The other checklist

Tips for leaving your home in order before you travel

Traveling is all about checklists. While you must have your plans in order before you leave your house, there’s another thing you should be paying close attention to: the place you are leaving behind. You don’t want to return home after a fantastic trip to find abandoned food stinking up your fridge, three-week-old towels hanging in the bathroom, very nervous pets, or dead plants. Before your trip starts, there’s another important checklist to run through. Let's look into it here.

This step is often overlooked, and it could singlehandedly save your home. Did you know that water damage accounts for nearly 25% of all home insurance claims? Sometimes, costs can reach $15,000. Remember that burst pipes or appliance hoses can flood entire rooms in minutes. To avoid any such stress while you are 2,000 miles away, turn off the main water shut-off valve before you leave. If you're not sure where your shut-off valve is, now is the time to find out.

This goes, of course, for cases in which you won’t have a caretaker visiting your home often or living there while you're out. And this doesn’t apply to anyone dwelling in an apartment building, either.

Why would you leave the toaster plugged if you won’t be home for 2 weeks? Appliances left plugged in are vulnerable to power surges from lightning strikes or grid fluctuations, which could fry expensive electronics at best, or even spark fires at worst.

Besides, you can save an estimated 10% on your monthly electricity bill by unplugging appliances not in use, such as coffee makers, hair straighteners, phone chargers, and desktop computers. Make sure, however, that you don’t disconnect your Wi-Fi router if you have connected smart devices, lamps, or security cameras that you will be controlling from far away.

Nothing says "no one’s home" more than dark windows and a pile of mail at the doorstep or mailbox. There are easy solutions for these that you can set up before you leave.

First, install timers on your lights to deter potential intruders. You could place the lights strategically in key areas like the living room, bedroom, or porch, to make your home look more lived-in. Some timers allow randomized on/off times, making the light use seem more natural.

For your mail, the solution is even simpler than most people realize: Most mail deliveries, like USPS in the US, can pause or hold mail delivery to your address for a set number of days. You could also ask a trusted neighbor to bring in any newspapers or deliveries before they pile up outside.

One option is to leave your car parked outside and spend your whole trip hoping that no weather emergency harms it. Another option is to give a trusted person your keys and ask them to move it if necessary.

You could also draft a brief note covering any quirks your car might have or spots where it could be relocated to in the face of an emergency.

If you have pets, you know how difficult it is to leave them behind for weeks at a time. It goes without saying that you should leave enough food for the duration of your trip, fresh water, and, if applicable, any medications clearly labeled and with dosage instructions.

Make sure you assign someone as their caretaker, whether they will live in or visit frequently. Share with them emergency information, including more than one contact number to get through to you, and your vet’s contact details. Talk your pet-sitter through the basics, like which area of the house should always be available for them, or where they are not allowed to go.

Some say that plants are the most commonly neglected items when owners go on vacation. Either they are entirely forgotten, or they are left to the mercy of overly attentive pet-sitters who flood them with way too much water.

There are alternatives; for example, watering globes that will release water gradually as the soil dries out. But if you do ask a neighbor to step in, group your pots together in a sunlit room before you leave; clustered plants will create a cooler, more humid microclimate that will slow their evaporation, and the sun will keep them alive —provided that there’s not a blazing heat wave while you are out.

The last thing you’ll want when arriving home hungry after a long trip is to open the fridge to find a lot of food gone bad. There’s an obvious step: throwing out old leftovers and takeout containers. But you could also freeze cheeses, meats, bread, or vegetables that are salvageable and can be used later.

Putting your fridge in order will take around 10 minutes, and it’s well worth the pleasure of coming home to a well-stocked freezer.

You might be tempted to completely shut off your heating or air conditioning systems when you leave on vacation. But don’t do that. Turning them off completely could lead to excessive humidity, mold, or even frozen pipes. The correct approach is to make an adjustment and not a full shutdown.

Aim for setting your thermostat at around 60 degrees in winter and around 80 degrees in summer. This will save you anywhere from 10% to 15% in your energy costs while you are away. As a plus, if you have a smart thermostat that you can control remotely, you can set it to begin returning to normal temperature some hours before you arrive home.

The day you come back home, you will be exhausted, slightly dehydrated, and completely unwilling to go to the grocery store. So, before you leave, do the nice thing for your future self: Stock a few easy, non-perishable meals to have in hand for your return. Frozen pizzas, pasta, and vegetables might not sound exciting before you leave, but you will be glad you prepped them when it's time for your homecoming dinner.

Don’t you want your homecoming to feel like you are arriving at yet another hotel? Having clean sheets and towels after a long flight or car ride will make you extra glad to be in the comfort of your home. So make sure you prepare those as you are preparing your luggage.

One final extra tip: If someone will be kind enough to watch over your home, water your plants, or look after your pets while you are gone, don’t wait until you return with a souvenir; leave them a treat before you go, like a bottle of their favorite drink, a nice frozen pizza, or their favorite candy. They will appreciate the kind gesture.