The Ultimate Pre-Trip Home Prep Checklist: How to Leave Your House Worry-Free for 7+ Days

Leaving your house for a week or longer takes more than locking the front door. Water your plants properly, make the house look lived-in, clear the kitchen, cut your energy use, and handle mail and deliveries, and you can board your flight without a single "wait, did I..." thought. Here is the full room-by-room checklist, with the why behind each step.

What this covers at a glance

1. Keep your plants alive
2. Make your home look lived-in
3. Prep your kitchen and plumbing
4. Adjust appliances and save energy
5. Handle deliveries and doorstep security
6. Run the 10-minute final walkthrough

1. Keep your plants happy and thriving

If you are traveling for more than a few days, your green leafy friends need a game plan. You do not necessarily have to hire a plant sitter if you set up simple self-watering systems before you leave.

• Group your plants together. Move houseplants away from harsh direct window sun and cluster them in a bright room. This creates a natural microclimate with higher humidity that slows down soil evaporation.
• Give them a thorough soak. Water every plant fully the day before you leave.
• Use self-watering spikes. For trips lasting one to two weeks, terra cotta self-watering spikes are lifesavers. Fill a glass wine bottle or plastic water bottle, invert it into the spike in the soil, and it slowly releases moisture as the soil dries out, keeping your plants hydrated automatically.

2. Make your home look "lived-in" for security

An empty, dark house night after night is a clear signal to outsiders that no one is home. Creating the subtle illusion of presence is one of the easiest ways to keep your home safe while you are away.

• Automate your lighting. Leaving a porch light on around the clock actually signals that you are out of town. Instead, plug indoor lamps into smart plugs so you can schedule them to turn on at sunset and off at bedtime from your phone, or use an "away mode" that randomizes the pattern.
• Upgrade key fixtures. For overhead lighting or outdoor sconces, smart light bulbs let you control illumination schedules from anywhere with an internet connection.

3. Prep your kitchen and plumbing

A little kitchen prep goes a long way toward preventing unwelcome smells or pests when you get back.

• Clear out perishables. Eat, freeze, or toss anything that will spoil within a week, dairy, produce, and open deli meats.
• Empty all trash and compost bins. Take the bags all the way outside to the outdoor bins to prevent odors, fruit flies, and pests.
• Clean out the garbage disposal. Run half a lemon and a handful of ice cubes through it with cold water to sanitize the blades and leave a fresh scent.
• Run the dishwasher. Do not leave dirty dishes sitting in a closed, humid machine for a week. Unload it before you leave so you have clean dishes waiting when you get back.
• Pour water down dry drains. Run a little water down guest bathroom sinks or basement drains to keep the P-traps filled, which stops sewer gas odors from backing up into the house.

4. Adjust appliances and save energy

There is no reason to pay to heat or cool an empty house. Adjusting your climate control and appliances lowers your energy bill and protects your home.

• Set the thermostat to vacation mode. A moderate setting, around 78°F (25°C) in summer or 55°F (13°C) in winter, keeps the system from running constantly while still guarding against high humidity or frozen pipes.
• Prevent water accidents. For trips longer than a week, consider shutting off the main water valve, or at least the valves to your washing machine and toilets. A burst hose while you are away can do serious damage fast.
• Unplug phantom electronics. TVs, coffee makers, desktop computers, and microwave clocks all draw power even when switched off. Unplugging them protects against voltage spikes and trims the bill.

5. Handle deliveries and doorstep security

Mail and packages piling up on the porch are a dead giveaway that a home is unoccupied.

• Pause mail and deliveries. Set up a temporary mail hold with USPS, or your local postal authority, and pause recurring subscription boxes.
• Tell a trusted neighbor. Let someone nearby know you will be out of town and ask them to keep an eye out for stray packages or flyers on the door.
• Install a video doorbell. A smart video doorbell lets you monitor the front porch, answer the door remotely, and get real-time motion alerts on your phone.

6. The 10-minute pre-departure walkthrough

Before you head out to catch your flight or hit the highway, do one final sweep:

• All windows and patio doors locked
• Blinds tilted slightly up, so light gets in but the interior view is blocked
• Thermostat set to vacation mode
• Trash, recycling, and compost fully emptied outside
• All sink and shower faucets tightly shut off
• Smart lighting schedules active
• Deadbolt locked and security system armed

Handle the house, and let us handle the destination

Run this list once before a longer trip and you stop guessing every time. The house is the easy half of trip prep. The harder questions, visa and entry rules for your passport, the local rideshare app that actually works, the scams worth knowing about, and the small stuff nobody thinks to look up, live at your destination. Instead of piecing that together from old blog posts at midnight, a personalized pre-trip guide pulls it together for wherever you are headed and whichever passport you are carrying.

Handle the house with the list above, and let us handle everything waiting on the other end. Safe travels.