Don't forget to____

Joe your the best I love it. I ask my neighbor to remove the snow from my driveway and keep an eye on my house. :D :D

Tony

What is snow ? :eek::D:eek:

Wow...I think everyone got almost everything. Dispose of any perishable food in the refrigerator. Mail any last minute bills. Reorganize your wallet, remove any credit cards you won't use. Be sure car keys, airline tickets, passport, ID, boarding passes are in your carry on and not your suitcase.

And most importantly, make appointments for a manicure and pedicure!! Relax!

Raise your thermostat in summer, and lower it in winter.

Bring a night light.

Turn off the house's main water supply valve and turn down the thermostat on the water heater.

Go to bank and get cash for tips-islands-etc

confirm all reservations-pre trip hotels-airlines-etc

hold mail/notify credit cards/pay luggage costs before leave

renew medications/recharge all batteries/take extra SD cards

print boarding passes/luggage tags/itinerary/obc/

house keys to family/friends/sitter

set thermostat/clean refrig/trash out/pay monthly bills

weigh luggage:eek:

Shut off the main water valve to the house?

Turn off the house's main water supply valve and turn down the thermostat on the water heater.

if coming from a really cold climate in winter' date=' adjust faucets to drip slowly.[/quote']

 

Okay, now I'm officially confused. Turn off or drip?

Okay, now I'm officially confused. Turn off or drip?

We turn off, but, consult your water company and see what they say. My fear is coming home to a water problem. One time we were renting a condo and we came back to the condo to find the water connection hose to the toilet tank had burst. It is nothing that could have been predicted. So for us, I get peace of mind by shutting the water off.

Marie

Notify your bank if you have an ATM card you plan to use as well as the credit card companies even if you are traveling within the US. We learned that the hard way when our credit card was declined - and we were just traveling in a different part of the state. Must say I appreciated the security provided by the credit card company.

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Don't do that with the TV/DVR if you have programs you want to record! I did that once and won't forget that again! :eek:

I did that last summer! I was so angry and hubby missed the Basketball playoffs.. I always unplug everything, guess I did "too" much! :o

Friends go so far as to cover their toilets with plastic wrap after turning off their water. (They winter in Florida from their summer home in Ohio.)

Our fur baby just passed away, but we would leave the vet numbers and our wishes for her if something were to happen while we were away. Hubby would even have litter boxes ready with lids on all but the one being used at the time. Sitter could then just move the lid to the used and thus open a new one. The pet/house sitter would be given a list of numbers of family, ship, vet. Told where plants were located and how often they needed watered. Keys for the sitter. Even a snack or goodie to munch on when visiting.

This winter, we will be having a college age friend live in the house while we cruise. For a small fee, they would love to be able to have a house and place of their own for a few bucks and some food money. (Our college friend lives at home, works 30 hr/week, goes to college dull time, and is my coworker.)

I do not tell the locals when, for how long and where we will be gone/going. That just sends a red flag to folks about your home possibly not being lived in while gone. I will however, gloat once I get home about it, show pictures, and share the tan lines!

Ask Post office to hold the mail

Stop newspaper

Set timer for lights in the house

 

Help me with my list. What do you always remember to do before leaving home for vacation??

 

 

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Don't forget to pack your patience you are more likely going to be on a ship with way more people than you are used to on a "normal" daily basis. Go enjoy your fun vacation.

As far as the list or shall I say for your list I think the other posters have it covered .

Lock your front door, remember to put the garage door down. We went off for 3 weeks and left the front door unlocked! Then we had to call the neighbor and ask her to check our garage door to see if we closed it.:eek: DH turns the hot water heaters off (we're going to be gone for 30 days). Don't want any pipes to break. I put bleach in the toilets and swish around with the brush, keeps the bowl sanitized. I leave the radio on 24/7 and the kitchen light on 24/7 when we leave. We have battery operated water timers outside so we're changing the batteries to new ones. I think that's about it.

Turn TV to animal planet channel, leave cats credit card so they can order Dominoes

LOL!! Your cats live the good life! :D

... Mail any last minute bills...!

Better yet - put your bills on auto pay.

Thanks everyone. It's been fun and very helpful to read all the replies.

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Put the cats out.

does this answer the age old question ....

who let the dogs out ???? :-)

I'll get my coat

We board our three dogs so we email family details on the Kennel as well as our itinerary and possible phone numbers.

And yes, re: notifying credit card companies, we've had potential purchases declined in Mexico and Caribbean since "that was not our normal pattern" per those companies. Fortunately we had other cards -- learned a lesson.

Don't forget to unplug the garage door if it is remote, also take off the rope to the latch or zip-lock it so it can't be reached if your garage door is made of panels.

Okay, now I'm officially confused. Turn off or drip?

If you are traveling in the winter with extremely cold temperatures where you live, any standing water remaining in your pipes can freeze and cause them to burst. Leaving the faucet dripping keeps the water moving and prevents it from freezing.

When we travel, we don't turn our furnace completely off. We turn down the thermostat and heat the house above freezing to prevent pipes from bursting. We also can't freeze DS's goldfish!

Man, I'm tired. I didn't know I did so much. When I started reading the OP I was thinking what do I do the morning of. I have to say there are a lot of things on the list I don't do and wouldn't bother even if it was a month. I wouldn't turn off the water or unplug my stuff. We need to water the grass here in SoCal. Don't set lights to come on or stay on. My neighbors are generally told casually about a month or so before. I live in a nice neighborhood, have an alarm system and nosy (as needed) neighbors.

I do start going through the food and throwing or eating the stuff beforehand but other then that most of the things I do over a long period. Bills have all been set up to pay.

My documents are printed and ready to go next to my pouch with my money and passports. Most of my credit cards don't require me to advise when traveling and the ones I'm taking are already in the pouch along with emergency information and cash. Except for the daily credit cards I have a pouch I can grab at any time with this stuff.

No dogs, no kids and I don't need house sitting. Got a pool guy and a gardener (remember I'm in SoCal).

The morning of: DH gets up makes coffee, washes the dishes and paces. Back and forth. He must sit on the bed and watch me curl my hair etc. He starts to help. Stop packing my stuff before I use it. Goes downstairs to do anything. Maybe get me some coffee.

As I get ready I pack the bathroom stuff into the suitcases, PJs and importantly all our medical stuff: 2 CPAPs, 1 stimulator bag, drugs that have already been put into baggies, over the counters, curling iron. DH is back. How am I coming. Better if you would go downstairs and bring me coffee. Finally after all suitcases and carry ons are packed DH is no where to be found and I drag them downstairs myself.

I grab the jackets and put them on top of the suitcases. Kitchen is now really clean, coffee maker cleaned and turned off. Sure would have been nice to have had some coffee though. DH is watching TV so I mention that everything is ready to be packed. So he goes upstairs to check to see if I forgot anything and I start dragging things to the car. He is sad to realize that I didn't forget anything for him to find.

I get everything out to the car and leave it in the driveway which isn't as easy as you would think because our driveway in on a slant and the suitcases tend to roll down it. I tell DH how everything will easily fit. Ya, sounds good. He starts loading it the way that takes the longest and fits the worst. Need to rearrange so that I can see out the back window.

He has spent his free time looking for the best bargain for parking. He has a coupon. Well, I tell him, I made reservations about 4 months ago and that is where we are going (I had given him this chore 5 months ago).

The car is loaded, the alarm is set and yes, the garage door is closed. It has happened that we leave with the garage door closed and come back to find it open. DH puts his keys to unlock the front door in a place only he will remember (instead of with the pouch). Several times he has spent the drive home from LAX looking for those keys. Sometimes for quite some time after we get home. Now have a key stashed somewhere outside.

Off we go. We park and take a van to the airport. DH is now in panic mode. Hurry, hurry, hurry. But, honey, as usual I allowed 3 hours to check in so we don't have to hurry. He puts on his heavy ski jacket to make it easier to carry when he picks up both carry ons, the medical bag and anything else he can grab before I do. I walk beside him with the document pouch.

Ahhh, :rolleyes: the joys of travel LOL. No, girls, don't try to get him from me. He is mine all mine LOL. Please, nobody tell me I'm attacking his manhood. Anybody and everybody that knows him will laugh at this because they know it is true. So will he. We have been married for over 40 years. Family and friends know he is the worst traveler ever. Until he gets to the destination. Then we do it in reverse.

No wonder you're exhausted, NEN. That makes me exhausted too just reading it! :eek:;)

One thing I've learned over the years is to have 2 of all of our toiletries. We use one set as usual at home and I pack the other set. I can do this as early as a month in advance and it doesn't affect all of our usual bathroom stuff and there's not crazy last-minute packing:

Shampoo, conditioner, gel, hairspray

Brushes, combs

Make-up wipes

Deodorant

Razors, shaving cream

Baby powder & puff

Body lotion & super thick hand lotion

Toothbrushes & toothpaste

Dixie cups (I refuse to use those glasses they don't clean)

Facial stuff like moisturizer, toner, etc.

Cottonballs, Q-tips

Sun stuff: tanning oil, sunscreen, lip sunscreen, beach bag, Kleenex pack, hand wipes pack, blow-up raft, astringent & a few cottonballs, comb and sunglasses. (We would normally use this year-round at home.)

Blow Dryer

Flat Iron

Etc.

Notify the credit card companies of travel plans, clean out the fridge, take out the trash and, turn off the ice maker.

No wonder you're exhausted, NEN. That makes me exhausted too just reading it! :eek:;)

 

One thing I've learned over the years is to have 2 of all of our toiletries. We use one set as usual at home and I pack the other set. I can do this as early as a month in advance and it doesn't affect all of our usual bathroom stuff and there's not crazy last-minute packing:

 

Shampoo, conditioner, gel, hairspray

Brushes, combs

Make-up wipes

Deodorant

Razors, shaving cream

Baby powder & puff

Body lotion & super thick hand lotion

Toothbrushes & toothpaste

Dixie cups (I refuse to use those glasses they don't clean)

Facial stuff like moisturizer, toner, etc.

Cottonballs, Q-tips

Sun stuff: tanning oil, sunscreen, lip sunscreen, beach bag, Kleenex pack, hand wipes pack, blow-up raft, astringent & a few cottonballs, comb and sunglasses. (We would normally use this year-round at home.)

Blow Dryer

Flat Iron

Etc.

Yup, that is all the crap that goes into the medical bag and/or the carry ons. Now that my DH has a CPAP I might have to buy another carry on for his medical stuff. Those things take up a lot of room.

notentirelynormal: Thank you, I had a good chuckle. My wife and I have a similar routine when it comes to packing. I'm eager to leave and she packs everything I forgot.