Vacation Safety

The summer is ending and while many are returning home from summer vacations many still have holiday and personal recreational and business travel plans through the end of the year. Travelers remember to arrange their wardrobe, check weather at their destinations and secure travel documents. Often forgotten however, is the security of their homes.

Vacations provide burglars with plenty of time to enter your home, remove large items and search leisurely for hidden valuables. If you are planning a vacation, take precautions to protect your home while you are away. The key is to create an illusion of everyday activity. One of the biggest mistakes homeowners and renters make before heading off for short or extended trips is forgetting to secure their homes from potential thieves.

The key to protecting your place is making it look like someone is home. Last year, while away for Thanksgiving my roommate and I were robbed. We live in a townhouse community. We failed to leave on lights or tell neighbors we'd be away. We made ourselves a great target for thieves.

There are numerous ways of making your home look inhabited, but the best way is to have it be inhabited. Asking a relative or a friend to stay over is optimal. If this isn't possible you should consider having a neighbor or a friend stop by to collect mail and newspapers, turn on porch and inside lights and for longer stays cut grass or shovel snow.

Some people leave lights on, however, this can have the reverse effect of alerting someone casing the area for targets that no one is home.

You may also want to have mail suspended (or held) at the post office. A mail holds is different than a change of address in that it is temporary and allows mail to be picked up or resumed after the end date you specify. Don't forget to have newspaper and magazine delivery suspended as well.

If you cannot have someone physically attend to your home think about purchasing timers on indoor lamps and appliances to illuminate your home at night, and set timers to turn on radios and televisions randomly during the day. These timers are inexpensive and can be purchased from most home improvement or department stores. A home security system is a great idea as well, however are more expensive.

Some other things to remember is that burglars enter through garages as well as windows. Remember to check that garage doors and windows are secure. Place wooden sticks or board in window jams and glass patio doors. Also remember to remove messages from your telephone answering machine daily so that the "beep" is always short. And don't indicate on your message that you are on vacation.