Securing your House when you Travel

While you travel, be it for business or pleasure you don't want to have worries about your house/apt. or condo while you're away. Take a few precautions to safe guard your home. Naturally everyone thinks to close the windows, and lock the doors; but there's more to be done. Always let one or two people in family and in your neighborhood know when and where you're traveling so they can keep an eye on the house.

Always stop the mail and the newspapers. Door hangers are more difficult to stop, so do have a neighbor check the house. Nothing sends more of a signal you're not home then to have a pile of mail, newspapers, and or door hangers advertising that fact by being piled up in your absence. You can stop you mail easily by doing it on line.

Have several automatic lights set to go off and on while you're away in various parts of the house. Set those times to match your normal routine. If you typically go to bed around 11, leaving lights on in the middle of the night is a sure signal to anyone that might wish to enter that you're not home. Leave your window blinds up so your neighbors can see if something is wrong inside the house.

Make sure at least one neighbor has keys to your house should they're be any problems.

Turn off the water. It's not uncommon for a leak to happen in hoses' and you don't want to come home to a flood. Or due to cold temperatures have a pipe burst.

Turn your automatic garage door opener off. You don't want people to play with your combination and or another opening and be able to work yours. Turning the electric to it completely off is double security.

Don't take out your trash can, as it will sit there the whole time your gone....another big flag you're not home.

If it's winter, make arrangements for someone to shovel your drive and walk if it snows; and or to drive their car in and out of your drive leaving tracks....it looks like you've been there then. Likewise with tracks on the walk.