If you’ve recently been bitten by the travel bug, you may have started off by taking a few short trips here and there. So if you’ve got your sights set on taking a longer trip, one that could last for weeks or even months, you might not be too sure of how you should prepare for this whirlwind adventure. Aside from packing and figuring out the logistics of your trip, you’ve also got to ensure that everything at home is taken care of while you’re gone. To help with this, here are three tips for preparing your home for your extended vacation.
Protect Yourself
One of the most important things that you should concern yourself with when preparing your home for an extended absence, according to Rebecca Edwards, a contributor to SafeWise.com, is security. With no one living in your home for a while, you don’t want it to become a target for people looking to take advantage of its vulnerabilities. To help with this, you should amp up your security by doing things like getting rid of any spare keys you have hidden, putting your lights on timers, stopping your mail delivery, and setting up for someone to come take care of any landscaping that might alert people that your home’s vacant.
Keep Things Fresh
For times when you’re just traveling for the weekend, there’s very little preparation that needs to take place within your home. But even after being gone for just a few days, you may have noticed that your house kind of smells a little different once you get back. Now, imagine that you left food on your counters or in the fridge that have since gone bad while you were away. Your house is going to reek, which is not a great thing to be welcomed back home to. With this in mind, HGTV recommends that you clean out your fridge, cabinets, and countertops of any and all food that might go bad while you’re away. Also, you may want to get some air fresheners so that, once you return, you won’t have that weird, stale smell to greet you.
Prepare The Outside, Too
As was mentioned above, you want to make sure that you prepare the outside of your home for your departure just like you prepare the inside. If something’s out of place outside, it’s a much more obvious sign that no one’s at your home. According to Home Advisor, some of the things you’ll want to do to prepare the outside of your home are make sure there are no leaks coming in from your roof, cover any exposed pipes that might freeze, remove debris that could house unwanted critters, secure down anything that could blow away in a strong wind, and clean up your landscaping. If your lawn is looking a little uninspiring, you could see if a treatment from somewhere like trugreen texas might be able to get to work at bringing it back to life while you’re gone.
If you’ll be traveling for an extended period of time soon, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you prepare your home and property for this adventure.
