Getting Your Home Ready Before Holiday Travel

Work backward from departure day

Split the job into one week out, the day before and the last hour. Mail holds and neighbor favors need lead time:

• USPS Hold Mail is free and covers 3–30 days. You can book it online up to 30 days ahead; submit it no later than the day before you leave.
• In the UK, Royal Mail Keepsafe is paid and needs about a week.
• Canada Post and Australia Post Hold Mail are paid and take a few business days.

Do the fridge the day before so trash goes out on time. Freeze the coin-test cup then too, because it needs several hours to set. Leave locks, unplugging and the thermostat for the final walk-through, while you are still using the house.

For a 1–2 night trip, you can skip the water shutoff and the full fridge purge. Just toss perishables, set the heat and lock up.

Heat and water: the expensive part

A burst pipe costs far more than everything else on this list combined, so spend your time here.

In cold climates, set the thermostat to 55°F (13°C), never off. UK boilers often have a frost or holiday setting that does the same job. Open the cabinet doors under sinks on exterior walls so warm air reaches the pipes.

If you're gone 3+ nights, closing the main water shutoff limits damage if something leaks. Keep the heat on either way. Turn off the fridge ice maker first so it doesn't run dry against a closed line. Skip the shutoff if your home has fire sprinklers or a boiler that refills from the mains. In an apartment or condo where you can't reach the main, close the valves under the toilets and washing machine and tell building management your dates.

Put a tank water heater on vacation mode, or its lowest or pilot setting.

In Australia it's summer. Instead of worrying about pipes, switch off air-conditioning, close blinds on sun-facing windows, and clear dry leaves from gutters during bushfire season.

Make the house look lived in

• Put 2–3 lamps in different rooms on plug-in timers or smart plugs. Set evening on/off times that vary by room.
• Ask a neighbor to bring in stray packages and to put out and return the trash bins. If snow falls, ask them to walk a path or shovel the driveway. A paid house-sitter makes sense for trips over a week or if you have pets or many plants.
• Pause recurring deliveries such as meal kits, milk and subscriptions, and change pending online orders to arrive after you return.
• Post trip photos after you get home, not while you're away.

How to tell you're done, and coming back

Before you lock up, take a phone photo of the thermostat display and the water heater setting. Set a coin on top of the frozen cup in the freezer. If the coin has sunk to the bottom when you return, the power went out long enough for food to thaw, so throw out the freezer contents.

You're done when:

• the fridge holds only condiments and long-life items
• every exterior door and window is latched
• the router and fridge are still plugged in
• someone nearby has a key and your phone number

When you get home, open the main valve slowly, look under the sinks for drips, then switch the water heater back to normal. Relight the pilot if a gas unit went out.