Keep Your Home Safe While You Are Travelling The World
We all enjoy travelling from time to time, and there is a great deal about it to look forward to. No matter who you are, chances are you really anticipate your next holiday. Even if it is only a week away somewhere nice, it can really work to reset the mind and give you that much-needed break. However, that is not to say that it is all good news. Travelling can also include a number of stressors, and it is wise to learn how to handle them well. Otherwise, you might end up letting them ruin your time away. One of the main concerns for most people when they are holidaying is that they are leaving their home. If you have someone to stay at home, then it is not such a problem. But for most people, when they travel, they take the family with them. Unfortunately, you never quite know what might happen to your home while you are away. Hopefully, all will be well. But it only makes sense to put the necessary precautions in place, just in case the worst happens. In this article, we will take you through some of the key things you should do to keep your home safe while you are away. Let’s find out what those are now.
Don’t Advertise Anything
This is easily the number one rule when it comes to leaving your home. No matter how long you are going to be away for, you need to make sure you don’t advertise your home to anyone. This might sound obvious, but it is one of those things we often do without noticing it. When you are due to go on your travels, you should carry out some basic checks to ensure that your home is not particularly enticing to any criminals. The most basic thing to bear in mind here is to ensure that your home doesn’t seem like it would be worth breaking into. That means not having expensive-looking ornaments on display in the windowsills. Burglars will be on the lookout for any sign that your home is worthwhile, so make sure you don’t make it obvious. This also means that you should try to keep your front yard as bare as possible. The more basic and plain the whole place looks and feels, the better.
Beyond that, not advertising means that you don’t go spreading the word about your departure. You would be amazed at the power of word-of-mouth when it comes to things of this nature. If you want to protect your home, you should ensure that you remain fairly conservative with who you talk to about your travels. For more on not advertising, see http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/5817576/list/10-ways-to-keep-your-home-safe-while-youre-traveling.
Get A Neighbour To Help
That being said, it might be a good idea to enlist the help of at least one person. If you have a nearby neighbour whom you feel you can trust, then that is ideal. Otherwise, a close friend should do the trick too. Having someone of this nature close at hand is a great benefit, as it means you can ask them to keep an eye on your house. This doesn’t mean that they have to go out of their way particularly. Nor should they feel the need to check on your home too regularly. It just means that it might be a good idea to ask them to take a look, maybe once a week. They should look for evidence of anything untoward happening, and let you know if that is the case. Similarly, it is a good idea to get them to collect any parcels which might have arrived. If you really trust them, you could give them a key to your house so they can check on it properly. However, if you are not comfortable with this, then simply asking them to have a quick look is better than nothing. When you are thinking about who to ask this favour of, be careful and make sure you can really trust them.
Limit Your Trip
It goes without saying that you obviously want to make the most of your trip. After all, what is the point otherwise? However, that doesn’t mean that you should go away for longer than necessary. The fact remains that the longer you are away, the more likely it is that something will happen to your home. This is especially the case as with more time passing it becomes more obvious that you are not home. After a certain amount of time, even your neighbour visiting won’t stop anything untoward happening. The best solution here is to simply limit the amount of travelling you do. There is no reason that you particularly need to do lots of travelling in one go. You can always break it up, and come back for a while each time. Alternatively, you might decide that you really don’t want to go home at all. That is another matter altogether, and probably means making a bigger decision about your life.
Watch Your House Remotely
However, it doesn’t necessarily have to be either/or. The fact is, there are ways of checking on your home yourself, without having to come back to do so. Using a smart home system, you can keep an eye on what is going on at home, as long as you have access to the Internet. You can even check your home by using an app on your phone connected to the home. The safest of these systems have cameras which you can control remotely. That way, you can make sure that there really is nothing happening without your awareness. But that’s not all that these systems can do. The best ones even have the ability to lock your doors remotely. You know that terrible feeling when you think that you have left the back door unlocked? Well, with this technology, that fear is a thing of the past. What’s more, you can control lights and even the heating. That means, as well as protecting the home, you can prepare it for your arrival back home after your travels. Take a look at http://AutomaticSmartHome.com for more on this type of technology.
Use Timers
Of course, not everyone is in a position to use that kind of technology. Besides, you might be someone who feels that they don’t’ particularly want to see inside the home while on holiday. But that doesn’t mean that there is nothing you can do of a similar nature. There is. One of the most popular means of achieving similar results is to install timers on a couple of the lights in the home. This way, you can create the illusion of someone being home when they aren’t. If you are keen to add to this effect as much as possible, you could even install timers on items such as the radio or the television. That is, as long as you don’t mind the electricity bill when you get home! Don’t be fooled – this is a surprisingly powerful way to deter burglars from your home.
Be Careful About When You Travel
It is possible that the time of year you travel could also be of importance. It is a good idea to pay attention to any trends in your local neighbourhood regarding break-ins. If you watch closely, you might find that burglaries tend to happen at a certain time of year. It is then a wise move indeed to avoid travelling during those times. This is something which you can also apply on a national level. Of course, you should not let the media sway your decision to travel too much. But that doesn’t mean ignoring what is going on entirely. If there is a spate of burglaries, then pay attention to that. More often than not, people suffer at the hands of this kind of thing because they didn’t really think about it. The last thing you want to do is to ignore such obvious signs of danger. Coming home to a trashed home has to be about the worst way to end a holiday, after all. See matadornetwork.com/life/best-travelers-know-not-travel/ on more on when not to travel.
Notify The Police
This is something you might never have thought of doing. Yet, it is clearly a very good idea if you want your home to remain safe. You might feel silly notifying the police of your absence. Yet, if the local authorities in your area are any good, they will appreciate the phone call. It is a simple matter of letting them know where you live, and that you will be gone for however long. They can then be on the lookout for anything happening in your area. It also means that they will already have your details on file. This will make the process much quicker if you do have to make a claim for something stolen or damaged. Either way, it is definitely worth your time. Just as you should tip off the police, be careful not to tip off anyone else. One of the worst mistakes people make is advertising their holiday online. You never know who might be reading your status update, so take care.