Keep your house safe while you’re away

As you can see from our blog we go away a lot so we are (hopefully) pretty well practiced at how to keep your house safe while you are travelling. So here are 10 things that we try and put into practice every time we go away to keep our house safe.

NB: This post has been created in collaboration with Verisure

 

Use a house sitter

There are lots of services you can sign up to that will find you people to stay in your house whilst you’re away. Many of these service work on trust and this trust is built up over a number of years. We haven’t actually used one of these services before as I like to ask people I know to stay in our house while we are away. Most of the time when we go away friends or family are taking the opportunity to live in our house near the beach and try out new things around here. We’ve even had fellow bloggers Rainbeaubelle staying whilst we were in Kalkan and Flying with a Baby whilst we were in Malawi .  Nothing like having people house sit that you know to keep your house safe while you are travelling.

Ask someone to keep an eye on your house

I always let the neighbours know if I’m going to be away, and when we are due to be back. I let them know if we are having a house sitter and if we are not,  that there should only be the usual people in and out of the house. That way they can keep an eye out for anything suspicious and help keep your house safe.  If you don’t know your immediate neighbours either use it as an excuse to knock on the door, or maybe ask some that you might know a little further down the street.

Get an alarm fitted and set it

This was actually one of the first things we did when we moved into our house. We got an alarm and we make sure we always set it.  I like the security of knowing that it’s on and that nothing can have happened to my house while I’ve been out without me knowing about it. If I had my time again I’d get one of the newer type of alarms installed though, a Smart Alarm like Verisure sell. These alarms can have smart keys, settings for all the family, smoke detectors, panic buttons and perimeter settings. They even do alarms with ZeroVision which was designed to generate a zero-visibility situation through a dense, bothersome fog that impairs the burglar’s vision and forces the burglar to leave the premises – I like it and I want one!

You could also go one step further and have CCTV fitted. CCTV systems are much cleverer than they used to be and ones like CloudCam Pro enable you to keep track of what is happening in your home in real time, with high definition imaging and from wherever you are in the world. You can store all this information in the Cloud and Verisure can access your video system if the alarm is triggered..

Neighbourhood Watch sticker

Whilst Neighbourhood Watch schemes aren’t as popular as they once were. Why not consider looking into one in your area? They have a really helpful website which can help.

Ask someone to move your mail and take in your parcels

Nothing says ‘we aren’t here’ more than post building up in the letter box or milk on the doorstep. Keep your house safe and secure and ask someone to stay on top of your mail and parcels for you.

Unplug everything

It’s sensible to unplug everything when you go away just in case of power surges. They don’t often happen but better to be safe than sorry – it’s better for the environment too!

Set a light timer

Using a light timer is a great way to keep lights going on and off in the same way they would if you were at home.

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Arrange your curtains

Hubby and I row about curtains every time we go away. He shuts them, I open them. The advice is to have them how you would normally have them! Obviously if you have a house sitter this isn’t a problem.

Make sure you move any hidden keys you might have forgotten about.  Take it with you while you’re gone (or store it safely inside your house). Chances are a thief will know where all the usual hidden spots might be, under the plant pot, in the shed etc.

Set your heating to a safe temperature in the Winter. Nothing worse than coming home to burst pipes if you have a temperature drop while you are away!

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