Here’s a New Year’s resolution you can easily keep.
When you leave your house unattended, do you have a trusted friend or neighbour who can house sit for you? If not, find one, make friends with your neighbours, bake them cookies, ply with alcohol…especially with the kind of weather we’ve been experiencing.
Did you know that if you are away for a few consecutive days, your insurance policy likely requires you to make arrangements to monitor your house? Otherwise, you may no longer have coverage. This past holiday, we checked our neighbour’s property regularly when they had lost power, making sure their pipes didn’t freeze.
Throughout the year, you are also responsible for making it look like your home is occupied by stopping mail and paper deliveries, using timer switches and arranging for snow clearance or lawn mowing, for example.
Advertising your departure socially online isn’t the smartest move, unless you have a sitter, so make sure you let your neighbours know if you’re planning to be away, even if it’s just for the weekend. They can keep an eye out for any unusual activity around your home.
This way, you’ll have added peace of mind while away, and you can be instantly updated with a quick text should the need arise…like the one we received this summer from our neighbour alerting us that there was a tsunami in the basement!