7 Steps To Keep Your House Safe While You Are Away

Shawn Kim

August 4, 2016

Most people get excited about a long vacation and tend to overlook what’s really important before you travel – keeping your home safe.

Keeping your house protected is a priority before making those long travel plans. You don’t want to be happy for 7 days and go home to a ravaged house. Installing a home security system might come in handy, but there are also small things you can do to keep your house safe from burglars.

Don’t know where to start?

Here is a list of things you should remember before going on your well-deserved vacation.

Ask a friend to help

This is pretty much the simplest way for you be at ease while on vacation. It is also one of the most important things to remember before you travel.

For you to gain peace of mind, ask your friend or trusted neighbor to keep an eye on your house while you are away. You can offer some sort of compensation to gain their favor or simply ask them nicely.

We’re pretty sure they won’t say no if it isn’t too much of a hassle for them. Ask them to drive by your house from time to time to check on the place. Give them the keys to check if you have new mail, feed your pets, water your garden or simple tasks like trimming your lawn.

If you have a car, it might also be a good idea for you to give them the keys to it as well – It needs turning on from to time to time or maybe just simply move your vehicle. In case something happens, this person should have your contacts details and a copy of your destination and check-in hours.

Ask someone to live in it.

You know what’s better than deceiving people of thinking that your house is occupied?

It’s having actual people staying in it!

Consider hiring a house sitter or pet sitter to stay in with your house or visit it a couple of hours a day. This is a really good idea especially if you have a pet that’s going to be lonely for the rest of your vacation.

You can also pay them to do some house maintenance like watering your plants, feeding your dog, cleaning the porch etc. You can also choose not to hire a house sitter if you have a relative who’s actually willing to stay there.

Both will need some sort of compensation, but that is a whole lot better than leaving your house unattended. This case applies the “leave your contact information and itinerary” rule as well.

Don’t post that your house will be unattended in social media

I know everyone will somehow get excited about going away on vacation but please remember that posting it in social media has its complications.

Everyone has access to social media (Facebook is the best example). Unless you trust all of your friends in Facebook please don’t post stuff like “My whole family is leaving for Toronto tomorrow” or “My house is going to be really sad when I’m on vacation”.

That is the most dangerous thing you can post. You don’t know exactly who are able to view your posts.

Some might say it’s totally random but please limit posting personal information without truly understanding the idea that hundreds of strangers are seeing what you do.

Ask yourself if you are comfortable telling a crowd of random strangers that you will be leaving your house unattended for a month.

If not, be careful. Who knows there might be a couple of burglars just waiting for you to leave.

Clean up before you leave

Before you leave, make sure everything is nice and tidy. Hints like tall grass and trash everywhere may attract potential burglars. Make sure your place looks good before leaving the house.

Cut the grass before you prepare to head out, tidy up, put important stuff away and don’t leave any evidence that you are gone. It’s also really nice to come home to a clean house.

As you put things away, remember where you hide your other important belongings so you will know if anything has been tampered with.

Keep up the appearance of being occupied

One way to protect your house is making people think that it is occupied. As what we’ve mentioned in number 4, an untidy house may attract potential burglars. But there are actually more ways to give that “occupied” effect.

You may set timers on lights, televisions and radios every now and then. Invest in equipment that turn on interior lights during the evening and turn them off during the day.

Second, stop the delivery of your mail and newspaper while you are away. Having newspaper scattered along your front lawn is a signal that no one is home.

Don’t let them pile up, go to your local postal service and newspaper delivery to have them put on hold for the entire duration of your travel. This also applies to trash.

Since you can’t put trash on hold have your neighbor or house sitter to take out your garbage and put the cans to its place after it has been picked up. For short, keep everything looking normal and you won’t have people thinking of breaking in.

Lock up and hide your belongings

This is a very important part of the whole keeping your house safe process. Did you know that research actually says that it only takes burglars no more than 60 seconds to break into a house. Locking up is obviously a requirement but people seem to forget sometimes.

Using locks on windows and doors will help increase the break in time which may discourage burglars to get in our house.

The research also suggests that burglars tend to enter through the front door so if you install deadbolt locks this will keep help your house secure.

If you don’t make it easy for them there’s a better chance they will just look elsewhere.

One more important thing, keep your priced possessions out of plain sight. Some burglars will attempt to take a peek inside using your window. Keep your window open, but leave your valuables out of sight.

Hide them in places that only you will remember. Of course you need to remember them or write them down.

Install a Home Security System

Lastly (if you haven’t done it yet), install a home security system or (as what was mentioned earlier) just interior lights that can be timed.

This is the best way to put your mind at ease. This is also a good way to keep your house safe whether you are around or not.

You can still use these features even when you’re around – even when you’re just sleeping or just eating with your family.

A smart home security system gives you all the information you need throughout the house with ease. A couple of security cameras or some motion sensors give you the power to protect your home from intruders. Sure they might cost money, but that money is nothing compared to having your house ransacked.

Do you agree with these steps? Do you have any ideas you wish to share with us. Please post it in the comments below.