There are a lot of things to think about to prepare for traveling, so we have compiled a list of things to take the guesswork out of it.
In Your Home
Deep-clean your house before leaving. Wash the sheets and put clean sheets on the beds. Nothing beats coming home to clean sheets after being gone. Also, if you have a housekeeper, schedule a cleaning for the day before you get home or the day you get home.
Have a checklist before you leave; make sure all water is turned off. Make sure all windows and doors are locked. I suggest giving a trusted family member or friend a key to your house.
Adjust the thermostat and lights. This will help save energy and lower your energy bill when you return home.
If you have a smart home, set timers to change lights off and on to make it appear someone is home for further savings. Unplug your TV, computers, and other unnecessary appliances while you are gone.
Outside Your Home
If your trip is more than a week, you will want to set up lawn care so that you don’t return home to overgrown grass.
Ensure you take all the trash out before leaving. There is nothing worse than coming home to a smelly house. Do not, however, leave your trash barrels out.
Set up animal care in advance before the trip if you have an animal. This will decrease your stress.
Have your mail held or have a neighbor/family member check the mail.
Important To-Dos
Email yourself copies of your credit cards, ID, and travel documents to a web-based email account. – Just in case something happens while you are traveling.
Prepay your bills. You can now have most things on auto-draft; once I didn’t have them on auto-draft, I randomly remembered that my electric bill was due and got up in the middle of the night to pay it.
I love to travel, and I also love to come home, because of this I take these steps to make coming home from a trip less stressful.
Our team at Embrace the Journey Travel would love to share all of our tips and tricks with you to assist with planning your next trip. Let us know what trip we can plan with you next!