A couple of simple things you can do to keep your stuff safe.
Whether your travel plans include escaping to a tropical island, hitting the ski slopes in Europe or road-tripping around our beautiful country, preparing for it can be stressful! So we’ve put together some easy tips to help you keep your stuff safe while you are off on that well deserved holiday.
1. Organise a house/pet sitter
If you have furry friends that are stay-cationing, you should organise a pet sitter or make sure they go to a comfy home/kennel. If you just have cats and you’re not going away for a long time, get someone to visit regularly to give them a good petting. Cats are rather self-sufficient so they generally just need a food refill, some water in their bowl and their litter box cleaned out.
If you choose to have someone pop in now and then ask them to make your home look occupied if they don’t plan on spending a lot of time there. Switch on a couple of lights, open and close curtains, pick up newspapers or mail that may be dropped outside your home.
If you are going away for a longer time you might end up having someone come stay at your place to feed your fur-fam or water your plants., You should probably leave them with a checklist of everything you want done as well as a list of numbers they would need in case of an emergency.
2. Let your security company know
If you have a home security system, give your security company the dates that you’ll be out of town and that you might not be reachable. Also give them either your neighbour’s or house sitter’s number (with their permission of course), and vice versa! If they have their names on record, and the alarm goes off, the issue can be resolved more quickly. Oh and don’t forget to turn your alarm on when you leave!
3. Lock away any valuables you aren’t taking with you
If you have precious valuables like heirlooms, jewellery and important documents that you want to keep safe, you might want to consider investing in a safe, or at least packing them away properly. Although you can have copies of most things saved in the cloud, original birth certificates and car registration papers can be a mission to replace.
4. Make sure your plants have enough light and water
Plants can be like children with all the love and care some people give them. You don’t want all that effort to wilt away because your plants didn’t get enough sunlight or water. The best option would be to get someone to come over once a week and water your plants. Also, if you can, leave them in a place that has good lighting – maybe not direct sunlight as the African sun is known to burn.
5. Throw away old food, take out the trash and do the laundry
Imagine coming home from holiday all refreshed and ready to take on the new year only to open the fridge to mouldy cheese and smelly, gross trash that’s been sitting in the heat for a while? Nasty! It might seem like a mission doing these last few chores when all you want to do is go on holiday but it’ll be worth it walking into a clean, fresh-smelling home!
6. Turn off and unplug all non-crucial electrical appliances
Do your rounds and switch off (even unplug) plugs that aren’t absolutely necessary. It can help save your appliances and electronics when there are power cuts/surges or a lightning storm. Obviously the fridge and the alarm system are crucial so don’t turn them off! You might want to consider getting surge protectors for these plugs – it would be so inconvenient if load shedding caused a massive surge that fries these essential power points.
7. Flip your geyser switch off and close the main water valve
To help keep your home and things safe from any possible leaks, you can close the inside stop valve. It’s usually found under the sink in your kitchen. It’s also a good idea to switch off your geyser at the DB board. This can protect your geyser and home from damage from a burst geyser but it also saves quite a bit of electricity.
8. Double check all windows and doors are locked and curtains are drawn
To help keep your home and things safe from any possible leaks, you can close the inside stop valve. It’s usually found under the sink in your kitchen. It’s also a good idea to switch off your geyser at the DB board. This can protect your geyser and home from damage from a burst geyser but it also saves quite a bit of electricity.
