Before Going on Vacation, Do This

I am such a worry wart...I really am. I found that the best way to deal with that kind of personality is to make lists. I'd like to share my list of things I do before going on vacation.


Follow these steps, and you'll never waste precious vacation time wondering what you did and didn't do before you left home!

• About a week or so before your trip, start making a list of items to take with you. Use lists on-line as a guide, depending on your location and activities planned, such as general packing list, cruise packing list, overseas packing list
• I also like to include babywipes, Ziploc bags, empty grocery bags (to use as laundry bags), disposable cameras (include a few underwater ones if you will be near water), crush-proof snacks, water, juice, hats, sunblock, insect spray, lightweight rainjackets and things for the kids to do
• If you are traveling by plane, remember to follow the latest TSA guidelines
  

• Make another list of items to do before you walk out that door. Here is a sample of some of the things on my list
• Go to USPS Hold Mail and stop your mail
• Call your newspaper or go to their website and stop the newspaper delivery
• Tell a trusted neighbor you will be gone and leave them a key for emergencies (as well as a secondary code for your alarm system)
• Call the alarm company or fill out their vacation form online
• Many sheriff's offices have a form you can fill out (ours is online) to request more frequent police drive-by checks while you are gone
• Put a few ice cubes in a Ziploc bag in the freezer; if you come home and they are stuck together or are one solid mass, you can get a better idea of how long your refrigerator might have been without electricity and power; dump affected food accordingly
• Clean out the refrigerator of leftovers and things that could go bad while you're gone
• Straighten up the house; I like to make sure the house is clean and that everyone has fresh sheets when we get back...that's just me though; can you believe I had a friend who didn't even know her home had been broken into until a week after she got home because it was so messy?
• Try to have one car parked in the driveway (or ask your neighbor, they'd be happy to I'm sure)
  
• Check that the stove is turned off and unplug your coffeemaker and toaster oven (I had a neighbor leave her little toaster oven plugged in and something fell off the plant shelf above it, depressing the "on" button; she was lucky she had only stepped out for a short time and things were just starting to smoke)
  
• Time your porch lights to turn on at dusk and buy random timers at your local hardware store to work some of the lights inside; I hesitate to leave lamps on while no one is home as this could be a potential fire hazard; use ceiling lights instead (you can time these at the switches)
  
• Follow the steps in 5 Minute Proofing Your Home
• Turn off the water hoses to your washer; I also turn off the ones under all the sinks and dishwasher; if you won't be running an automatic sprinkler system, shut off the main water switch; better to be safe than sorry
• If you have gates to the backyard, lock them
• Make sure all entrances and windows to your house are locked
• Arm your home security system, including all motion sensors
• Give your trusted neighbors contact information and let them know when you will be back
  
• Make sure your garage door is closed (don't laugh; I had a neighbor who had backed into the driveway to load up their van, and then left without closing the door; I had to call them and ask for their garage code to close it)

Do you have any tips you'd like to share?