Image by Nenad Maric from Pixabay

Picture yourself sitting on the beach with a margarita in one hand, a good book in the other, and just relaxing in the warm sun… Now, imagine that peaceful moment thousands of miles away on a beautiful island, and then getting a phone call from a neighbor saying that your home was broken into and the police are there now conducting an investigation.

That’s a moment that would make anyone’s heart drop and take their vacation from peaceful to stressful in an instant. If only you had made proper arrangements to keep your home safe before you left… Oddly enough, lack of preparation to keep your home safe is actually one of the biggest mistakes people make when planning a vacation… We’ll seemingly plan everything except that for some reason.

According to safewise.com, burglaries happen every 26 seconds and happen in the middle of the day when people typically aren’t home.

The thought of your home potentially being burglarized isn’t necessarily something you want to think about before going on the vacation of a lifetime, right? Of course not, but it’s something you need to think about and prepare for so that you can enjoy your vacation and not worry about your home because you know you’ve put things in place to protect your home while you’re gone.

But how exactly can you protect your home? Well, there are quite a few things you can do but the key is to beat the burglars to the punch. Whether you realize it or not, burglars are incredibly advanced now. They no longer are just hopping fences and sneaking through windows, now.

Burglars today have gone to extreme lengths of renting cargo vans, and acting like movers, robbing homeowners blind while they’re gone. Unless you have a close relationship with your neighbors, they’ll just think you hired people to get rid of some things in your home, when they’re really burglarizing your home.

In addition to that, burglars will pay attention to your schedule to know when you’re home and when you’re not home… They’ve grown to be pretty clever over the years but that’s no reason why you have to live in fear or not take vacations… To go on vacation with peace of mind about the safety of your home, the key to success is preparedness.

The way you prep your home is what’s going to determine the safety of it. Here’s how to keep your home safe while on vacation.

Preparedness Tips to Keep Your Home Safe While Gone on Vacation

Do Not Post on Social Media That You’re Out of Town

One of the biggest ways to give burglars the green light to rob your home is to tell everyone on social media that you’re out of town. It’s perfectly fine to take pictures during your vacation but don’t actually post them to social media until you’ve come back from your vacation. From beach photos to tagging your location, don’t give away any information that says your house is empty.

Keep Your Yard Maintained

This might sound strange to you but the appearance of your yard is a dead giveaway that no one is home. If you regularly get your yard cut, and then all of a sudden your yard is overgrown, not only will burglars know no one is there to catch them but your overgrown bushes and shrubbery have then become hiding spots away from nosey neighbors. Keep your yard maintained like normal as if you were home.

Leave Your Lights On

Depending on how long your vacation will be, your electric bill could get a little expensive to leave your lights on the entire time, but it’s something you must do. In states like Texas, residents get to enjoy the perks of deregulated electricity and can search for TX best electric rates and find a plan that’s suitable for the amount of time they’ll be gone for vacation, or simply switch providers altogether for a lower monthly rate.

In other words, do whatever money-saving hack you need to do because you’re going to need to leave your light on while you’re gone.

Ask a Trusted Neighbor or Family/Friend to Keep an Eye on Your Home

Before you leave, you can ask a neighbor and family member or friend to keep an eye on your home while you’re gone for added peace of mind. That doesn’t necessarily hand over spare keys, but it’s not going to hurt if they drive by or water the flowers and also check things out as well.

Invest in a Security System

Last, and certainly not least, invest in a security system, that way in case someone does try to burglarize your home, you and authorities will immediately be notified. This is something that will be beneficial to your home whether you’re gone out of town or not and will pay off in the long run.