How to prepare your house before you go on vacation

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1/9/12 at 6:12

Before leaving on vacation check list Inform your neighbors of the exact dates you will be gone on vacation. Ask them to watch for suspicious activity around your home Leave a key to your front door and emergency numbers for your vacation destination with a trusted neighbor or friend who is willing to watch your home and enter if needed. If you will be gone more than two to three days, make arrangements to have your newspaper and mail deliveries stopped or picked up by a trusted neighbor or friend. Set automatic timers for various lights inside and outside the house. Set them for your TV and radio as well. This will create the illusion someone is home. Keep the air conditioner or heater on, but adjust the thermostat so that it saves energy by not running as often. Cold weather requires the heater to be set at a lower degree. Hot weather requires the air conditioning to be set a higher degree. If you have other heat sources (electrical or gas) turn them off, or make sure there is nothing around them that could start fire. If you will be gone for longer than one week, remove items from the refrigerator that might spoil. Place these items in an outside garage receptacle. Ask a neighbor to take it out on your specified trash days. If you will be gone more than five days, make arrangements for someone to cut your grass, or shovel driveway and sidewalks if needed. This will allow others to believe someone is home. Mute the ringers on the phone so unanswered calls go unnoticed to others. If you have an answering machine, shut off the volume so no one can hear a caller leaving a message. Lock the garage door. If the door has an automatic opening device, unplug it. Lock all gates or doors on your property. Check all windows to make sure they are locked and secured. To conserve water and prevent flooding, turn off main water supply, and then open up the lowest facet in the house to drain the majority of the water from the lines. Turn off water heater. If you have a gas heater, turn off gas valve. Gas shut off valve should be next to heater on the main incoming gas line. Place any valuables in a locked safe or safety deposit box. Check the washer and dryer to make sure you didn?t leave any wet close, and make time to clean up. It always feels better to come home to a nice clean house Do a final walk-through just before you leave to make sure you haven't missed any of these steps. Make a check list from these steps and check off each item as you walk through your home.