Tips to Secure Your Home While on Vacation

Many people go on vacations to relax and have a good time. While enjoying your vacation and it’s important to take precautionary measures to protect your home while you are away. You don’t want to come from your vacation to find that something has gone wrong at home.

Ways to keep your home secure while on vacation:

Cancel normal services and deliveries
Cancel the normal deliveries and services such as newspaper, grocery among others. If you are planning to be away for a while, you might also want to have your mail held by the post office or have it collected by a friend. Uncollected newspaper and piles of mail will send signals that you are out of town.

Ask your neighbor or friend for help
A simple but effective way to have peace of mind while on vacation is to ask a trusted neighbor or friend to keep an eye on your house while you are away. Ask them nicely to empty your trash for you, feed your pet, bring in your mail, rake your leaves etc. Ask them to contact you in case of anything. Give them something for their trouble if you feel it’s necessary.

Avoid advertising your departure
The only people who should know of your holiday plans should be your loved ones or people you trust. Don’t say you aren’t home in your phone answering machine and be careful the information you share on social media sites

Keep your valuables safe
Secure your Jewelry, car keys, and other valuable items in a hidden safe or leave them with a trusted friend.

Home security system
Install a reliable alarm system to alert the authorities in case of attempted break-ins to your property.

Make your house look as if you are home
Have automatic lights or timers come off at certain periods during the day. Having different lights come on in different rooms will give the impression that you are home. You can also leave blinds and curtains in some rooms drawn to make it appear as if you are at home. Just make sure to remove any valuables from sight.

Ensure all the doors and windows are locked
Make sure all the doors in your house are locked including the door to the shed or garden. Shut all the windows making sure not to leave the small windows at the back of your house or bathroom. Make sure all of your spare keys are safe and secure.

Insurance policy
Update your insurance policy for cover in case anything happens. If you don’t have a home insurance policy this is the best time to get one.

Once you have taken the above measures to protect your home, you can have peace of mind that your home is secure while away. Drive carefully to your destination. If you have a new driver in your home, don’t forget their provisional license before you hit the road. Make sure you have everything safe and secure including the items that need to travel with you.

Melody Cleo is a passionate blogger from Manchester, UK. In her free time, she writes articles on various topics such as technology, gadgets, travel…etc. As of now she is focusing on Driving licence UK, which provides driving licence services for UK people.

Image Credit: desertvalleysecurity.com