There's no place like it
You may be having the time of your life on vacation, but the home you left behind is practically a sitting duck on the marshland. Unless you leave a family member behind (which is unacceptable, at least for one person), or you employ the services of a house sitter, your house is an easy target for burglars and vandals (not to mention that your flower beds will not get the prim treatment they are accustomed to). Before you pack your suitcase and take that trip, make sure that your home is well taken care of, so that you won’t end up arriving at a house with everything turned over and disorganized; this can be a letdown, even for a memorable trip.
Make sure that you keep the details of your trip known only within a close and tight-knit circle of friends and relatives. Information can easily leak by word of mouth, so be discreet about it as much as you can. Have someone you can trust periodically check in on your house, and request that the person stays in for at least a night, and as often as possible.
Have your shrubs cut below the level of your windows, and take off tree branches which may conceal any portion of the house. Burglars will hesitate on forcing an entry to a house which is easily visible across the street. Bolt locks and metal rod fastenings are great at jamming doors and windows securely in place. If you have an automatic garage door opener, set it off before you leave. Make sure you bring in any items in the front yard which may be useful for gaining an entry.
You can give the impression that your house is unoccupied with untrimmed hedges and drawn curtains, so make sure you cut the bushes pretty short so they’ll look at least roughly trimmed by the time you get back. Ask a trusted neighbor who knows about your whereabouts to park his or her vehicle on your driveway at certain times; you’ll also need someone you can trust to periodically collect mail which you may receive, or have it redirected to the local post office until you arrive. Even junk mail which is left unattended is packed with information concerning your identity, providing easy access to your credit cards. You’ll also need to disconnect your internet connection, if you don’t want online burglars to hack into your financial and personal accounts. If you have a newspaper subscription, don’t forget to cancel it; you’re home is practically inviting burglars in with the presence of a week’s worth of subscription scattered all over the lawn.
Make sure that all doors and windows are locked before you leave. Unplug all electronic appliances, or better yet, turn off the main breaker switch. Cut off all the water supply at the main pipe, but keep your pumps running, just in case the house floods over while you’re away. It is also helpful if you install automatic lights on your house’s main access points; this will at least suggest that your house is being lived in. Make sure that you keep all your valuable documents and articles safely locked away or stored in your bank’s safety deposit box. You may also inadvertently forget that the food in your refrigerator will spoil in a few days, even with the appliance on, so see to it that you empty it as well before you leave.