The 12-Point Home Security Checklist to Run Before You Travel
A house sitting empty for a week or two is a genuinely different risk profile than the same house occupied daily — and most of what changes that risk is checkable in an afternoon before you leave. This runs through all twelve items in enough detail to actually act on, plus what changes for a longer absence.
1. Confirm every exterior door meets at least Grade 2
If any exterior door is still on original Grade 3 hardware, this is worth fixing before an extended trip, not after — a Grade 3 deadbolt is rated for only 2 forced-entry strikes versus Grade 2's 5. See the Lock Grade Guide and, if an upgrade is needed, how to replace a deadbolt yourself.
2. Don't post travel dates publicly
Before or during the trip — the most avoidable risk on this list, and the easiest to forget. This includes social media, but also less obvious channels: an out-of-office email auto-reply visible to anyone who emails you, or a publicly-visible calendar.
3. Put lights on timers
Ideally on more than one schedule across different rooms, rather than one light on the same time every night — a single light turning on and off at the exact same minute every evening reads as automated on close observation in a way a couple of staggered, slightly randomized timers don't.
4. Hold mail and packages
Or have a trusted neighbor collect them — an overflowing mailbox or a stack of packages is one of the clearest "nobody's home" signals there is, and it's free to arrange with most postal services in advance.
5. Verify camera coverage of every entry point
Not just the front door — check each camera's actual field of view rather than assuming it's still aimed where it was mounted; cameras do get bumped or drift over time. See field of view basics and run your setup through the Camera Lens Coverage Calculator.
6. Confirm retention actually covers the trip length
A 7-day retention window is useless for a 10-day trip if nobody checks footage until you're back — a 10-day trip needs at least 10 days of retention with margin, ideally reviewed periodically during the trip rather than only after. Check yours in the Security Camera Storage Calculator, and if local storage can't cover the trip, consider a temporary cloud tier — see local vs. cloud storage trade-offs.
7. Remove or expire temporary keypad codes
A cleaner's or contractor's code left active from months ago is an unnecessary open door. See the Keypad Combination Calculator for why an old, never-rotated code is a real gap, and confirm any code you do leave active (for a house sitter, say) has a genuine lockout enabled.
8. Give a trusted neighbor a key in a rated key lockbox
Not hidden under a mat or a fake rock — both are well-known hiding spots, not secret ones, and are checked first by anyone who's watched even one home-security segment. A resettable-combination lockbox mounted somewhere discreet is a meaningfully better option.
9. Check every window lock
Not just the doors — an unlocked ground-floor window undoes an otherwise well-secured house, and windows are frequently the last thing checked (or the first thing forgotten) before a trip since they don't get used daily the way doors do.
10. Secure the garage
Unplug or disable the garage door opener's external keypad if it has an easily-guessed default code, and confirm the interior door from garage to house is locked, not just the garage door itself — a garage is frequently treated as "already secure" once the main door is down, while the interior door to the house sits unlocked as a matter of daily habit.
11. Don't leave a spare key anywhere obvious on the property
A lockbox with a neighbor, per #8, beats any on-property hiding spot — every commonly-used hiding spot (fake rock, above the doorframe, under a planter) is well-documented and checked as a matter of routine by anyone actually casing a property.
12. Test that everything actually works before you leave
The smart lock's app connection, the camera feed, the alarm if you have one. Finding out something's offline from the airport is too late to fix it — build this test into the day before departure, not the morning of.
For trips longer than two weeks: additional steps
| Extra step | Why it matters more for longer trips |
|---|---|
| Arrange a periodic in-person check by a trusted neighbor or house sitter | Cameras and timers can't catch everything (a slow leak, a delivery left too long) that a physical visit would |
| Confirm retention covers the FULL trip, with margin | Longer trips are more likely to exceed a retention window sized for a typical week away |
| Stop lawn/landscaping visibly at the same interval as usual | Overgrown grass is as strong a vacancy signal as an overflowing mailbox — arrange continued service if you'd normally have it |
| Notify a trusted contact of your general itinerary (not publicly) | Gives someone a baseline to notice if something seems off and you're unreachable |
FAQ
Is a monitored alarm system worth it just for a single trip?
If you don't already have one, a single trip alone rarely justifies installing a full monitored system — but if you already have one, confirming it's armed and the monitoring service has current contact information is a two-minute check worth doing every time.
Should I tell my local police department I'll be away?
Many police departments offer a vacation-watch program where patrols note extra attention to a specific address — worth checking if your local department offers this, particularly for longer absences.
What's the single highest-impact item on this list?
Not broadcasting travel dates publicly — it's free, takes seconds, and directly prevents the most common way an empty house becomes a known, rather than merely possible, target.
Do I need to do all twelve items, or just the ones that feel most relevant?
All twelve are individually low-cost, and the value comes from doing the full set rather than the ones that feel most urgent — an empty house is only as secure as its weakest unchecked item, and skipped items are rarely the ones anyone predicted in advance.
How far in advance should I start this checklist?
Most items take minutes and can be done the day before departure, but a few — confirming camera retention covers the trip, arranging mail hold, checking window locks throughout the house — are worth doing several days ahead so there's time to fix anything that turns out to be broken or misconfigured.
Does this checklist change for a short overnight trip versus a week away?
The core items still apply, but the highest-value ones for a very short trip are the free, instant ones — not broadcasting plans publicly, confirming doors and windows are locked, checking camera coverage — since a one-night absence doesn't accumulate the same mail-pileup or overgrown-lawn signals a longer trip does.
Is it worth asking a neighbor to park in the driveway while I'm away?
Yes, where the arrangement is realistic — an occupied-looking driveway is a genuinely useful, low-cost vacancy signal to remove, on the same principle as holding mail and using light timers.
None of these individually is dramatic — the value is in doing all twelve rather than assuming the ones you skipped don't matter. An empty house is only as secure as its weakest unchecked item.