave your house when going on holiday is to lock all the windows and partially closed the curtains. This will ensure your entire house isn’t visible to everyone while also tricking people into believing someone’s home.
Avoid leaving your lights on
Is it safe to leave lights on while on vacation?
The answer is no.
One of the first few steps to vacation proof your home include installing a timer for your lights. While you can easily order an electronic timer online, you can also ask a friend or a neighbour to act as one in case it’s impossible to install the actual thing.
The thing is if you leave your porch or garage lights on before leaving for your trip, the lights blazing on throughout the day and night would definitely draw unwanted attention to your home. Moreover, it will also affect your electricity bill.
Remove the emergency key
If you’re preparing your house for an extended vacation, don’t forget to remove the emergency key you have hidden outside your main door. While you may think your hiding spot is incredible, robbers might be able to figure out sooner than you’d expect. Of course, you should leave a set of house keys with a trusted someone for emergencies. But don’t leave one out for thieves to freely access your home in your absence.
You can also keep your home safe while on holiday by investing in an alarm system. It might be a little expensive but think of it as a one-time investment to secure your home.
Put valuables in a locker
Remove all expensive electronic items and valuables before leaving your house empty while on holiday. While you can leave your laptop, DVD players and even TV with a relative or a friend, things such as gold and other jewellery items should be kept in a bank. This will not only keep your precious possessions safe but also give you peace of mind during the vacations.
You must make sure you’re following these home safety tips while travelling if you don’t want anyone breaking into your place.
Cancel daily newspaper delivery
If you have subscribed to any weekly or bi-weekly magazine service, make sure to unsubscribe before leaving for vacations. Similarly, you must stop your daily newspaper delivery so that there isn’t a stack of old papers outside your home, alerting every passerby that the place is empty. This is one of the simplest and perhaps the most underrated ways to keep your home safe while on holiday.
Furthermore, if you are expecting to receive any important parcels or packages while you’re away, ask the courier company to deliver it to a friend’s address.
Pull the plug on your electronics
Protect your home while on vacations by unplugging all the electronic devices and appliances before leaving. The list includes television, desktop computers, air conditioners or split ACs, mobile chargers and microwave ovens to name a few. However, you might want to keep your refrigerator and deep-freezer on so that your food doesn’t go bad.
Some electronic items draw energy even after you’ve turned off the switch. Therefore, pulling the plug on such devices will also lower your monthly electric bill. In addition, you won’t have to worry about any power surges or voltage fluctuations damaging your appliances or even starting a fire.
Turn off the gas and water valves
Keep your home safe while on vacation by turning off the water and gas valves before leaving. This will vacation proof your home by protecting it against any unfortunate plumbing leaks or kitchen fires. Not to mention, this will also cut down your utility bills since no one would be at home to use water and gas anyways.
This cost-effective preventive measure will secure your home while on holiday so that you don’t have to worry about any of these things during your trip and can simply have a good time.
Lock all the doors and windows
This one is a no-brainer.
In order to secure your home while on holiday, you need to secure all the windows, doors and other entrances into your home. If you have any sliding doors or windows, you can make them even more secure by putting a piece of metal pipe in the track so that even if a robber manages to break the lock, they won’t be able to slide open the door.
It is also recommended to lock all the drawers and closets in your home and then leaving the keys at a trusted friend’s place to minimize the threat of a robbery. You can also ask your neighbours to keep an eye on the property before leaving the house empty while on holiday.
Meanwhile, if you are planning on spending your summer vacations exploring tourist destinations within the country, check out some of the dos and don’ts of travelling to the northern areas of Pakistan. Furthermore, for those who love taking road trips, don’t forget to take a look at the list of five incredible road trips everyone must take at least once in their lifetime.
For more information on where to go this summer and how to keep your home safe while on holidays, please visit Zameen Blog, one of the best lifestyle blogs in the country.
