Tips for leaving the house over the holidays

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Place a quarter on top of the ice in the freezer. Check it when you return. If the quarter has sunk lower, it means your electricity was off while you were away. One of the best advice on Dcums. We are doing this. We’re visiting Spain now.

What would you do with this information? There's nothing to be done in the aftermath.

You can throw away food that looks frozen (but actually defrosted and then refroze) because the coin is in the bottom of the cup. You can also keep the food that did not defrost even if you know that the electricity was out for several hours because the coin either remains where it was or sank a few millimeters only.

Wow. I've been going away for 40 years, and...wow.

[Anonymous]

I just can't believe the level of paranoia that some people carry through life.

Here's what I do when I leave for a long trip:

1. Throw out anything from the refrigerator and kitchen that will go bad and stink.
2. Empty the trash.
3. Pick up my suitcase and lock the door behind me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't get why people leave lights on. isn't this an indication that you're not home? When you turn off all the lights every night except when you aren't there?

The lights are on timers.

For example, our living room lamps go on via a timer, whether we are at home or out, around dusk and then off prior to 11 PM. All the time.

So yes, they are off when we got to bed, when we are at home as well as when we are away.

There are basic timers, that you set, available at the hardware store. We find them very convenient to use when we are at home, so that no one has to go around turning on the entry hall light, living room table lamp, etc. (and yes, we use all LED lightbulbs, so about 7 watts).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've seen lots of people who can't handle the basics of life on DCUM, but "How do I leave the house" really takes the cake.

Aren't you a doll?! Join the Christmas card meanies on the other thread, Scrooge.

They're not wrong, this is basic adult stuff. How do you ever own a house if you are this clueless?

Hopefully for all workplaces you are a SAHM. Otherwise, you'd be a real gem to work with Miss " Know-It-All".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Place a quarter on top of the ice in the freezer. Check it when you return. If the quarter has sunk lower, it means your electricity was off while you were away. One of the best advice on Dcums. We are doing this. We’re visiting Spain now.

the flashing clock on the microwave won't give it away?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just can't believe the level of paranoia that some people carry through life.

Here's what I do when I leave for a long trip:

1. Throw out anything from the refrigerator and kitchen that will go bad and stink.
2. Empty the trash.
3. Pick up my suitcase and lock the door behind me.

Yeah, I used to be nonchalant. Then I had a flood while on vacation that did $50K in damages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is going to be our first time ever going on vacation bringing dog with us, and therefore leaving the house empty. These are the things we are planning on doing before leaving. Anything I am missing?
-Set outdoor lights to automatic timer
-Turn off water to house and drain faucets
-Put hot water heater in pilot mode
-Set thermostat to 65

how long are you going away for? we have been away for up to 2 weeks and NEVER done this.

The most we do is:

clean house
put a few lights on timers
place hold on mail

[Anonymous]

Do none of you have neighbors that you can just say "Hey, we're going out of town, do me a favor and keep an eye on our place?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just can't believe the level of paranoia that some people carry through life.

Here's what I do when I leave for a long trip:

1. Throw out anything from the refrigerator and kitchen that will go bad and stink.
2. Empty the trash.
3. Pick up my suitcase and lock the door behind me.

Yeah, I used to be nonchalant. Then I had a flood while on vacation that did $50K in damages.

Well, putting a quarter in your freezer and spending your whole vacation worrying about a power outage, stopping your mail, and setting your lights on timers to randomly flip on and off will definitely prevent the next flood!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do none of you have neighbors that you can just say "Hey, we're going out of town, do me a favor and keep an eye on our place?"

We live in the fity. All of our neighbors go out of town.

[Anonymous]

^city LOL

[Anonymous]

I don't do anything special if we leave for a week. We do a little more when we leave town for 3 months over the summer but not much.

I do:
- turn the heat up/down a little - at our summer house we can do that remotely, and tend to keep it very cold (50-55) in the off season
- Toss food that won't last - much more comprehensive when we leave for the summer than for a week
- empty trash
- arrange for trash bins to be brought in if needed

I don't:
- worry about lights - we have a bunch of lights on smart plugs already that go on/off every day and I can adjust those remotely if needed
- turn off the mail - it goes through the mail slot and is there when we get home or the cleaning person picks it up and puts it on the desk
- turn off the water/hot water - probably should, we do turn it off in the summer house
- cancel the newspaper - I stopped getting print delivery a couple of years ago because they routinely kept delivering it even when we had a vacation hold

Things like outdoor water is just a seasonal thing - no need to do it because we shut it off a month ago.

[Anonymous]

In my neighborhood asking USPS to hold mail is as effective as pushing the walk button when you want to cross a street.

[Anonymous]

We do a lot of online shopping and have also received unexpected gifts over the holidays, so in addition to doing a USPS mail hold, I also do vacation holds with UPS and Fedex.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do none of you have neighbors that you can just say "Hey, we're going out of town, do me a favor and keep an eye on our place?"

If you have a trusted neighbor, it is good to tell them. I had to call my neighbors to inform them that a tree had gone through their house.