How to Prepare Your Home for Vacation

June 2, 2024

Editor’s Note: Author Peggy Carlaw is a Global Travelers’ member currently living in New Zealand. You can find more of her valuable travel tips on her website: The Smart Travel Guide and by subscribing to her weekly newsletter.

Rotary Global Travelers are off again!

Interesting new sights, exciting service projects, and new Rotary friends await.

But have you thought about what’s going on inside your home while you’re away? The last thing you want is to come home to find your kitchen flooded or a window broken and your valuables missing.

Whether you’re off on a weekend getaway or an extended trip, you want to ensure your home is in tip-top shape so you won’t have to worry about anything while you’re gone.

The following checklist will help you prepare your home for vacation so it’s safe for your return.

Secure your house
Make sure all windows and exterior doors are locked. Put a security bar on the track of your sliding doors, and be sure your garage doors are locked.
Unplug appliances
Unplug non-essential appliances to lower the risk of fire. And unplug anything connected to an extension cord.
Adjust thermostats
Set your air conditioner higher during the summer and your heating system lower during the winter. If you expect the weather to fluctuate, install a smart thermostat that you can adjust with your phone.
Stop mail, newspapers, and package delivery
Put mail on hold and cancel any newspapers or deliveries. If you’ll be gone longer than 30 days, use a mail-forwarding service that can scan your mail for you.
Set up online bill payment
Paying your bills online will ensure you won’t incur any late fees or missed due dates. Set this up in plenty of time before you leave to ensure it is working correctly.
Clean your house and yard
Keeping your house and yard clean helps to keep pests away and an overgrown lawn is a welcome sign to burglars.
Empty your refrigerator
This will prevent food from spoiling in case of an outage and is also one of the easiest ways to save energy.
Set up automatic lights.
Automating a few lights to come on and off at different times throughout the day and night can deter burglars. This gives the appearance that someone is home.
Arrange for house and/or pet sitters
Having a sitter ensures your home stays in tip-top shape and mail doesn’t pile up. If something goes wrong, your sitter can notice it before it becomes a bigger problem.
Turn off the water
Internal water leaks are the number one cause of property damage!
Prepare your car
Park inside if possible. If you’ll be gone for a long time, fill up the gas tank to keep moisture from accumulating and keep seals from drying out, and get a charger to trickle-charge your battery while you’re gone.

For more details on each of the above, visit the Smart Travel Guide’s post on How to Prepare Your Home for Vacation.

And be sure to download the free companion checklist which you can reuse for each trip.