Getting out of town!
As the semester comes to an end, and the holidays are right around the corner, it is time to start preparing for traveling home. If you’re like me, once you leave for the Holidays you are gone for at least a couple weeks.
Leaving for a couple weeks means its time to prepare you and your place in order to leave. From general maintenance, to making sure you have the proper stuff packed, getting ready to leave can be come stressful very quickly, so I am here to give you a checklist on what to do to before you get out of town!
The Tips!
Turn your thermostat to a standard temp!
Whenever you leave for a long trip, you want to make sure that your HVAC system is still running. Also, during the winter it is important to make sure that the pipes don’t freeze while you are away.
Setting your thermostat lower in the winter will ensure both that your heat doesn’t kick on unnecessarily and that your place doesn’t get too cold that your pipes freeze or burst.
It is recommended that you set it to 55!
Clean out your fridge!
We’ve all had at least one vacation or trip that we forgot to take that thing we had on our mind out of the fridge. Whether that be some leftovers, a thing of fruit, or some sort of dairy, it is always the thing you dread coming home too.
From personal experience, I left a thing of strawberries sealed tight in a glass jar in my apartment for the whole summer — they practically turned to wine.
So, unless you want to make some bootleg fruit wine, be sure to get all of your perishables out of the fridge! Eat through what you have before buying more groceries in the week leading up to a trip.
Close your blinds and lock your windows!
Locking my windows always seems to be the last thing I think of when preparing to leave for a trip, but it is an important part. Whether you live in a house, or an apartment (especially the bottom floor), people looking to get in will always check a window.
Even though you think it might not happen to you, it is possible that someone has kept an eye on the fact that you are gone and plans to try to get inside of your place. So never forget this step, you may be glad you didn’t.
Also, it is important to close you blinds so that people cannot look into the windows and see that you aren’t there!
Unplug lamps/tvs/and smaller appliances!
This is a great way to save a few bucks on your power bill, which we always love.
This is another tip I learned the hard way while I was gone for 10 weeks over the summer. I have two lamps (on in my room and one in my living room) that are remote operated and always plugged in. I forgot to unplug them but turned them off with the remote. One day my power shut off and then kicked back on, which turns the lights back on because they were only off by remote. I don’t know how long they were on running my bill until I had a friend check by my place.
So be sure to go around and unplug your smaller appliances, you will be glad you did!
Make sure your suitcase is big enough!
I am guilty of this, especially traveling home for the holidays. Last year, I had to go out and buy a bigger suitcase the day before I left just to get back. (But I blame that on the two puffers I received for Christmas that I definitely didn’t need back in my home state of Arizona, so they had to come back)
So be sure to go home with a big enough suitcase, and leave room for whatever you might get for the holidays.
Leave your space clean!
There is nothing worse than coming back after being gone for a long time and having your space be dirty. The best thing you can do for yourself is leave a day before you leave for that extra deep clean to make sure your space is just right.
Run the dishwasher, wash your sheets and comforter, scrub the tub, mop – the whole nine yards. You wont regret it.
Write up that checklist!
I’m sure there are other things that you may be able to think of to do before you leave, but I just wanted to give you a few basics!
