Before Leaving Home: 17 Things to Consider Before Leaving for Vacation

There are a number of things you’ll want to take care of at home before heading out on your all inclusive resort vacation. This is not a list of things to pack. Instead, this list is about all the things you may or may not have considered thinking about before you leave on vacation.

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1 – Pay Your Bills.

Most of our bills are set up for automatic payment, but not everything. So, one thing I like to do is make sure that everything is all set before we leave.

2 – Get Some Singles from the Bank.

We usually like to take about $50 in singles to the resort for tips, but this takes some pre-planning and packing three hours before you leave home is not the time to make change. Tipping can really help you get better service at ala carte restaurants and bars, check out our post Exploring Ala Carte Restaurants at Your All Inclusive Resort for more tips on ala carte dining.

3 – Ask the Post Office to Hold Your Mail

Ask the Post Office to hold your mail or find a trusted neighbor or friend to pick it up. A mailbox stuffed full of mail is a dead giveaway to criminals that you’re away.

4 – Fill Prescriptions

Fill prescriptions to make sure you have enough medications to last your entire trip.

5 – Arrange for Snow Removal or Lawn Mowing

Depending on the time of year, you may also need to ask a neighbor or friend to mow your lawn or shovel snow while you’re away. Many municipalities have ordinances about letting your lawn get too long or going days without shoveling the snow. For us, snow removal is always top of mind as we go on our all inclusive vacations late fall and winter.

6 – Print & Copy Documents

Print out travel itineraries and make copies of important documents, such as credit cards, insurance cards, and passports. If your credit cards are stolen, copies of both sides of the card will allow you to call the card company and suspend the card. If you lose your passport, a copy will make it easier to obtain a new one from the local consulate or embassy.

Tip: Keep copies of these documents in multiple places, such as one in each traveler’s backpack. This will help ensure you have a copy available if a bag is lost or stolen.

7 – Clean the House

Clean the house before you leave. I have learned how important this is as the last thing I want to come home to is a messy house or think about coming home to a messy house while relaxing by the pool.

8 – Email Your Itinerary to Family

Email your travel information to family members in case of an emergency. We always send flight numbers and times, resort address and phone number, the name and phone number of our ground transportation providers, and information about planned excursions along with a basic timeline.

9 – Do Your Laundry

This goes along with cleaning the house and making sure you don’t come home to a stressful situation. I’ll do a couple extra loads of laundry the week we leave and make sure that I’ll have plenty of socks, underwear and other things to wear when I get home.

10 – Clean the Fridge

You do not want to come home to moldy leftovers. Gross! I recommend planning your meals about a week before your trip and only buy the essentials when you grocery shop with an eye towards emptying out the fridge.

11 – Run the Dishwasher

Ever left dishes in the dishwasher for a few days, let alone a week?  We have and it’s disgusting! Also, don’t leave any dirty dishes sitting in the sink. Take the time to wash everything, if it sits clean for a week no big deal, but you don’t want to come home to the smell of moldy dishes.

12 – Take Out the Garbage

This doesn’t need much explanation, if you’ve got garbage sitting for a week or more your house is going to smell pretty bad when you return.

13 – Leave Extra Car Keys

You don’t need all of your keys while you’re on vacation. Take two keys for the vehicle you’re driving and leave keys for other vehicles behind. Let a trusted neighbor or friend know where the keys are in case your vehicle needs to be moved while you’re gone.

Tip: If there are parking restrictions where you live, make sure this won’t cause you issues by leaving your vehicle parked in the same location for a week or more while you’re on your vacation.

14 – Put Lights on Timers

Put a light or two on a programmable timer to keep criminals guessing, just don’t set the timer to go on or off at the same time every day or it will be a dead giveaway. Many modern timers can be set to go on and off at different times each day to give the appearance that someone is home.

15 – Save Energy

Turn down or turn off the hot water heater and adjust the thermostat to a cooler temperature. This will save a little money while you’re away, just don’t forget to turn it back on when you return home or you’ll have a cold shower the next morning.

16 – Unplug the Electronics

Unplug all unnecessary electronics. Again, this will save some money while you’re away since many items consume electricity even when not in use and and it will reduce the risk of an electrical fire.

17 – Water the Plants

If you need anything watered while you’re gone then plan for that too by asking a neighbor or friend.