What Do You Do...

[F22Smitty]

What do you do to secure your house when on a cruise or vacation?

 

The reason I'm asking is because my son normally moves in to take care of our house and dog, but this year, my son and GF are going on our cruise with us. Our neighbor will get the mail, but what do you do for the house.

 

Do you shut the heat/ac off?

Do you shut the water off?

Do you inform the police that you will be gone?

Do you let all your neighbors know you'll be gone and to load there guns? :D

 

Just wondering what everyone does. Thanks

[pe4all]

Alarm system on. Automatic lights set to go on and off randomly. Police notified that we will be away, and if they see anyone besides my brother- who goes in 2x a day to take care of my cat, mail and newspapers- shoot to kill! (I kid, I kid!) I give the police the make/license plate of my brother's car, and his description, and he knows to carry id so the police can "proof" him if needed. We were robbed once when we were on a cruise - now also have a door jam thingy so they can't kick in our back door like they did in 2000. Brother-in-law lives around the corner, and also keeps an eye out. We do not let our neighbors know we are going away, as they have teens, and I don't need any parties in my back yard. But I have seen enough "reality" tv shows to know that if someone really wants to get into your house, they will! I will just try to make it as inconvenient as possible for them!:D

[AWCHIEF]

Alarm on, doors locked. If it burns down or gets broken into, well that is what I pay astronomical high Mississippi insurance rates for.

[jebuell]

Um... I guess I never really worried about this. Small town, safe neighborhood, nothing to steal.

 

We just lock the doors. If the AC or Heat is on obviously we turn that off and make sure all the windows are closed but I don't turn the water off. Don't even know how to be honest (probably something I should know in case a pipe bursts, huh?). Heck, I don't even stop the mail because we have individual locked mailboxes and if it gets full the mail carrier just stops bringing it.

[Mrs.C05]

We turn on the alarm, update immediate contacts with them since obviously we won't be able to be reached. My mom will get our mail but we have no pets so no reason for anyone to be goin in our house. If they do, they'll get an ear-piercing alarm and cops called. Whatever they take, well, we have insurance. We turn off the water heater, a/c, unplug major appliances, make sure all windows are locked and blinds down/drapes closed.

 

We also tell our elderly neighbors since their kitchen window faces our house. They are always on the lookout. LOL! They about called the cops once when we had a friend staying with us, borrowing our truck, while we were home. Then they saw my DH get in the truck with him, so they calmed down.

[nanuak]

We lock the doors, turn on the alarm system, turn on the automatic lights, set the thermostat to a comfortable level for the dogs, and take my parrot to the boarders. We have had the same mailman for 9 years, and he is wonderful; so I just tell him to hold the mail and throw away all the junk mail.

 

We have friends or neighbors that come by everyday to check on the dogs. We have a 5 gallon water and 5 gallon dog food container which is cleaned and filled to the max and a doggy door.

 

They would have to kill one of my dogs to get into the house as he is extremely protective (chow/mastiff mix). We were even kicked out of obedience school as he couldn't keep his mouth to himself, and he has a major attitude.

 

I have never contacted the police, but that is a great idea :).

[CorbinCatFan]

I never thought about turning off the water (I'll be sure to do this since we have a very old water heater).

 

We usually pay a neighbor kid to bring in the papers/mail and feed our cat. We board the dogs at the kennel. In addition, we'll also bring back a gift from the cruise for this kid.

 

Other than that, we just keep from doing any social networking while we're away.:rolleyes:

[5waldos]

Leave Mr5W home. :eek::D:D He gets seasick anyway and is just as happy staying home so we don't have to worry about the house or the cat.

[mickiemac]

We do turn off our water, water heater and the ice maker in the fridge.

[Shelbyjane56]

What do you do to secure your house when on a cruise or vacation?

 

The reason I'm asking is because my son normally moves in to take care of our house and dog, but this year, my son and GF are going on our cruise with us. Our neighbor will get the mail, but what do you do for the house.

 

Do you shut the heat/ac off?

Do you shut the water off?

Do you inform the police that you will be gone?

Do you let all your neighbors know you'll be gone and to load there guns? :D

 

Just wondering what everyone does. Thanks

 

 

 

We travel for the most part when youngest daughter is at home, shes in her first year of college. She watches the dogs ect. If she isnt home then we board our dogs all 4 of them, 3 little dogs who think they are people and a puppy dog who is about 30 lbs who thinks he is as big as a mouse. Our neighbors are wonderful and keep an eye on things should our daughter run into problems, not to mention our oldest daughter lives a few miles away from us. So we really dont worry when we are gone, we are in a good area.

[ItsAllAboutTheSass]

We don't have to do any of this. One of the few benefits on MIL living with us.

[mrsjkizzle]

My exhusband is staying at my apt and taking care of our 4 doxies and cocker spaniel while the kids and I are on our 8 day vacation.

 

Cat

[cb at sea]

If you don't turn your water off, then (if you don't have the metal-reinforced washer hoses), turn off the water to your washing machine! Those rubber hoses that come with most machines can (and will) rupture, and the water is ON, full-force!

 

We turn the heat down (or AC up, depending on season!) so that the unit doesn't run anymore than it needs to.

We do have one of our grown kids come and water plants, if needed....

We stop mail and paper...that's about it!

[conchead]

I lock the door and leave.

If something happens..it happens.

I have insurance.

[mgm61]

My eldest child and family are living with us (to save for a house) so they have dog duty and caring for the house. Just like if we were there. One thing my one dog almost stops eating while were gone. I don't know what it is but I guess he misses us.:o

[hillbillycruisers]

One thing we try to do is not advertise the fact we are going to be out of town for a week or longer...such as on facebook. It may be paranoid to do this, but the fewer people who know we are gone, the less it'll be talked about, maybe around the wrong person. Having lights on a timer helps too. We live in a very small town without a police force, and we dont have an alarm system ( except for our jack russell )...so whenever we go away we cross our fingers. We dont shut off water or anything like that, so heres hoping we dont spring a giant leak and come home to our own little ' cruise'.:)

[Martini Mom]

The easiest thing to do is to not own anything of value that someone would want to steal. Works for us.;):)

[kr8z]

I just hold the mail, set the thermostat to a reasonable level, and then either contact the local police or the MPs (if we are living on base) and let them know we will be gone and for what time frame. We get home, reset the thermostat to a comfy level, call the police, and have our mail delivered the next day. Never had a problem.

[ShedQueen77]

I used to not turn the water down until we came home from our cruise in 2009 to a house flood. It got really cold, our furnace went out, and one of the pipes under the kitchen sink froze and burst. We ended up with about $10K in damage when it was all said and done. On the advice of our plumber, we turn the water main down (but not completely off) and leave on sink on a super slow drip.

 

That being said, besides that we have my parents come once a day to check on things, get the mail, and make sure there are no "floaters" or any mishaps in our 55 gallon aquarium. The dogs and my parrot go to a friend's house. We have two lights on an intermittent timer. We let one neighbor (we trust them completely and we trade the favor of keeping an eye on the house when they travel as well) know we are gone and that Mom and Dad will be in and out.

[gizfish]

If you don't turn your water off, then (if you don't have the metal-reinforced washer hoses), turn off the water to your washing machine! Those rubber hoses that come with most machines can (and will) rupture, and the water is ON, full-force!

 

We turn the heat down (or AC up, depending on season!) so that the unit doesn't run anymore than it needs to.

We do have one of our grown kids come and water plants, if needed....

We stop mail and paper...that's about it!

 

Great point about washer hoses. In fact, you should always leave your washing machine water supply off at the hose unless you are using the washer. You don't need to be away for a week for a problem with that. Just going to work or running errands is enough time for those hoses blow and you will be mopping and dealing with mold.

[babyher]

We still have 2 kids at home and one 10-15 minutes away so there is always someone coming in and going out. And they take care of the dogs too.

 

 

If there was ever a real problem there are plenty of nearby relatives for them to call.

[momof3cruisers]

We turn down the heat but not to freezing level, have a couple of lights that are on timers turn down the water heater, and shut off the water almost all the way. I don't want to heat a house or water that I am not using. Then we have the mail held and ask our neighbors to snow blow the driveway if it snows. We do the same for them.

[kyrisong1]

We're lucky, we have three dogs so Mom and dad come and stay when we go away, I'd never leave otherwise, wouldn't board them, and I'm too much of a worrier to ever leave the dogs alone!!!

So we have an alarm system, but our most reliable alarm is our 120lb white shep. She's protective :D

[peanutzmom]

Maybe it's because we're military and constantly on the move (and don't have anything worth stealing), but I really don't worry about it. We board the dogs at their Doggy Daycare, leave on a few lights, lock the doors, and go!

[lillian marie]

If we would turn off our heat in the winter our pipes would freeze. We have to have 2 furnaces to heat our house. I always tell my neighbor when we'll be gone and they then shovel a path to my door if needed in fresh snow or walk up to my house and back a few times so there is a path. The neighbor also picks up my mail and paper too each day. We do this for them too when they travel. We don't notify the newspaper or post office when we're gone because in our area some home robberies were linked to that kind of notification. The previous owners of my house put on an alarm system that is equal to that of a jewelery store so I feel pretty safe with it on when we travel. I just turn off the water to my washer and set my house alarm. I always board my pets at the vet too so that's not a problem.