Four Ways To Protect Your Home While On Vacation

It’s pretty likely that when you go on vacation you often worry about leaving your home with no one to protect it. You don’t have to spend everyday of your vacation worrying about your home, if you just make sure that you take some steps to protect it.

There are numerous things that could happen while you are on vacation. Someone could break into your home and rob you, or maybe you forgot to shut off the stove and you have a house fire. you could have a house fire for no fault of your own other than leaving something plugged in that could have been unplugged.

Check Locks

Your first step in protecting your home should be to check all of the locks. If you have window locks make sure they all work. You should also make sure that all of your door locks are working properly.

Do your main doors have deadbolts? If they don’t, you may want to invest in some. This could be the investment that keeps somebody from breaking into your home while you are on vacation.

Unplug Electronics

There’s more to protecting your home from fire than just making sure the stove is turned off. You want to make sure that you are unplugging anything that doesn’t need to stay plugged in. Obviously your refrigerator needs to stay plugged in, unless you’ve emptied it before you left for vacation. If you use an electric stove that should be unplugged, as well as your microwave, coffee pot, and even your toaster.

Unplug things like gaming systems, televisions, and even bathroom items that plug in even if they’re turned off. You might also want to take some extra steps for protection like getting whole-home surge protection that could prevent damage from sudden voltage spikes and ensure that none of the appliances are overloaded. You could talk to expert electricians from companies like Safe and Sound Electric (https://safeandsoundelectric.com/) who can help in this regard. This is just a good way to practice safety and cut down on your electric bill.

Have A Home Security System

It could pay to have a home security system setup, rather than just relying on locks. Consider a system that doesn’t just have an alarm, but also has motion detection lighting. This way when someone walks near your home and a light comes on they hopefully assume someone is home.

Check in with your home security supplier before you leave, and let them know that you are heading on vacation and how long you plan to be gone. This way they know that if something does alert them, you are not home.

Put Mail And Newspaper Delivery On Hold

One last, extremely important, thing you want to make sure that you do, is to contact your local post office and any newspaper delivery people you have and let them know to hold your items till a specific date. If people drive by and see a bunch of newspapers lying in your yard they will know you’re not home, which opens your home up to possible burglary.

If for some reason your newspaper can’t be held, you can always ask a neighbor to pick it up for you during the duration of your vacation.