I'm part of our neighborhood's newsletter team and for the next one they asked me to write about what you should do to your house before going on Christmas vacation. Thoughts so far are:

1. find someone trustworthy to walk through house every 1-2 days.

2. Set lights on timers, but not so they all come on/turn off at the same time.

3. have some collect your mail or stop mail delievery

4. have someone collect newspapers/random junk tossed into yard or stop newspaper delievery

5. Turn off power to appliances (tv/computer/washer/etc...

6. Turn off water to washing machine and also fridge if you can reach it. (hoses only break while on vacation :()

7. Set ac/furnace to minimum levels needed.

8. have someone water your lawn if needed (I'm in Texas).

9. Alert local police that you'll be gone.

Any other thoughts?

-Blast

great list.

unplug the appliances you mentioned - surge protection.

turn off water to water heater - they don't leak until no one's around.

hijack alert - do you all have a pan under your water heater that is plumbed to the outside or to the garage floor if in the garage?

think of all the water - 40 gal / 60 gal - that would end up on your carpet or..... not to mention the water that will continue to flow trying to fill the water heater while it's leaking...

hijack alert off.

Good list. I leave the TV plugged in so I can set the built-in timer to come on for a couple of hours in the evening. I make sure the volume is up a bit. Anyone cruising past in the dark can see and maybe hear the idiot box squawking through the drapes.

Leave a $20 bill on the floor near the entrance. If anyone comes in, they'll surely pick it up. You can tell immediately when you return and open door that someone who was unwelcomed has been in and you can take necessary precautions to make sure they are not still inside.

Of course, it is probably a good idea to place the $20 bill so that you have to be inside to see it. You'd hate to invite someone in just to get it (i.e. door-to-door teenage magazine salesperson peers through window in door and sees $20 and no one comes to door . . .).

Just a thought :
idea #9 + idea #1 : won't this ensure the "someone trustworthy" will be arrested and put in jail ???

put cat outside and leave.

nope... on the contrary ... put cat INSIDE with no food and leave. Now you have a defense cat guarding the house.
No need for "someone trustworthy" anymore..

Good list, Blast. Here are just some random thoughts that came to mind.

Since it's Christmas, obviously, don't keep Christmas presents visible from a window. Be careful with those Christmas trees that are getting more parched with every passing day.

Lock up tool sheds or bring in ladders, tools, patio furniture or other objects that can be used to climb up or get into your house.

Ask a neighbor to take out your garbage. No garbage is another tip-off that no one is home.

Make sure you don't miss paying any bills that come due while you're away. Especially with a big, holiday-induced credit card balance, it hurts to miss a deadline and get hit with unexpected finance charges and late fees.

If you have to leave cars parked outside or in the driveway, have a neighbor move them occasionally if it would be unusual for them to sit there for a long time.

Great idea for a newsletter!

Stop mail delievery You might provide link to USPS's on-line "Hold Mail".

Unplug the appliances you mentioned - surge protection. For those with no surge protection, or whose surge protectors don't include phone line and/or cable line surge protection , a reminder to physically unplug those connections too.

[Water] hoses only break while on vacation Another plug for burst-resistant braided stainless steel hoses. Or, shut-off water to whole house at service-entry.

I leave the TV plugged in so I can set the built-in timer to come on for a couple of hours Verify functionality. My TVs, once powered-off, require pressing power button on TV or the remote to come back on — timer won't work.

Find someone trustworthy to walk through house every 1-2 days. Ask them to water house plants, if any.

For the extra-cautious, turn off natural gas at the meter (unless of course, hot water heater/furnace will remain on.)

Make sure someone has itinerary and contact phone numbers (cell, hotel etc).

If foreign travel, or uncharacteristically heavy credit card usage anticipated, might want to inform credit card company.

If any pets left behind for neighbor to care for, or they're left with a boarding service, be sure to provide veterinarian's name.

In any given week, our household might have a UPS delivery. Put such purchases on hold prior to vacation, or alert neighbor to check for packages left at front door.

If traveling by car, confirm you've got current registration and insurance card in the glove box (or wherever).

Don't forget charger for cell phone and/or digital camera (I speak from experience).

The only time I use this feature is while on vacation ... remote retrieval of answering machine messages. Review the procedure and the access code if you don't remember how, so messages can be monitored while on the road.

Assure the kids you will return in two weeks.

They always say that you need to call the gas company to turn the gas back on. Is that what you do when coming back from vacation? If everyone going on vacation for Christmas needed someone to come out and turn their gas back on, that would be a huge headache for the gas company.

You make a good point Arney. Some folks aren't comfortable with restoring themselves. I do my own (maybe foolishly).

Some insurance companies will not cover your policy if you turn the gas back on yourself and the house catches on fire for whatever reason.

Turn the telephone ringers off and the answering machine volume down. Hearing an unanswered telephone call is a pretty good giveaway that no one is home.

Also, do not leave the outgoing message on your answering machine saying, “Hi! We’re having a great time in __________!…” Thieves can and do get the phone numbers for houses they are casing, and that pretty much says, “Hey! Come steal our stuff!”

Another thing someone once told me is you should run water down all the sinks and bath drains just before you leave. This puts a water block in the drain trap which prevents cockroaches from climbing up through the pipes.

Also, once you get back you should run all your faucets for 5-10 minutes to clean the "old" water out of the pipes. While it's been sitting there its been leaching chemicals from the pipes and also allowing bacteria to grow. Didn't someone (Paramedic Pete or Martin?) post a thread about how the bacteria counts in rarely-used water fountains was really high?

I've always turned my gas back on myself. Hmmm, I wonder what's the best way to ask my insurance company about that...

When my folks travel they turn off the answering machine. Dad figures having one answering the phone for a month is a good way to tip crooks off the house is empty.

I've noticed a lot of new tv's have automatic timer features. Tha's a lot more convienent than mechnical timers.

Definately empty the fridge! Also, do the dishes...

Y'all are giving me some really good thoughts. Please keep them coming! The article is due Oct. 19th. I'll post a copy of it here when it's done.

-Blast

sorry - forgot a word.

unplug the appliances you mentioned - mechanical surge protection.

can't be damaged / ruined if it isn't plugged in.

#9 - Most police departments have a vacation form that you can fill out. This ensures that a car will drive by your house while you are away. Check with your local PD to see if they offer this service.

Have the neighbors park in your driveway, or move the cars you left behind around.


Jeff

Regarding cats, my best friend went away for a while. While she was away, one of her cats had managed to turn the bathroom faucet on. When she returned, water had flooded the master bathroom and the master bedroom. I wonder what it would have been like if the faucet had run for a week.

One I forgot...I don't know what the climate is like in the part of Texas you may be from, but pay a neighborhood kid to cut the grass or shovel snow when you are gone. Nothing like driving by a bunch of manicured lawns and seeing the one house with the grass too long. It will attract more than the neighborhood council.

Blast:

Here are some of my ideas.

1. Your trustworthy friend should also have the code to your house alarm if you have one. Nothing annoys the neighbors or the police at 2:00 am than to have your alarm repeatedly go off because it could not be reset. Some police departments even charge for the response after the third false alarm to hopefully drive home the idea that you should maintain your system better.

2. Make sure you have "barricaded" the windows and non main doors. This reduces the chance of a thief finding an easy open window, or door.

3. Keep important papers, documents and valuables in a Safe Deposit box or something similar to one, but away from the main house.

4. If you live in extreme climatic areas then winterize your pipes.

5. Buy a small pocket calender and address book combination. Put the names, addresses and other emergency contact numbers and a recent 2" x 3" individual photo of all family members into this book. In the calender section clearly mark the date you expect to arrive back. Being creatures of habit it is wise to mark the calender in case someone forgets and sees you home and thinks someone else has broken in. Yes, this happens all too frequently. This book should stay with a neighbor in case identification needs to be made in the event of an emergency; hopefully not.

Take care,

Stargazer

Good suggestions. If it's over a winter holiday, I always ask my neighbors to have their guests park in my driveway. Gives it a good lived in appearance, and it's nice to have fresh (snow) tire tracks leading in and out.

Hi Blast

Your neighborhood may not have sump pumps installed. In case anyone is not familiar with them, they live in the basement usually in a small well below the level of the basement floor. They pump out the water that would otherwise fill the basement.

For those of us that have them:

1. They fail most often when you are away, so you return home to a new swimming pool. Having someone check the basement frequently, and especially after a rain storm is a very good idea.

2. They also don't work if there is no electrical power. During last year's hurricane, I had to run my neighbor's sump pump (and mine) off my generator for 2 days while they were on vacation.

If you have a sump pump, have a plan.

Ah, sump pumps. Not a problem here. The water table is about four feet down so houses here don't have basements.

Which severly limits where a husband can stash stuff.

-Blast

Thats why we have garages!!!!!

That's why we build "workshops," separate from the house...

Unplug the important stuff, like the computer. Surge protectors won't protect a really nearby lightning strike. A friend of mine in WI just discovered that, as did all her neighbors.

Set the timers to times the stuff would normally be on.

If you're leaving a small booklet with a neighbor with all your photos in it, include a photo of the friend(s) who would be checking your house. Don't confuse the Neighborhood Watch AND the police.

On your last walk-through, be sure to turn off all your wake-up alarms. I had a townhouse neighbor who left before his alarm went off.

"I've always turned my gas back on myself. Hmmm, I wonder what's the best way to ask my insurance company about that..."

Don't EVER ask your insurance company about something like that! They maintain logs of calls in your file. A question like that would probably raise your insurance premiums, and if you were to have a claim for any kind of fire, it WILL be used against you. Yes, it's insane. And YES, they do it.

Anyone in a snow area should have a neighbor drive in and out of your driveway a few times to leave tracks. What does a pristine property tell the local junkies when it hasn't snowed for four days?

Sue