The Art of Departure: Preparing Your Home Base for Long-Term Explorations
We travel six or more months each year, so we’ve had many experiences preparing our tiny Kansas home for long-term travel. Most “how to prepare your home for vacation” articles cover the needs of typical American vacations (one or two weeks), and don’t address the needs of someone leaving a home for months (or seasons) at a time.
We’re excited to share our tips and to-dos for leaving our home base in good shape when we embark in long-term explorations. Everyone’s home preparation checklist will look a little different based on the presence or absence of plants, animals, and dependents, but the majority of items in our list will apply to your home.
Because we’re GenXers living in a rural area, you’ll find that many of our recommendations include digital approaches to home security as well as DIY solutions, as we don’t have an abundance of tradespeople or technicians.
About Us
Darren and I left corporate careers in our late 40s after 20+ years each in agriculture science. We are semi-nomadic and spend a few months a year in a small house in the Great Plains of the United States.
We spend 40 - 120 days per year thru-hiking in Europe and about 90 days yearly in the Caribbean and Central America. This blog documents our journey to nomadic living, financial independence, and lifestyle adjustments to make our post-W2 lifestyle work.
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Our Approach to Leaving a House for Extended Periods
Leaving any asset alone for an extended period of time brings some level of stress. With a bit of preparation, you’ll alleviate your own fears and be able to ignore the Danny Downers and Negative Nellies saying you’re nuts for leaving your home uninhabited or unattended for months at a time.
You may leave a home vacant for a few months due to a special trip, like our three-month exploration of Bonaire. Or, maintaining a vacant home may not be something you chose, in the case of inheriting an out-of-state home.
We like to focus our efforts on preparing the home for things that are common and preventable. Our list does not include preparing the home for tornados, hurricanes, or earthquakes while we are overseas.
All Preparations Begin on the Exterior
Don’t save preparations before a long trip for the last minute. Some important preparations for safeguarding your structure while away might take weeks or months. Having repairs done to a home while you’re overseas could be stressful, so try to schedule this work while you are around the home.
Thankfully, many of these steps for preparing the exterior of your home for long-term travel are free (DIY) or low-cost (hundreds and not thousands of dollars).
The first step is to check these critical components of the home's exterior for mechanical failure and security.
Inspect Your Roof and Gutters
Visually inspect the roof at least annually and more frequently if there are deciduous trees or palm trees towering over your home. Ensure there is no visible damage to the roof and that the gutters are clear and free of debris and leaks.
A solid roof and free-flowing gutters are the best way to ensure you won’t come home to a basement or crawlspace full of water following a rainstorm.
Here’s a video on how to do your own roof inspection and how to avoid getting ripped off in the inspection and repair service if you don’t want to do the work yourself.
Inspect Your Driveway
Evaluate your driveway to ensure that there are no obstructions preventing water from draining where it’s supposed to, like into a well-sloped yard or sewer drain. The main focus is to prevent water from going into your home or garage.
Prevent Pests While You Are Away
Check the exterior of your home and garage. Seal any cracks or holes that would allow water, insects, mice, snakes, or other small vermin to enter the home. Such potential infestations may be seasonal in nature. If you know that ants or other insects are a big problem in your area when you are gone, consider having an exterminator treat the exterior of your home while you’re away.
If you do not have pets or children in your home, consider placing mouse poison in your enclosed garage or crawl space. If poison makes you nervous, consider placing dryer sheets or mothballs on or around anything with electrical wires to deter mice and pack rats that like to chew on electrical wires.
Empty any outdoor or garage trash containers so pests don’t take up residence in them.
Install Exterior Lighting
Consider installing a few solar lights to illuminate the home's exterior. Some exterior lighting gives a home a “lived in” look. There are a wide range of options available online or at home improvement stores. The great thing about these lights is you don’t need to run electrical wires.
Also, consider installing a dusk-to-dawn light or motion-detecting light near your entry doors and garage entry areas. This will provide illumination near entry points and can deter thieves. Again, many options are available online or at home improvement stores.
Landscaping
Check trees and/or palms on your property (and trees that hang onto your property) to ensure they are healthy, with no broken limbs or fronds dangling near power lines or over your roof or gutters. If you have a large tree near your sewer line, you may want to consider having it removed and replaced later with a tree more suitable for that location.
Also, consider xeriscaping—low maintenance and water-conserving landscaping like a gravel or stone yard with a few drought-resistant plants. With xeriscaping, you may be able to avoid hassling with a lawn watering system.
Resist the urge to use mulch against your home. Mulch can harbor insects and mice. Mulch may also be flammable in drought conditions.
Until we get our xeriscaping installed, we have a retired schoolteacher mowing our lawn while we are out of town. We also learned that trees near our power lines were silver maples, which are notorious for falling down onto homes and power lines, so we had these trees removed.
Doors and Windows
Ensure they are in good shape and there are no leaks or cracks to allow the introduction of insects, moisture, animals, or human trespassers. Check windows and exterior doors for weatherstripping conditions and replace them if needed.
Check to make sure that windows are locked when you depart, and that you can’t open any windows from the outside.
Remove Hidden Keys
Before leaving your home, make sure to remove any hidden keys you’ve hidden under a rock, under a grill, or lying on top of your exterior door trim. Intruders know all the usual hiding places and devices. Consider leaving a key with a trusted friend or family member or installing a smart keyless entry door device.
Make Sure Your Internet is Working
Make sure your internet connection from the outside box to the house is in good condition. Internet service is the source of communication between your security system and any “smart-home” remote monitoring tools or services you use.
Indoors, check that batteries in any battery backup system are charged or not expired. Check to make sure the power source to your modem is not on a GFCI outlet.
Install Analog and/or Digital Security and Monitoring
Now that you’ve minimized sources of damage or theft on the exterior of your home, you’ll take action to safeguard your home’s interior. We will start with low-technology solutions and then transition to “smart-home” and monitoring.
Install Visible Theft Deterrents
Simply installing security system stickers (and not having an actual security system) on your doors or windows may provide some level of theft deterrent. These can be purchased at a low-cost online.
Use Door Security Bars on Exterior and Sliding Glass Doors
When a potential thief is scoping out your property, they are looking for easy entry and exit. One way to deter a thief from entering is to have reinforcement behind your exterior door or on your sliding glass door.
Security bars reduce the likelihood of theft by acting as a wedge, preventing a thief from kicking in a door. You may want to get one for every door in your house, with the exception of a door that has keyless entry. A keyless entry door allows someone access in case of an emergency.
Install My Fake TVs
Thieves are less likely to enter a home if someone is there. A My Fake TV device makes it look like someone is watching television all day or in the evening, depending upon which setting you choose.
The device simply replicates a 40-inch TV. It emits light of different colors and intensities, making it look like someone is watching the news or a game. We’ve used one for over five years. It’s so effective, My Fake TV is the only TV we own!
Place LED Lamps on Timers
In a living room or bathroom, you may want to consider placing a simple LED lamp on a timer, making it look like someone is occasionally in your bathroom or leaving a room. We use LED lamps as they use less electricity and the bulbs don’t get hot.
We use the BN-LINK heavy-duty timer below.
Security System
We use the Ring System with monitoring—camera, water sensor, motion detector, window chimes, and smoke detector.
A starter kit like this one may be sufficient for what you need. The benefit of the Ring system is that the installation and maintenance are DIY. You can add and remove detection units yourself. You can also add and remove monitoring yourself without calling anyone.
If you do install a Ring system and professional monitoring, be sure to tell your home-owners insurance company as discounts on insurance are often available.
Keyless Entry with Smart WiFi Deadbolt
Installing a keyless entry smart WiFi deadbolt door lock allows you (and anyone you give a code to) to access your home without a key. Some keyless entry devices allow you to connect this device to your Ring system. Therefore, you are able to lock and unlock your door using the Ring app without needing to give someone a key code.
Using a keyless entry deadbolt also alleviates the dreaded “is the house locked” after departure. You can simply check the app on your telephone and confirm that your door is locked.
A Smart WiFi keyless entry deadbolt by Schlage is excellent in that it comes in many different styles and colors and connects to a number of different DIY security systems like Ring.
Cover Windows with Privacy Film
We have an older home with windows that sit close to the ground. We’re currently remodeling this home and don’t plan to have expensive window treatments on the windows when we are done. To reduce the visibility of the interior of the home from the outside, we simply blocked out the bottom pane of our windows with privacy window film.
Privacy window film is most economical when you purchase it by the roll. Installation on a dozen windows took us about two hours. In addition to added privacy, the film reduces UV light that gets in the house, and they are easily removable if you change your mind about future window treatments.
Prepare the Interior of the Home
After you’ve prepped your home’s exterior, it’s time to turn your attention to the inside of your home—and your home’s contents, like clothes, appliances, and valuables—for your month or more away.
Insure and Hide Valuables
Check with your homeowner’s policy on existing coverage of any valuables, like jewelry, art, or musical instruments. You may need to add a personal articles policy if you want to insure items with values that exceed your homeowner’s policy.
Power Down and Unplug Unnecessary Items
Any device or appliance that will not be in use while you are away from home should be unplugged. If there is a lightning storm, unplgugged devices will be protected from surges.
Here’s our checklist for preparing home appliances for our departure:
Refrigerators and Freezers. Turn off the refrigerator and wipe it clean. Prop the door ajar with a towel so that the interior dries out. We do keep our deep freeze plugged in. We point a Ring camera at the deep freeze light. If the freezer ever goes down, we can have a friend go to the home to see if a breaker has been tripped.Leave the dishwasher door open upon departure to prevent mold and mildew from growing in it while you’re away.
Garbage Disposal. Clean the garbage disposal so mold and pests don’t take up residence there in your absence.
Water Softener. Turn off or unplug the water softener.
Water Heater. Disable it while you’re away. For gas water heaters, shut off the gas supply to the tank. For electric water heaters, turn off the power to the machine in your breaker box. When you return, restore the connections and relight the pilot light if you have a gas water heater.
Discard or Store Perishable Items
As semi-nomadic retirees, we minimize the food we keep in our home. Each time we leave, we compost or donate any unused perishable items. Some items, like oatmeal and pasta, can be stored in a deep freezer.
Heating and Cooling
Make sure your heating and cooling unit is in working order and has been serviced recently. Replace any air filters in the home before departure.
Check your air conditioning condensate line and treat it to make sure it does not plug up while you are away. Here’s a video on how to clean your air conditioning condensate line.
Install a smart thermostat that you can use to adjust the temperature of your home while away or abroad. We use the Honeywell Home T9 WiFi Smart Thermostat with Smart Room Sensors, with one sensor placed on the main floor of the home and an additional sensor in the conditioned unfinished basement.
While we are away, we set our low temperature at 55 F and our high temperature at 82 F. The smart thermostat allows us to check the temperature and humidity in our home from around the world.
If you have a basement that has the potential to get humid during certain times of the year, consider getting a commercial home dehumidifier that drains accumulated water into a sewage drain.
With these commercial units, they can run while you are away and there are no water receptacles to empty. Maintaining the humidity in a home can help reduce the chances for mold or mildew growing while you are away.
Replace Batteries on the Smoke Detector and Monitoring Accessories
Place fresh batteries in your smoke detector before departing. Also check the battery status for security devices such as a Ring doorbell or Apple AirTag placed in your vehicle.
Turn off the Water to Prevent Flooding
Turn off your water at the main. If this is not possible, shut off the water at each faucet.
Protect Wool Clothing from Moths and Carpet Beetles
Place cedar chips or mothballs in any closet that contains wool coats or garments. Additionally, you may wish to set off a “bug bomb” upon departure in your kitchen and basement to kill any insect pests in those spaces.
Protect Musical Instruments with Humidifiers
If you own a guitar or other wooden instrument, be sure it’s properly humidified while you are gone. We use the Boveda system for keeping guitars humidified in their cases.
Pro Tip: Stop Mail, Shipments, and Subscriptions
Nothing shouts “I’m not home” like a full mailbox and a stack of boxes on the porch. Take time to:
Stop any re-occurring shipments.
Cancel physical magazine subscriptions or convert them to electronic subscriptions.
Log in to USPS and have your mail forwarded. If you’re going to be gone more than 30 days, you will need to do a temporary change of address as the limit on mail holds is 30 days.
I’m Dead, Now What? Preparing for the Worst
No one wants to prepare for the worst-case scenario— that you, your partner, or both of you could pass away during travel.
Get an estate plan and will. Maintain documentation on what to do in case you do pass. We keep a binder in our home in a safe place so that loved ones know what to do with our assets and remains.
In Conclusion
Most “Preparing Your Home for Vacation” checklists are intended for vacation travelers—people leaving their homes unattended for a week or two weeks. We had difficulty finding articles specific to people who leave homes uninhabited for months at a time. So, we wrote this article to help other semi-nomadic people.
Your own list will be customized to your situation. Your home may or may not have the same features as ours—rural and small. Since we’ve prioritized active travel at this time of life, we don’t have animals or indoor plants requiring care, so you may need to add things to your list that we’ve left off. Your departure checklist will morph and change with your stage of life.
Consider keeping a physical and electronic checklist so you don’t have to recreate your list each time you travel. Having your own custom list can help you divide and conquer the tasks as a couple.
Are you semi-nomadic? If so did we miss any checklist items? Let us know in the comments below!
