BBB Tips: How to Secure Your Home While on Vacation

By taking some simple proactive measures, you can keep your home safe from fire, carbon monoxide and the threat of burglary while you are away.

BBB Serving Metro Atlanta, Athens & Northeast Georgia is offering these safety tips for homeowners planning to take a vacation.

1. Be discreet about who you share your vacation details with. Be wary of posting your vacation plans and destination on social media as burglars can use the information to find out when you will be away. If you do share information, be aware of your privacy settings and who is able to view your posts. Letting others know your house will be empty could be enough to attract unwanted attention, so be careful about broadcasting your travel plans.
2. Check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors periodically. Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors should be checked every month and batteries be replaced every year. This is particularly important if pets remain in your home while you are on vacation. If an alarm goes off, you want a neighbor or pet sitter to hear it and attend to your pets.
3. Consider hiring a house or pet-sitter. The best way to make sure your house is safe is to have someone you trust stay over. Maybe a relative who can water plants, feed pets, and pick up the newspaper. There are also services for housesitting and pet sitting, but this can be a pricey option.
4. Hold your mail. If you’re leaving for more than a couple days and don’t have anyone to get your mail, call your local post office to stop mail delivery until you get back. Your post office can hold mail from three to 30 days.
5. Stop newspaper delivery. A pile of yellowing newspapers may tip off burglars, telling them your home is unoccupied. Keep your home from being an easy target by stopping your daily delivery.
6. Make your home look lived in. To help create the illusion that the residence is still occupied, invest in timers that turn on the interior lights for a few hours every evening. Ask a neighbor to take out your garbage and bring the cans back in after pickup, it’s another way to make it appear that life is proceeding as if you are home.
7. Lock up. Of course this seems obvious, but it’s easy to forget things like windows and outside doors. If you keep a window unlocked to allow your pet easy access, or never bother to turn the deadbolt on your kitchen door, now is the time to start. Don’t make it easy for burglars to gain access.
8. Unplug electronics. Disconnecting the power to some of your electronics, like your computer, coffee pot and television can save your money while you’re gone and eliminate the worry that you’ve accidentally left them on by mistake. Turning off your garage door opener is also an effective way to keep thieves from opening it with a universal remote.
9. Consider installing a home security system. A home security system or even just exterior lights that run on timers is a good way to increase security. They’re not very noticeable and but make your property less attractive to opportunistic thieves.
10. Keep hedges and bushes around your home trimmed. This will prevent burglars from having a place to hide around your home. Consider hiring someone to take care of the landscaping chores in your absence. It will help make your home look as if it’s being kept up.

Check with BBB to find a reputable company to hire for any of your home safety needs. Visit bbb.org/atlanta for companies you can trust.