We are leaving next Thursday for 7-1/2 weeks in Europe. After our year+ trip, I have been acting like this is just a regular vacation, but we are really going to be gone quite a long time! I am starting to get very serious about my to do list... and trying not to get stressed out.
My stepdaughter is coming by to feed the cat and get the mail. She'll e-mail me if there's anything in the mail I need to know about. All the bills are set up electronically or I have pre-paid those that can't be. I have stopped our newspapers. I still have to call our insurance company about a prescription.
What else should I do, especially things that might save us money? Should/can I temporarily close down our cable and high speed internet accounts? What about Netflix? What do you do about cell phones that won't be used? How would you set your A/C? (Our cat will be in the house, but she can go downstairs where it is cool.) Any other advice?
Kathy, I can't answer all your questions, but one thing I always do is to turn the temperature down on the hot water heater.
I don't think Netflix cares if you don't use your account for an extended period of time as long as you keep paying them. I tried contacting them to suspend my account and they are impossible to contact. Good luck on that one. I just gave up and kept things the way they are. Of course, that's not saving you any money.
Your trip sounds wonderful. I am envious. I am stuck right here in middle Tennessee for Lord knows how long!
You can cancel your Netflix account online easily, and they'll even save your queue when you reinstate it. Go here to do it. I did it once when I knew we were going to be unable to use the movies for 4 or 5 weeks. It was very easy and easy to re-start. It's nice that they save your queue and all your information.
Although I've never taken such a long trip (green with envy ), one thing we do now is something we learned the hard way. One year we came home from vacation to find our basement filled with about 16" of water - a valve broke, one that wasn't so good to start with in the first place. We have since replaced all our water valves, and we also always shut the water off to the house before we leave. I don't know how helpful that would be with the cat still in the house, but maybe your stepdaughter could just bring (or you could fill ahead of time) a few large tupperwares of water to have on hand?
We have stopped our car insurance when we have been away on a long international trip. We kept the comprehensive in case something happened to the car while it was parked even in the garage. I'd probably also make certain theft is still covered. We just called our agent a couple of weeks ahead and then called when we returned.
Kathy, As Terry says, turn off the main water shut-off. Leave water for the cat in big containers or show your stepdaughter how to turn it on, then make sure she turns it off again when she's done.
I always tell new homeowners to do this...in checking with insurance companies, you may also find that there is no coverage if your home is not checked by someone every 2 days. Different companies have different policies and the rules are ALWAYS buried in the back pages of those splendidly written and convoluted insurance guide books! So, ask your agents, and make them explain all of the salient facts, as well as the less than prominent facts, so you know what is going on, in case!
After having a huge amount ($26,000) of damage to my home from a broken water main and finding out that my insurance company would NOT cover the cost, because it was a CLEAN water break and they only cover DIRTY water breaks, I now make sure my insurer (and yes it is a different company than THAT one) covers what needs to be covered while I'm away and makes me fully aware of what my policy includes!
Not to put you under some scare factor here, I'm only sharing this so you can make sure you've got good insurance coverage and will be protected if needed.
"If we would only give, just once, the same amount of reflection to what we want to get out of life that we give to the question of what to do with a two weeks' vacation, we would be startled at our false standards and the aimless procession of our busy days." ~ Dorothy Canfield Fisher Brenda
Such good suggestions-- thank you all! I wouldn't have thought about a couple of these things.
But now I am exhausted! I've spent the last two hours on the phone dealing with the "customer service loop" of America, much of my time on hold! I've notified all my bank/credit cards, got all my bills set up, figured out something on my prescription, changed some services. Whew!
I was able to reduce our car insurance for the time we are gone to only the comprehensive coverage. The Comcast service person was great-- she came up with the lowest cost solution which was to downgrade our cable TV service to the basic package and then she gave me the "introductory" high-speed internet service for two months. This was cheaper than cancelling our service and paying $40 to install it again.
Netflix said to notify them 24-48 hours before I want the hold put on place. I have put holds also on my our two newspapers.
The only thing I'm still contemplating is what to do about our cell phone service, mainly because we've given our numbers out for some business-related things. I can't imagine that we'll get many (if any) calls from people who don't know we are gone.
I don't think we will be able to cut off our water service, as I also have asked my stepdaughter to water my flowers out front if we don't get rain. But I will ask her also to check each time she comes to be sure there isn't any water issue.
All these little things will end up saving us a couple hundred dollars while we are gone-- now maybe we can eat out a few more times while we are over there!
Kathy, on the water issue, I have heard that the line to your washing machine is one of the most vulnerable, so you could just turn that valve off for a little piece of mind. We have also had a bad experience once with a toilet where the line blew and water was everywhere. Luckily we were home at the time and caught it. So, you might consider turning the valves to the toilets off, as well.
Best of luck and have a wonderful trip. I'm looking forward to reading your blog.
-Krista
Posts: 1686 | Location: Santa Barbara, California | Registered: 21 May 2004
Kathy, You don't have to cut off the water service, darlin'! Find the main water shutoff valve in your home and turn it off, as you would turn off a tap. Then, all your housesitter has to do is open the valve when she needs water and turn it off before she leaves the house. It's worth the extra little bit of time, and it will save a major repair bill, if something were to go wrong.
Bon voyage!
"I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list." ~ Susan Sontag Brenda
I am not a "handy" type of person, but it seems to me that if you shut off the main water valve to the house, you should probably also turn OFF your hot water heater. And any automatic ice makers, or anything else that would automatically draw water. Anyone with more experience able to comment on that? Then of course, don't forget to turn them back on when you get home!
And I'll add vote for turning off the house water at the main inlet valve, if possible. I know of two people who had damage to their homes due to internal flooding while they were away. In one case, the entire foundation of the house had been undermined. If you do leave the house water on, I'd suggest following KHB's suggestion of at least turning off the water to the washing machine. I'd also do the same for any outside spigots. Just make sure your stepdaughter knows how to turn them back on if needed to water plants, etc.
Kathy I know I am late in responding but........ We frequently take extended trips 5-8 weeks when possible. The truth is we don't do much in preparation. We do stop papers, make sure the pool and gardner guys know to pay especially good attention to things, have someone bring in our mail, make dog arrangements and let the local police know we will be gone. We do make sure we can do all financial stuff on line.
Of course we do the normal of alerting credit card companies and banks.
Other than that--we don't do anything. We keep our cell phones as we don't want to give up the numbers and we use them in the airports when we return.
Of course, we are doing a lot more for our year away but that's quite different.
I'm not a handy person either, but what about gas lines to a fireplace or outside grill? Should those valves be shut?
Palma, you crack me up! I'm still laughing about your comments on the packing heavy thread! And I thought of your pictures when I saw beautiful ceramic table tops in Positano, but didn't have enough time to go look since I was with a bunch of people! There's always next year!
Kathy, For the bills you have to prepay, I would call those companies before you leave just to make sure they will know what to do with extra payments.
I didn't call and came home to two nasty collection letters. When I called them to look into it all they said was oops, our mistake.
Another company said they were not capable of applying an early payment to a bill that is not due so just applied it to my pricipal and therefore I was late.
It will cost you some time to do this but better than aggrevation later.Or Better than that have your stepdaughter mail them for you.
Topic Closed
), one thing we do now is something we learned the hard way. One year we came home from vacation to find our basement filled with about 16" of water - a valve broke, one that wasn't so good to start with in the first place. We have since replaced all our water valves, and we also always shut the water off to the house before we leave. I don't know how helpful that would be with the cat still in the house, but maybe your stepdaughter could just bring (or you could fill ahead of time) a few large tupperwares of water to have on hand?
