1 Month Cruise - home checklist, anything Im forgetting?

[AeroArcher]

Hey Everyone, my wife and I are planning a 1 month cruise, possibly a 2 month cruise, and it's going to be one of the longest trips we've been on. We've put together a checklist for the things we're taking care of with our house, but also wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions.

 

- unplugging electronics in the kitchen in case there's a power surge

- heard turning off the plumbing might be a good idea, just turning off the water main

- also heard turning off the gas is a good idea too, or at least turning off the water heater

- plants, this is a toughie but luckily we're friends with the neighbors and they agreed to water them

- pool, we've heard it's a good idea to cover the pool, and we're going to reduce the pool pump hours

- we just had a solar system and batteries installed, not sure yet if we need to do anything about this or if we can just leave it

- move the car to the garage

- raise the Air temperature not to waste air conditioner, but, don't leave it off is what I've been told

 

Anything else I'm forgetting to take care of?

[mrgabriel]

DEFINITELY turn off the water. If neighbours are coming in to water the plants, turn off the water to the laundry and all the toilets. If you don't need to leave water on for plants, turn off the main water. I can tell you plenty of stories about water in empty houses including my own ...

 

I would also add light timers for indoor and outdoor, and not leaving anything outside that would be tempting to someone. And unplug computers or anything else expensive that can be damaged in a power surge. 

 

When we lived in the South (Florida and Georgia) we left our AC at about 83F when travelling. You don't want to turn it off ... humidity and all that. 

 

Ask someone to come in the house occasionally and open/close blinds, pick up any flyers on the doorstep. 

[CruiserBruce]

Don't have to do anything with the solar. You will just sell more to your electric company.

 

Agree on unplugging anything you can, realistically. This saves us 15-20% of our electrical use. 

 

Agree on turning off any and all water you can...toilets, washer machines, etc. The night before we departed on our last vacation a month ago, we noticed one of our toilets running. If that started during the vacation, we would be looking at a number of possible problems. We turn off our ice maker as well.

 

Close every door inside your house. If a fire starts, it might be self contained in one room. (35 years as a firefighter). 

 

We lock our car(s) that are in garage, and lock up the keys. 

 

We do these things on every vacation, not just long ones. About the only thing we consider for longer vacations is locking our electric garage door. For a while there was an issue about accidental garage door activations, or bad guys trying to open doors with fraudulent openers. 

[John Bull]

Check your home insurance. Most UK policies usually don't cover some eventualities  like escape of water & burglary if a property is continuously unoccupied for more than (usually 30 - 35) days.

Can be overcome by a friend or relative stopping over for a night (which starts the clock again) or by advising the insurer and paying an extra premium.

That's the UK, I don't know about your country (USA?)

 

JB 🙂

[clo]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

Close every door inside your house. If a fire starts, it might be self contained in one room. (35 years as a firefighter). 

 

That's brilliant! No wonder we women always have crushes on firefighters 🙂 And, here, I thought it was the boots.

[olemissreb]

Stop your mail. Have the pist office hold it all until you get back.

 

As someone else stated, check with your home insurance about the house being vacant for up to 2 months. May have to put a rider on your regular policy.

 

Someone else mentioned putting lights on timers. You may also want to put a tv or radio on a timer...if someone comes near the house and hears voices, it may be a further deterrent.

 

 

[mom says]

Make sure any bills are either on autopay, or paid in advance. We make sure our credit cards are paid in full or have a positive balance before going on any vacation.

 

Doesn't sound as though snow clearance is a thing for you,but if you have a yard arrange for lawn maintenance if you don't already have a service.

 

When your neighbour comes over to water your plants, ask them to do a quick walk through the house to make sure nothing is awry. After a heavy rain afew years ago, DH found water damage in our neighbour's basement from a flooded window well.

[clo]

A scary anecdote. Some years ago we were out of the country and some friends from the SF area came up for a stay. Upon arriving they discovered that the connection between the water line and the washing machine had burst. Water blew probably five feet across and blew a hole in the wall. The water was out into the house but not terribly far. They were able to turn the water off and no more harm was done. But we did have to replace all the flooring on the main level of the house. And a plumber friend told us if they hadn't arrived (shortly before it started) most of our house would have been totaled. Words to the wise.

[clo]

1 hour ago, mom says said:

Make sure any bills are either on autopay, or paid in advance. We make sure our credit cards are paid in full or have a positive balance before going on any vacation.

 

Absolutely anything that can be set up for auto-pay or the occasional pay online is. Always. I can't imagine what someone's credit card limit is that they would need to prepay. 

[WatchHill]

Have a trusted neighbor collect your mail. The PO will only hold mail for up to 30 days in our area.  If anything looks urget, my neighbor  can "whats app" me and then decide if it needs to be opened, etc. Empty, or near empty fridge and freezer unless you have whole house generator. 

 

Since we won't be putting out trash totes each week, I allow my trusted neighbor access  to ours, so it looks like we're home and they make use of the totes for serious house cleaning.

 

Some credit cards want to be notified of upcoming travel - be sure to check each card. 

 

Darcy

[mom says]

A trick to find out if your fridge/freezer has had a lengthy power interruption:. Place a coin on top of one of the ice cubes in an old fashioned ice cube tray. If the coin has sunk down and is covered by ice, you will know that power was off long enough to cause melting in the freezer while you were gone.

[aungrl]

1 minute ago, mom says said:

A trick to find out if your fridge/freezer has had a lengthy power interruption:. Place a coin on top of one of the ice cubes in an old fashioned ice cube tray. If the coin has sunk down and is covered by ice, you will know that power was off long enough to cause melting in the freezer while you were gone.

And if you don't have an old-fashioned ice cup tray, you can do the same thing with a cup of frozen water.

[Mike981]

@AeroArcher I wish you and your wife a wonderful trip.

[Wayfairers]

We typically travel for 4+months at a time and have 2 checklists - one when we leave, one when we arrive.  You’ve gotten some great suggestions.  On the ice what has worked best for us is put a cube or 2 in a ziplock and if they are still cubes when you return you are good.  Also, turn off the ice maker.

 

We turn down the water heaters, but don’t turn the gas off.  In winter you probably need a minimum temperature in the house to not freeze pipes.  

 

Internet service can usually be put on hold at a reduced rate/month.  Depending upon where you live you may be able to reduce car insurance too since your vehicles won’t be on the road.

 

Clean toilets before you leave and put the lid down to prevent water from evaporating.  Close all tub and sink drains to prevent sewer gases from coming up.  Turn off water main or turn off water to the fridge and to the washing machine if you don’t turn off the main.

 

Think about the weather your house will experience while you are gone to determine where to set the thermostats —-and if there is a season change while you are gone think about that too.

 

Check expiration dates and get rid of or freeze anything in the fridge or pantry that might ruin while you are gone.  Consider freezing flours if you they haven’t been frozen and you live in a warm environment.

 

Ask someone to check your house about once a week.  If you don’t use a mail service ask someone to check your mail.

 

Get T Mobile cell service - data and text in almost every country so you can make sure all is going ok at home and keep up to date on paperwork.

[aungrl]

Another thing I just remembered that we always do is to put plastic wrap across the toilet seat and the tank after we've cleaned it.  It's a tip that sounded crazy to me when I first came across it, but it keeps the water from evaporating - or at least slows it down quite a bit - so that you don't end up with rings that need to be tackled when you get back.  It really does work.

[Dock B]

We can put our garbage service on “hold” so we don’t have to pay for service that is not used. But for our next trip, I’m going to tell my neighbor he can use our can for his extra trash as a “thank you” for keeping watch, as he won’t have any extra fees to pay for the out-of-can garbage.

 

If we turn off water to the house, then we drain the pipes by turning on all the faucets. If we leave the water on, then we leave the drains to the sinks open so if there is something that happens at a sink, it doesn’t fill and overflow.

 

For our outdoors, we make sure trash can, outdoor chairs, etc. are placed where they won’t blow around in a storm.

 

Our pool automatically turns on the pool pumps in freezing weather so we leave our pool as is; we’re in the south so it could be a different need in other parts of the country.

 

Don’t forget to set your house alarm if you have one.

 

See if your local police or sheriff has a program where you can let them know you’ll be away. Our sheriff does this and will have a deputy swing by to check things out.

 

We let our neighbors know they may see that sheriff and to not be alarmed. We also tell neighbors we are NOT having any moving vans or trucks coming to the house while we’re gone so if they see any, call the sheriff!! We also inform them if the pool company is expected so the neighbors won’t be concerned about that.

 

Thank you for this thread: we already do many of the suggestions but I’ve now added others to our list!!

 

 

[sailing canary]

All of those are very useful suggestions most of which I follow when away for 2-3 months.  However, I was advised NOT to put lights on timers.  If there's a power outage, the timers are affected and then the lights are coming on and off at strange times, which could advertise the fact that the house is unoccupied.

[Canuker]

If you have flowers and/or vegetables that will wilt while you're away, invite friends and/or neighbours to come and harvest them. They might even be persuaded to water the plants, if needed, while they are there (if the water has been left turned on).

There's nothing like a ripe tomato straight off the vine.

[CruiserBruce]

2 hours ago, sailing canary said:

All of those are very useful suggestions most of which I follow when away for 2-3 months.  However, I was advised NOT to put lights on timers.  If there's a power outage, the timers are affected and then the lights are coming on and off at strange times, which could advertise the fact that the house is unoccupied.

The newer timers have battery backups to prevent this. Also, the OP is on solar and battery (like us), so, assuming a complete battery coverage, they shouldn't lose power.

[AeroArcher]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, actually the penny on the ice cube sounds genius. 

 

Already just told the neighbor about getting the mail as well, and definitely noted about putting our cars in the garage. 

 

Re utilities: I heard that turning off the gas is a good idea from our plumber. He also said turning off the water is fine as well even though we have a pool.

Also heard back from our solar company that did the job, because we have backup batteries, we actually don't have to unplug the appliances in the kitchen. They also said to definitely not shut off the power so we can continue getting credits. Every circuit that isn't on the backup panel can be switched off though.

 

 

[mrgabriel]

16 hours ago, sailing canary said:

All of those are very useful suggestions most of which I follow when away for 2-3 months.  However, I was advised NOT to put lights on timers.  If there's a power outage, the timers are affected and then the lights are coming on and off at strange times, which could advertise the fact that the house is unoccupied.

 

If you're in an area where power goes off, an option is smart plugs. We can control our plugs remotely - changing timers, turning all off or all on as needed. Through some of our smart speakers we can also drop in to watch or listen to the house. Of course we don't do this if someone is staying in the house, 

[simplelife]

Notify the post office to hold your mail.

[CruiserBruce]

7 hours ago, simplelife said:

Notify the post office to hold your mail.

Technically that is limited to 30 days maximum, according to the card you fill out. Haven't heard a workaround, other than have someone collecting your mail at your house. Or having a mail slot in your front, or garage door.

[clo]

6 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Technically that is limited to 30 days maximum, according to the card you fill out. Haven't heard a workaround, other than have someone collecting your mail at your house. Or having a mail slot in your front, or garage door.

USPS Hold Mail^® service can hold your mail safely at your local Post Office^™ facility until you return, for up to 30 days. To hold your mail longer or to reroute your mail, please sign up for a forwarding service. You can make your request up to 30 days in advance or as early as the next scheduled delivery day.

 

Hold Mail - Pause Mail Delivery Online - USPS

 

USPS

https://www.usps.com › manage › hold-mail

[lynncarol]

If you are traveling in the winter and your weather is cold, you need to be concerned about pipes freezing if you turn off all the heat.  We leave it on, but turn the temperature down to the low fifties.  Our water heater is gas, but it has a 'vacation' setting on it that keeps the water from freezing. As far as the water goes in winter, we turn it off at the main line, but then make sure we flush all toilets and bleed the faucets so no water remains in the system.