How to Protect Your Home While You’re Off on a Family Vacation

Family vacations are all about exploring the world together. However, with all that planning and excitement, it’s easy to forget about what you are leaving behinduntil you reach the airport and wonder:

• Did I lock the door?
• Have I turned off the water faucet?
• Is the window open?

To help ease your worries, and help you enjoy your family vacation to its fullest, ensure you take thesesix steps to protect your home:

1. Create the Illusion That Someone’s Home

Darkness is asign of an empty house which may allow burglars to sneak in undetected. While on vacation, therefore, ensure that your home looks occupied. To help create the illusion that someone is still home, you can invest in timers which automatically turn on the lights for a few minutes in the morning and evening.

Get your friends or neighbors to park their car in your empty driveway. Likewise, position your window shades like normal. However, ensure that expensive furniture or appliances are not exposed. Along these lines, request your neighbors to collect your mail for you. It’s also wise to stop your newspaper delivery.

2. Don’t Forget to Lock up

Live in a relatively safe neighborhood? You still need to lock and secure every door and window. Although this seems like an obvious thing to do, it's easy to overlook.

If you intendto keep a window unlocked to allow easy access to the cat, don’t! In case you have an automatic garage entryway, unplug the power to avert thieves from utilizing a universal remote to gain entrance.

3. Install A Home Security System

Houses without security systems are up to three times more likely to be robbed. Therefore, to have peace of mind, install a home security system which can provideenhanced level of security while you are gone. Having a security system in place, you can easily view live video of your home on your smartphone and receive temperature and motion alerts as well.

Before leaving your house, ensure that cameras and smoke detectors (if any) are in working conditions and that your home security system is programmed appropriately.

Also, lock-up expensive items and valuables including jewelry, sentimental items and cash in a safe and fire-proof area.

4. Unplug All The Appliances

Disconnecting the power to appliances like your television, computer, lamps, coffee pot will not only avoid electrical fires or power surgesyet additionallysave you money while you are gone on your vacation. Above all, it will kill the worry that you have accidentally left them on by mistake.

Aside from this safety aspect, it’s wise to turn off the main water supply valve to prevent possible water damage from leaky pipes.

5. Don’t Broadcast Your Plans On Social Media

It’s very enticing to share photos of your dream vacation via social media posts. But even though you are making every one of your friends envious with that image of “European Lavender Fields” or “Crystal Clear Waters of Maldives,” you are also advertising to potential criminals that you are far from home. Therefore, refrain from posting about your vacation on social media until you return

6. Get Your Home Insured

Securing your home doesn’t just mean locking everything away before you leave for the airport. Having home insurance can make all the difference should the worst happen in your absence. Before going on a long holiday, many people these days choose to insure their home via home insurance.

Home insurance policies from reputable insurers like tataaig.com cover burglary, fire, natural disasters, water damage, jewelry, domestic appliances and so forth. Moreover, these policies can also be customized for individual requirements.

Thus, the fact that we have many valuable contents in our home makes home insurance extremely vital. After all, it makessure that your home stays covered while you are on your holiday and if the worst does happen, it provides financial security for suchan unexpected hour!