When you leave for vacation, do you ...

[Dodie]

I clean the house from top to bottom and catch up on laundry before we go. There's nothing worse than coming back from vacation to a dirty house with bags of laundry that you can't get to because there's still "old" laundry to do.

Our 3 dogs and cat stay at home and we pay a petsitter (who works for our vet) to come in three times a day and let the dogs out, feed and water everyone, and scoop the litterbox. She also brings in the mail and newspapers.

I set timers in the living room (front of house), family room (back of house) and bedroom (side of house) to go one and off each evening at the normal times we turn lights on and off. The lights/timers in each of these rooms is set a little differently, so it looks "lived in."

I unplug all unnecessary appliances (coffee maker, toaster, etc.). I have NO idea why I do this. My mother always did this, so I guess I'm well conditioned.

I tell my neighbors on both sides that we'll be out of town and that the pet sitter (who they've met) will be coming in.

I call my alarm company to tell them the same information and remind them about the pet sitter.

The petsitter and my parents have all of our contact information for when we'll be gone, just in case someone needs to reach us.


SHEEWWW. I think that's it!