10 Tips for Protecting Your Home While You Are on Vacation

Going on a long vacation is always fun and exciting, but nothing that always keeps lingering in the back of my head when I am on holiday is the safety and security of my home. Leaving your home unprotected and monitored while you are on an extended vacation can be dangerous. Thieves and intruders are always on the hunt for empty homes that can be an easy score for them. However, if you take the right security measures, you can keep your home safe and secure even when you are on vacation.

Therefore, in today’s post, I am going to tell you about the ten most useful tips for maintaining home security. At the same time, you are having the time of your life on an exotic and exciting vacation.

Install wireless security cameras:

One of the simplest and easiest ways to protect your home while you are away is installing some wireless security cameras in your home with remote viewing capabilities. Modern wireless security cameras have a lot of attractive features that make them perfect for keeping an eye on your home, regardless of your location. For a small monthly subscription, you can enable live remote viewing on your cameras. Modern security cameras also have smart motion detection capabilities, and they can alert you via notifications if there is any movement in your home. So, install a smart wireless camera system in your home, or if you are installing a wired system you can contact a local security camera installation company to do the installation for you. This will allow you to keep an eye on your home even when you are on vacation.

Install a silent alarm system:

One of the most effective ways to maintain home security is by installing an alarm system. You can go for a silent alarm, which will automatically alert you and the local police department about a forced entry to your home. Security cameras on their own aren’t always effective in stopping criminals, therefore adding an alarm system and some other supporting features like motion-activated lights can increase their effectiveness.

Put your home up on Airbnb:

One of the best ways to keep your home safe while you are on vacation, putting it up on Airbnb. This will make sure that your home isn’t empty while you are away, and it will also make you some extra money so that you can have more fun on your trip. Furthermore, because of the rating system of Airbnb, and the selection process, you can make sure that the people, staying at your home a trustworthy.

Use automated lights:

Burglars are always looking for an unoccupied home, and no lights are a dead giveaway that there is no one home. To make burglars think that the home is occupied even when you are on vacation, you can use some automated lights. These lights can be customized to turn on automatically according to preset times. You can also program the lights to turn on, when your security cameras detect motion or when the bell is rung. You can also find some lights that make it look like the TV is turned on.  This will make it look as if you are still home, and the intruders will be deterred.

Ask a friend to check up on your home:

Another simple solution to keep your home protected when you are on vacation is to leave a key with a trusted friend or family member. You can ask your friend to stay at your place until you come back, or they can check up on your home at regular intervals to make sure everything is in order. Remember to remove and hidden keys from the outside of your home before you leave.

Pause your mail while you are away:

Apart from no lights, another thing that burglars look for to determine whether a home is unoccupied is full letterboxes. If your letterbox is filled to the brim with mail and there are newspapers on your porch, burglars will figure out that the home is empty. Therefore, before you leave for your vacation, make sure that you hold your mail, or redirect it to a friend’s address. This will keep your home secure, and if you get any important mail, your friend will be able to tell you.

Keep a low profile on social media:

These days, burglars have found a new way to figure out which home is unoccupied. They look for travel photos and then they can stalk the profiles of the people posting the images to find their address. You may be thinking that you haven’t posted your address on Facebook or any other social media account. Well, think again, have you ever posted a party invite or a Facebook event that may have had your address. You shouldn’t post your phone number on social media either because thieves can google your phone number to link an address to it. Therefore, do not post details about your vacation before you leave or when you are away. If you do have to post any photos, wait till you get back home.

Place all your valuables in a safe:

Whenever you leave on an extended vacation, you should make sure that you keep all the valuables of your home in a safe. You should buy a sturdy and robust safe that can be bolted to the ground and keep any jewelry, cash, relevant documents and guns in there. This way, you can be sure that even if someone breaks into your home, they won’t be able to get to the important stuff.

Use signboards to increase security:

Another unique and unorthodox way to increase the security of your home is to use signboards. It would be best if you advertised the security of your home by putting up a sign that says that the property is being monitored with security cameras. You can also put up a beware of dog sign to keep intruders away. To sum it all up, the security of your home is essential, especially when you are away from your home on vacation. So, you can implement the tips mentioned in this post to keep your home safe. I hope that these tips help you make the most out of your vacation, without any worries about the protection of your home. That’s all and have a fun, safe and stress-free vacation.

This article is provided to Handyman tips by Garrett Thomas who is a French national, a student of IT, in his final year at Stanford University. He is exceptionally passionate about writing his thoughts in words. He takes up writing projects in his leisure time to accompany his studies. He is obsessed with new technology and enjoys every bit exploring it.