10 TIPS TO SAFEGUARD YOUR HOUSE WHILE ON HOLIDAY

You have lit up a car and arranged for a neighbor to feed your animals and water your plants. your case is packed. But when you are planning your long-awaited holidays, did you recall taking the requisite precautions to safeguard your home while you are away? Take the time to secure your home during your holidays before you board the aircraft. July and August are common holiday months, and not surprisingly the months when home burglaries are high.

It is easy to forget what you’re leaving behind while you’re excited about the vacation. That’s before you arrive and wonder at the airport: Did I lock the door? Is iron on? Is the door open for the garage? Before you leave, secure your house, so you can fly with full trust and calmness. These house safety tips will help you avoid unwanted surprises while you are on holiday. Plan a proper home safety and maintenance with a checklist in order to completely enjoy your ride. 

These are 10 ways to protect your home when traveling  

Get the windows and doors locked  
Locking up can sound too evident, but approximately 32 percent of burglars penetrate unlocked doors. Even Windows is weak spots, so keep them closed and locked even upstairs. A smart burglar can still access and an opened window may allow animals, rain, and wind to enter the building. 

You have to lock all the windows, doors, and other entries in your home in order to secure your home while on holiday. If you have sliding doors or windows, inserting a piece of metal pipe into the path will help make them much safer, because the thief would not be able to open the door, even if it is possible to crack the lock. It’s also advisable to lock the clothes and closets at home and then leave the keys at a place of a trusted friend to mitigate a robbery threat. Before leaving the house empty during your vacation, you can also ask your neighbors to watch the property. 

Newspaper, Handling mail, and Packages 
You can delay your mail delivery via USPS if you are out for a substantial period of time. (This can easily be achieved online or in your local industry.) You may wish to give your carrier a note to a neighbor for deliveries and parcels (without saying it was on holiday) or plan to re-route them. Contact your carrier or the journal to ensure that it breaks your subscription if you get the newspaper delivery; nothing more powerful telegraphs a family’s absence than a week worth of newspapers. 

Create an illusion using lights signifying someone’s home 
Every 22.6 seconds, one burglary takes place. It’s natural that you want to take extra precautions to ensure your family’s safety when home invasions happen so often. Clear deterrents, including home safety devices, exist, but can lighting be an instrument to avoid burglaries? 

Light will also be used to support secure homes by the authorities. However, many homeowners wonder if this is a successful method for the prevention of burglaries. Is lighting deterring burglars from identifying them or are they only allowing the burglar to look at them so that they can recognize which objects they want to take? You may wonder when you look down the street to see if those homes are lit. 

Darkness is another label on an empty home that also permits unrecognized robbers to creep in. By leaving a few lights on, nix this weakness. Use motion-sensing lights to illuminate intruders more effectively or choose intelligent lighting in order to set the light to a timekeeper and to monitor it remotely. 

Get things off the floor and Disconnect electronics  
Protect your home on holiday by unplugging all your appliances and electronic devices before you go. The list includes TVs, laptop computers, air-conditioners, and split-accessible air conditioners, smartphone chargers, and microwave ovens. But maybe you want your cooler and deep freezer to continue so that you don’t have a poor diet. 

Even after you sign off, some electronic objects draw energy. Pulling the plug on these machines reduces the monthly electrical charges as well. Moreover, you would not have to fear concerning power surges or tension fluctuations that damage or even cause a fight on your equipment. 

Finally, the next step is to ensure that all of your gadgets are unplugged while you are on holiday (except your modem if your smart devices use it to connect to the internet). This helps conserve energy and protect it when electricity rises or flashes. If you are in a typical flood area, make sure your stuff is not stored on the floor in the basement, garage, or other places that could be infiltrated by water.

Pack your vehicle in the driveway 
Former burglars said a car in the driveway is a big stoppage in scanning possible destinations because it almost always means someone is at home. Leave your (closed) car to see whether a friend would like to park there. 

Lock up or hide valuable belongings 
Costly things that are easy to collect are very attractive to criminals. Check and protect your home and garage high-value pieces. Locate in a healthy household the most important items. Notice that many robbers do not draw the line when they rob tangible products that they too want to steal your identity. Lock out social security cards, banking records, and other personal details you don’t carry. 

Do not announce your plans online 
Don’t update social media about your holiday right after you come back (and make sure your children don’t). You are advertising that your house is empty by posting your travel plans. You never fully know who sees the details, especially if you have several followers or a public profile. 

Each holiday on the internet in our Instagram world is immediately shared for the whole world to look at. Indeed, it is tempting to share your pictures when you snap them and induce FOMO to all of your peers. However, this is also transmitted to the world where you are not at home now, and your stuff is ready for use.  

Save the picture post, check-in, and change your status like “Off to the airport!” Just wait until you are home to share all your wonderful photos. Note that all of your accounts are less of a concern ideally, you will not find any hungry burglars in your family and friends’ circle. 

Make the security system available 
Make it very clear to possible intruders whether you have a home surveillance device or security cameras. Cameras should be visible to see. Prominently post signs for home surveillance and decals. Fake signs might be better than nothing if you don’t have a system. 

In addition, ensure you have proper programming for your absence of the security system and any automatic systems. Inform the organization that you are leaving if you have a professionally supervised system. Make sure the cameras, smoke detectors, and any other components function properly and are properly configured for your smart home devices. 

Control the thermostat 
Change the thermostat to avoid heating or cooling empty rooms unnecessarily by the HVAC device. Programmable intelligent thermostats make this much simpler and can be set to comfortable temperatures when you return from a distance.

Prevent water damage 
Some experts suggest that the main water supply valve of the house be turned off to avoid potential water loss from leaking pipes. If you live in a mild environment, and the house is empty, this is a viable choice, but if you stay in a cold area or someone checks in, you probably want to keep your water on. 

You will be well advised not only to have a holiday checklist but also to have a security section. Please take a look at the actions mentioned above, take note, and add them to your list so that they are never forgotten again. When you hurry out of the door and miss only one lock that allows a burglar to enter, all the safety strategy has been wasted. 

To enjoy your well-earned holidays every second, ensure that you have sufficient systems to take care of your home while you are away. If you just ask your neighbor to pop in and pick up your mail, or go out and set up a safety system, a few easy measures before leaving will allow you to return to the house exactly as you left. Ensure that you have sufficient travel insurance, and declare all you can if an insurer discovers that your claim is invalidated later on.