Home security on vacation: how to keep your home safe while on holiday
While you are on your vacation, you don’t want to think every moment about your house and whether it is safe or not. It’s important to know how to keep your home safe while on holiday and I have to tell you that it is very easy to achieve that, by paying attention to a few details.
Here are my best tips for keeping your home safe while on vacation based on years of travels and unexpected “adventures”. Use the recommendations below so that you don’t need to worry about home security on vacation.
How a burglar got into my house, in the middle of the night – and we were INSIDE
I mentioned unusual adventures, correct? Well, here’s one. Back when we didn’t have our dog, we lived in a one bedroom apartment on the ground floor. We had no bars at the windows. It was summer and we left the bathroom window open. While that was a small square, someone young and fit could enter.
We didn’t take that into consideration – didn’t think of the bad scenario first – so one night I heard a rather loud noise. And then I woke my husband up, and we saw a shadow going toward the door.
At that moment my husband got out of bed, started to talk, and headed toward the hallway. The thief run away.
Nothing was stolen – as he barely had time to open the door, to prepare his exist.
On a surprising note, one year later, a similar mo was used and a neighbor from the first floor got mugged (laptop stolen).
Police said that these are crimes of opportunity. They see an open window or an opportunity to get into a house and they don’t miss it.
A burglar will take advantage of a spare key left under a mat for a house that is not inhabited for a few days, as the owners are on vacation.
Sure, there are other planned burglaries, but the most common ones, are these: of opportunity. And we have to consider the fact that there are more and more crimes committed almost everywhere in the world. The good thing is that you can see the crime statistics in various areas.
So let’s proceed to the useful tips to keep your home safe while on holiday.
Home security on vacation: how to keep your home safe while on holiday
1. Don’t leave the key under your mat
I admit I never leave a key under a mat or anywhere where it could be found by a potential burglar. The keys stay with us, the owners, and that’s it.
2. Ask a neighbor to watch your house
If you have a neighbor that you trust, then you can ask them to watch over your house while on vacation. You can even leave them a spare key, to be able to water your plants maybe, and check the house to see everything is in order.
3. Use a security company and a monitor system
If you have the available budget, working with a security company to install a monitoring system with video cameras and sensors works best.
Just as you try to make the most of your trips, you should try to make sure that you do everything possible to keep your house safe while you are away.
4. Leave some lights on
Another tip to ensure home security on vacation is to give the impression that the house is inhabited. This means leaving some lights on, and/or having some exterior sensor lights (that will lit when someone gets in the range of that light).
5. Don’t “advertise” your vacation or business trip
I remember reading a while ago an article about an insurance company who won’t give you money if burglars broke into your house while you were on vacation if you’ve posted details about your holiday on your social media accounts.
Unfortunately, there are many people stalking posts on Facebook or other social media networks to find potential targets. So, as hard as it may be, try to postpone posting photos from your trip – especially if you don’t have a security company monitoring your place.
Sure, as a travel bloggers it’s often times harder to refrain from posting your whereabouts, but it is still a recommendation you’ll get from police officers, along with other useful tips.
6. Make sure your doors and windows are locked properly
Another thing you can do to keep your home safe when you go on vacation is to make sure you locked your doors and windows properly. Learn from my experience (see the beginning of the post). Especially when you are on vacation you should make sure everything is properly closed.
7. Make sure your electronics are unplugged
There are plenty of small precautions you can take to keep your home safe while you are on vacation. One of them is to make sure your electronics are unplugged – your TV, radio, anything that is not required while you’re away.
Make sure you don’t leave your gas cooker lit either. You can prepare, in advance, a list of things to check before going on vacation – and include all of these safety elements there.
8. Keep your valuables in a safe (and don’t brag about them on a constant basis) or in a safety deposit box
Do you have cash at home? Expensive jewelry? Other priceless or expensive items? Then, while you should never brag about the valuables you have at home, you should also consider keeping them locked in a safe while on vacation.
It’s like when in a hotel room you don’t leave your jewelry lying around, when you are visiting the city. You keep them locked in a safe or you wear them.
These are the basic safety tips to keep your home safe while you are on your vacation. It will give you a peace of mind when traveling and allow you to enjoy each moment, rather than worrying about your house.
As you need to be prepared in order to avoid travel disappointment, you also need to be prepared to keep your home safe while you’re away to avoid awful and costly problems on your return and to prevent receiving phone calls with bad news while you are on vacation.
What do you do to keep your home safe while you are on your holiday?
