If you are about to go on vacation, you should leave your house ready to reduce energy consumption, save, avoid the appearance of thieves or travel without breakdowns or damage to the home.
Surely you are counting every second that passes to close the suitcase, print the airline tickets and enjoy the longed for vacations. But before wiping out all the worries at work, taking the most comfortable camera and tennis to explore dreamy places or take a beach sweat, it is essential that you put your house in point both in terms of safety and to reduce expenses and opt for a more sustainable home.
According to data, in summer there is a robbery every 33 minutes, most of them (69%) in independent chalets, 19% in flats and 12% in terraced houses. In this article you will find the most relevant safety tips indicated by the experts and also savings and organization tricks to find your perfect home on the way back.
- Make a list of all the pending things: It is essential to have a list handy – both through an application such as Trello or Evernote – and by hand with paper and pen to cross out all the actions you must take before leaving, as well as organize the suitcase, make phone calls, check bills, etc …
- Thorough cleaning: This may seem obvious, but you must clean the house with real zeal, leaving nothing that can rot or spoil. If the trip is long, completely empty the refrigerator and pay special attention to perishable foods such as meat, fish or fruit.
- Turn off electrical appliances and close the taps. If you leave food in the refrigerator do not turn off the power, but avoid leaving the appliances that you will not use, such as television, microwave or computer on standby, responsible for 8% of your electric bill. It is advisable to unplug them completely, something that will also protect them in the event of an electrical storm.
- If you have plants, do not forget to leave someone you trust as a friend, neighbor or family the keys to water them regularly, especially during heat waves. Needless to say that if you have a pet you should leave it to someone’s care, take it with you or go to an animal shelter.
- Have someone you trust to be attentive: Especially if you live in a more isolated place or in an area where vacation thefts occur, ask a person to pass through your house frequently, turn on and off some light, generate an atmosphere of movement inside the home and keep an eye on the whole order.
- Do not advertise on social networks the place and date of the holidays: In the middle of the Instagram era, there are many uninvited people shouting loudly about their holidays, a practice that can cause catastrophic consequences in the eyes of thieves and hackers.
- Activate the alarm if you have it. Also, do not lower the blinds to the bottom and ask someone to check your mailbox so that correspondence does not accumulate, a symptom of your absence at home. Another possibility is that the local postman does not deliver letters or packages, but that you pick them up after the holidays.
- Do not leave a message on your phone that indicates you are on vacation, since it is more appropriate to divert calls to your smartphone. If you leave the car parked and visible it is recommended that someone move it to pretend that you are present.
- Before leaving, you should empty all trash containers around the house so as not to attract thieves or insect pests. Another symptom of your departure is uncut grass, so it is best to cut it to the maximum before your departure or ask someone to do it regularly.
- Check especially the bathroom, worrying that it is clean, in order and with all the keys closed so that there are no leaks, fungi or breakdowns.
- Inspect all doors and windows, review your list and do not hide duplicates of keys in classic places such as mats or pots. Of course, if you have a camera inside the home, check it out from your smartphone and monitor any alert or motion signal.
