There’s always plenty of advice from various sources about how to prepare your home when the home leaving for a week or two.
At a very minimum, reach behind your washing machine and turn off the water supply lines to the unit. The hoses that supply the washing machine are under constant pressure and it is very common for them to fail. If this happens when the home owner is away, especially if you have an upstairs laundry location, the home owner may be looking at tens of thousands of dollars of water damage. It is not unheard of to have sheetrock, flooring and mold needing to be addressed when the flooding is discovered.
Deepwater potted plants, move them to more filtered sunlight and deepwater lawns and fruit trees.
Unplug vintage lamps, radios and other electric devices with questionable cords. Unplug battery chargers for cordless tools and electronics also.
Put some lights and appliances on timers. This gives the appearance that someone may be home and keeps the “bad guys” guessing.
Have a neighbor or friend collect the mail and/or newspaper. Letting these services know that the home will be empty for an extended period of time may not be wise.
Remove the negative (black) cable off of batteries for cars, boats, movers, etc. Particularly cars and boats have a great deal of electronics on them these days. These may have a small, slow drain on batteries that may leave you stranded when you return to use them.
Lock your doors and hide the key in a non-traditional place on the property. This assures that the key won’t be lost on vacation and that the airport parking service doesn’t have your key.
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