What Are The Best Home Security Tips While On Vacation?

Taking a long-overdue vacation is something to look forward to.

Travelling is exciting because you get to see the world and collect unique images for your album, but it can also cause you to worry about the safety of your own home while you're away.

However, if you take the necessary safety measures, you may be assured that your home will be secure while you're gone. Read on to find out what you need to do before leaving on vacation, as this essay will examine some of the most effective methods for keeping your house safe while you're away.

Ways To Protect Your Home While You're On Vacation

Verify That It Appears To Be Inhabited

It's important to make it seem like someone is home to deter potential criminals.

Put electronics on timers, so they turn on at certain morning intervals. The grass should be recently cut. If your driveway needs to be emptied, you should ask someone to use it.

Set up your window coverings as usual, but ensure no high-priced furniture or electronics are exposed. You should also have a friend or neighbour pick up your mail and cancel your newspaper delivery.

Remember To Secure The Premises

You should lock all the doors in your home before leaving for vacation, but it's also important to close and lock any other potential entry points, such as pet entrances or mail slits, to keep thieves from breaking in with a tool.

And if your garage door opens automatically, you should disable the electric opener and secure the door with a padlock. Access to your home may be managed from anywhere with a smart lock.

Be Careful About What You Post Online

We get how tempting it is to post about your trip on social media. And although that barely-edited photo of a brilliant blue lagoon may make your buddies green with envy, it may also tip off would-be robbers that you're far from home.

Only tell people about your journey once you get back there to prevent thieves from finding out where you'll be.

Here's a middle ground if you can't help yourself: To avoid having your social media postings tracked, you can use a metadata cleanup programme or disable geotagging on your phone. Also, ensure that your sharing options are set to "Friends Only" or "Private."

Sharing photos of you and your loved ones basking in the sun thousands of miles from home is a welcome mat for thieves and other nefarious types.

Although it may sound cool to show off your airport check-in on Facebook, you're letting your friends and family know you'll be away within the next week or so. So save your pictures and personal recollections for later use.

Make sure your home address isn't viewable online, and remove any phone numbers from public view, including those on your social media profiles. Nobody saves your close friends and family, who do not need to search it up on Facebook, needs to know that information.

Involve The People Around You

When leaving for an extended period, it's a good idea to let a reliable neighbour know so that they can check your home. If they notice anything that looks suspicious or harmful, they should contact the police.

Please give them a way to reach you while you're away and a spare key in an emergency.

Get In Touch With That Security Firm

Installing a home security system can provide you with more than just a sense of security; it may also help you save money on your homeowner's insurance.

Not protected by an alarm system? You may trick intruders by hanging signs that look like they come from a security firm, but if you'd like to go all out, you could even set up phoney surveillance cameras.

Put Down The Spare Key

Surely you have a more ingenious hiding spot for your extra key than a flowerpot, the top of the doorframe, or a plastic rock.

A seasoned criminal will likely spend some time looking for it. If you don't want to tempt a thief by leaving the key in the lock, remove it and leave it with a neighbour.

Remove The Plugs From All Appliances

All unneeded gadgets should be unplugged to prevent electrical fires and power surges.

Remember that a house sitter may need a fire extinguisher if there is a fire in the home while you are away. If you own or rent a home, getting insurance is important because disasters can happen to anyone.

Install A Timing Device For Your Lights

Among the most noticeable signs that a house is not empty is if the lights are on inside.

Light timers are an excellent and inexpensive option to boost your home's safety while you're gone.

The lights can be programmed to turn on and off simultaneously as if you were home using a timer. You can place a few on each level of your home to make it look like there are always people in the house, whether upstairs or downstairs.

Ask A Friend To Stop By.

A good option if you'll be gone for more than a day but two is to ask a reliable friend or neighbour to stop by your house regularly to ensure everything is okay. It will not only help to make sure that your home is in order, but it will also add life and personality to the place.

You should arrange to meet this person in person before you leave on your trip so that you may hand them the key.

A key hidden under a mat or rock is bad since anyone can locate it and use it to get inside your house.

Have them check on items and collect your mail simultaneously for maximum efficiency. It's preferable to limit the number of individuals aware of your departure to the bare minimum, so tell only the person you've entrusted to care for your home while you're away.

Do Not Take Your Car Inside!

An automobile parked in a driveway is simply one more technique to give the impression that someone is at home, even if no one is there.

One problem that may arise is that you want to drive to your destination. If that's the case, consider asking a neighbour or acquaintance who lives close by if they mind parking their car in her driveway while you're gone. Then, offer to pay until their next car wash when you arrive back as a peace offering.

Cloth And Wooden Window Coverings Are To Be Handled With Care

If you shut all the blinds and drapes before you leave, no one will be able to see inside, but that's not likely. So it's crucial to be strategic, as this could cause even greater concern about your absence.

Consider leaving your drapes and blinds in a situation that is more reminiscent of how they are daily; the common thread here is doing minor things to produce the sense that you are still home.

Keep the blinds closed while you're gone if you normally do so throughout the day. However, if you typically keep them vulnerable for the better part of the day, consider continuing this practice while you are away.

Develop A False Alarm

Despite their usefulness, security systems can set you back a pretty penny. If you can give off the idea that your home is secure, a security system might not be necessary.

Putting up fake security signage, stickers, or even dummy cameras in full daylight increases the odds that would-be intruders will think twice about approaching your home or property.

In addition, an installed, visible security system makes it less likely that a burglar will attempt a break-in.

While we don't advise relying solely on a decoy safety system to keep your house safe, if you also take the other precautions we've outlined, you shouldn't have to worry about someone breaking in while you're away.

In any case, this should give you the confidence in the safety and security of your house that you need to relax and enjoy your time away.

You Should Halt Mail Delivery For The Time Being

Having a doormat that is unable to contain any more dirt is a telltale sign of an unoccupied home. On the other hand, if you trust a friend or neighbour enough to have them stop by while you're gone, they can take care of your mail for you.

You can also ask your postal carrier to suspend delivery while you're away temporarily.

Visit the Post website and complete a brief online form to accomplish this at your convenience. During your absence, they will prevent mail delivery to your address plus store it safely for your return.

Make Sure The Grass Is Cut Regularly

Ask a friend or neighbour to mow your grass if you have a front yard, an easily accessible backyard, or any other outdoor space. A sure symptom of abandonment is a home with unkempt, overgrown gardens, yards, and other lawn spaces.

Depending on the season and the length of your trip, you may also ask a neighbour or friend to clear snow from your driveway or sweep leaves from your yard. If you keep up the appearance of living in your home from the outside, no one will suspect otherwise.

The Use Of Electronic Timers

While you're gone, make it appear like someone is home by scheduling your lights, TV, and radio to turn on and off at certain times.

You can get timers in most grocery stores and hardware stores.

Plug your electronics into standard electrical outlets and activate them at the desired times using the timer.

You can also buy electronic timers in random settings to create the illusion of a busy household even when no one is there.

The Gps Should Be Hidden

To your surprise, the GPS in your car can also act as a welcome mat for would-be burglars looking for an easy target while you're away.

Thieves can easily get into your car and steal your GPS if you leave it on display in an airport or resort parking lot, and then they can use it to find your empty house and steal your belongings right out of the trunk. So when travelling, remember to bring your portable GPS device.

To ensure no one can enter the vacant house while you're away, you should disable any built-in locks or modify the "home" setting to lead somewhere else.

Put Some Thought Into Buying Some Smart Lights

In addition to our prior advice concerning using timers to activate equipment even while you're not there, consider purchasing smart lighting.

The software in smart LED bulbs communicates with an app, smart devices assistant, or even another smart accessory so that the lights can be programmed and controlled remotely.

A "vacation mode," available on many different brands of smart bulbs, is designed to dissuade theft by intermittently turning on and off the lights to simulate the typical routine of the homeowner.

It's quite neat that you can control your lights from far away.