We go on vacation to unwind, relax and have a good time; we’ve worked hard for those precious vacation days. They are well deserved, so we shouldn’t have to worry about our home while away. However, sometimes all hell breaks loose and disaster happens. There’s nothing more unpleasant than to come back from vacation and discover that your house has been ransacked or worse, vandalized! Believe me, we’ve been there; it’s devastating and ruins all the benefits of having taken a vacation.
Being victims of a break-in where we had some cherished items stolen and worse, our privacy invaded, was very disturbing to say the least. Shortly after our burglary, we added a security system with 24-hour monitoring, security bars to our basement windows and as a further deterrent even planted a thorny rose bush under the window where the burglar had entered.
As many of you are likely to travel during the upcoming holiday season to visit family and friends, we wanted to share with you some of our home safety tips to keep your house secure while away and spare you some heartache.
Here are 10 things to do and consider about making your home less of a target:
- A burglar is likely to choose the house with the least risk. Good lighting, either on for the evening or triggered by motion detectors, and good locks are all discouraging factors.
- Consider an alarm system and put out the visible sign or stickers as a deterrent. Many only buy these after a bad experience (like we did, after losing some things that were irreplaceable). You can also beef up your own security with bars on lower windows, hidden cameras or motion detection lighting.
- Trim bushes and trees that are next to windows, don’t give burglars a good way to hide from view as they break in.
- Stop your mail (may only be possible for 30 days at a time). You don’t want parcels piling up on your front steps!
- Put a ‘no solicitation’ sign, you don’t want flyers and promotions being left on the doorknob to sit there for weeks while burglars cruising the neighborhood see that no one is taking them in.
- Tell a trusted neighbor that you are going out-of-town for a few days or weeks. Some prefer not to say anything but we always liked to tell a friendly neighbor. At least, if a moving truck shows up and they know you are not home, they may call the police. They may also look from time to time for parcels/flyers and even help put out bins for garbage and recycling for you.
- Get some timers or a home automation system. Think about installing a camera monitoring system. We have installed a wireless camera setup (Arlo), which sends emails or alerts through an app when motion is detected. We can also live-stream and check on our cat to make sure she’s ok.
- Consider a remote doorbell system that works with an app on your phone. When someone comes to the door you get an alert and you can see who’s at the door.
- Make sure you have services in place for lawn and pool care (or snow removal) as well as other required maintenance (ex: raking leaves), which won’t make it obvious that you are not home.
- Draw blinds and sunshades to help with keeping the house cool in summer, but in winter leave them open on upper floors to have the sun heat the home. Just don’t leave a clear view into your empty house.
Just a few ideas to help you worry less about home and keep your body AND your mind at your vacation destination wherever that might be!
If you have other tips for keeping your house secure while going away on vacation that you would like to share with our readers, please add them in the comments—I would love to hear about them!
Happy and safe travels!