A break from tending to your house is one of the main incentives for going on vacation. For just a few days, or maybe a week, you can let someone else feed the dog. The yard can collect leaves and sticks and the gutter can fill with acorns and gunk. There will be plenty of time to deal with these things upon your return.

Even so, preparations to your home must be made. After all, even the best vacation will be ruined if you come home to a disaster. Here are some things to do before you leave that will ensure that you’ll remember your time away for all the wonderful experiences you had, and not for how it was spoiled when you returned home.

Alert Your Neighbors

Letting your neighbors know you’re going to be away is one of the easiest vacation preparations you can make, but it’s also one of the most important. More than likely, your neighbors are familiar enough with your property to be able to quickly identify things out of the ordinary.

Inform neighbors about when you’re leaving and how long you’ll be gone, and leave them your contact information so they can alert you about cars they don’t recognize in your driveway, your garage door being suspiciously ajar, etc…

Your next-door neighbor may also volunteer to pick up and hold your mail for you. If you’re lucky, you may be able to pay their kids to do some light yard care for you while you’re away.

Leave a Light On

Chances are, you could unlock every door in your house and leave it unoccupied for months at a time without any disturbance. There are more good people out there than bad ones. However, break-ins do happen, and by-in-large they happen to properties that appear to be unoccupied or abandoned.

For this reason, it’s always a good idea to leave on a light or two when you’re going to be away for a while. If you’ll be gone for longer than a week, have a friend or family member change which lights are left on every few days to give your home the appearance of occupancy.

Close and Lock All Windows – Double Check

Sure, this one is obvious, but it’s important to seal your windows before you leave town. Besides obvious burglary concerns, cracked windows can offer entrance to unwanted insects and vermin, reduce your house’s energy efficiency and create moisture problems inside. You can also either unplug your garage door opener or turn off its circuit breaker.

Security Camera

While home security cameras may seem like overkill to some, for some folks they make perfect sense. They’re cheap, easy to setup and motion-activated, sending a stream of live video to your smart phone. Obviously, this is perfect for keeping an eye on your home while you’re away. For a few hundred dollars and some easy setup, you can monitor your home’s entrances, make sure neighborhood children aren’t wondering too close to your pool, and maybe even catch critters eating your grass seed red handed.

Preparing Your Water System

Properly preparing your water system to prevent bursting pipes and flooding while you’re away is incredibly important. Here’s what to do:

• Turn off your water heater: why pay for hot water if you’re not around to use it?
• Kill the water pressure to your home by turning off the main valve. Briefly open any faucet both hot and cold to relieve the water pressure.
• During winter months, set your thermostat to between 50 and 60 degrees to make sure your pipes won’t freeze while you’re away.

Put Your Mail on Hold

Going to the post office and requesting a hold on your mail is a good idea for several reasons. First, it prevents anyone with unscrupulous intentions from rummaging through your mail for your personal information. Further, nothing says “No one has been in this house for some time” to potential intruders like an overflowing mailbox. Having your mail held also saves your postal worker the trouble of trying to shove mail into an overstuffed mailbox needlessly for several weeks. Put a stop to newspaper deliveries as well or have a neighbor pick them up for you while you are gone.

Don’t Wait!

Some common sense preparations before you leave town on vacation will minimize the stress you may experience while you’re away, and ensure the security of your property. While none of these preparations are especially labor intensive or difficult, waiting until the last minute to do them makes it much more likely that you won’t do them well, or that you’ll forget several steps. Oh, and by the way, lock the door when you leave!

Chris Long has been helping homeowners on electrical, home automation and other DIY projects since 2000 as a Home Depot store associate in the Chicago suburbs. Chris also writes for the Home Depot website on articles related to lighting and home security, bath, kitchen and yard projects.