Home Vacation Safety Tips
Vacation Safety Tips For Your Home
Often residential crime occurs when we are away from home on a family vacation or involved in outdoor activities. How can you protect your home and property when you are gone? Remember, your goal is for your home to appear lived in. You want it to look different in the morning than at night. Follow this check list to secure your home:
- Inform as few people as possible of your vacation plans. This includes newspaper and postal delivery people, unless you are going to be gone an extended period of time.
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Ask a trusted neighbor to keep an eye on your home while you are gone and to report any suspicious or criminal activity to the police department.
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Give emergency telephone or cell phone numbers, your itinerary, and a house key to your trusted neighbor.
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Ask them to pick up your newspaper, mail, and other deliveries daily.
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Ask your neighbor to place a filled garbage can in front of your house on collection day.
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Ask your neighbor to park their vehicle in your driveway occasionally. Do all these for your neighbor when he/she goes on vacation.
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Arrange to have the lawn mowed or snow removed.
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Install dusk-to-dawn (photo cell) or motion sensor lights on all outdoor lights.
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Use automatic timers on a radio and lamps to simulate occupancy. Set these for your normal routine. For instance, a radio and lamp in the living room might be on from dusk until 10:00 PM then at 10:00 PM a lamp goes on in the bedroom and off at midnight.
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Don't post your vacation plans on social networking sites.
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Lock all outside doors using quality deadbolt locks and shut and lock your windows. Lock your garage door.
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Store valuables in a safety deposit box.
Now that you have learned some precautions for your home when you are away, you might want to go a step further and contact the police department for a Home Security Survey.
For more information on a Security Survey, contact Carrie at 208-570-6070 or email Carrie