“Wait… did I turn off the heat at home?”

Everyone gets nervous about how to leave their home for a vacation. What should you turn off before leaving on a vacation? Will it be safe? Will anything leak? Did you leave the dog’s crate open? Will the hydro bill go down, at least?

It doesn’t help that you’ll be too far away to do anything about such problems in these travelling nightmare scenarios. Make sure you tick these boxes and your home will sleep soundly while you see the world.

Turn off the water supply

You may ask yourself, “why do this if nobody is going to be home to use it?” Great question. It’s not about using the water—it’s about taking a preventative measure. Water can start leaking into old or flawed structures at any time of the year, but Murphy’s Law dictates that it will happen when you are too far away from your home to do anything about it. Save yourself the anxiety and just turn it off for the duration of your vacation.

Any leak that does occur after turning off the water supply will be far smaller, and therefore less damaging. We’re talking about the difference between 1,000 gallons leaking into your home vs. 50 gallons if you turn off the water. Don’t force yourself into an early kitchen renovation just yet!

Besides—you wouldn’t waste energy, so why risk wasting so much water?

Unplug appliances

We know appliances at Danby.

This one is a tried-and-true money saver: you can unplug most of your appliances before you leave to save money because they aren’t really “off” when you hit the power switch. Many devices consume “phantom energy,” often because they sit in stand-by mode while you sleep or work. It’s no different when you leave for a trip!

Become the household-energy Terminator. What consumes power? Terminate their connections. These kitchen appliances devices include:

• Microwaves
• Ovens
• Toasters
• Coffee makers (especially Keurig!)

That’s just the kitchen! Next, turn your eye toward work and entertainment-related devices:

• Television
• Cable boxes
• Gaming consoles
• Laptops
• Printers and scanners
• Home speaker systems
• Tablets
• Modem and router

Not only is such consumption harsh on our environment, but it’s also bad for your hydro bill! Don’t pay for energy you aren’t using. Everybody wins that way.

Buy energy-efficient appliances next time

There is a simple solution—you can buy appliances that save your energy while you’re at home or seeing the world.  The energy savings might even finance part of your trip! Energy Star certification can require an appliance to save anywhere from 15%-25% of the federal standard of energy consumption.

Most of us simply can’t unplug everything beyond the smaller devices. Your freezer will still need to keep food from going bad, and you will probably want to keep some unsealed food fresh for your return. Leaving something for the dog sitter is probably a good idea too—it’s generally a good policy to keep people happy when you entrust them with your home.

And here’s the best part: your energy-efficient appliances will keep diminishing your energy bills once you come back tanned and luggage in hand. Check out what what’s new in energy efficiency before you hop on that plane.