You have packed, gone over your itinerary countless times, planned your sightseeing vacation from day one to day ten and checked to make sure your airplane tickets are in your purse for the hundredth time. Before you actually leave your home, here are a few other things you should take care of.
* Depending on how long you will be gone, make sure you talk to your post office about possibly suspending or holding your mail until you get back from vacation. It wouldn't be a good idea to have packages being delivered to your home and piling up on your front porch. If your post office has no alternate plan for your mail, ask a trusted friend to check your mail at least every two to three days and put it inside your house.
* If you subscribe to a daily newspaper, ask a neighbor to take in your newspapers or have your local carrier suspend your delivery for the length of your vacation. A pile of newspapers that have not been picked up off the front lawn is a sign for criminals who may want to rob your house that you are gone for an extended time.
* Hopefully before you leave, you won't forget to think about the food and water provisions for the cat/dog/hamster/plant you will be leaving behind. If you will be gone for more than a few days, and you can afford it, put your animal in a kennel so you can be sure they will be taken care of. However, if money is an issue, or if your animal freaks out when he is in a kennel, have a trusted friend or relative come over to play with your animals and provide them fresh food water and, possibly, litter.
* Naturally, if you will be allowing trusted friends into your house to check on your animals or to drop off your mail, make an extra house key to give to them. Even if you will not necessarily have others coming into your house, give a family member or trusted friend who lives nearby a key to your house in case of emergencies.
* Unplug appliances like your television, toaster, microwave and coffee maker while you are gone, as well as your computer. These appliances are still using power when you are away on vacation, so by unplugging them, you will lower your energy bill. You will also want to turn off your computer in case of an electrical storm or some kind of power surge.
* Especially if you have no pets staying home while you are away, you can lower your energy bill by turning off your thermostat or raising it to 85 or 90 degrees during the summer. If you are vacationing during the winter, lower your thermostat to 55 or 60 degrees, to prevent your pipes from freezing.
* If you have a security system in your house that you will be activating while you are on vacation, and you plan on having a friend come over, make sure you give them the security code to punch in, as well as emergency directions for the security box should the alarm accidentally go off. If you are not having friends come over, call your security company and let them know you are going on vacation and nobody should be entering your house for that specified period of time. This way, they will send a police car out to investigate without first having to call you.
