Every year people take vacations that can be as short as a day or so or as long as a couple of months to be on the safe side you should be sure to secure your home and personal belongings before you leave. Your home may be safe and it may not be. Many criminals like to spend time observing houses to get a good idea of when you will be present or better yet, not present so that they can take all the time they need to go through your belongings.

You can easily help to make your home more secure by telling the neighbors that you are planning on going on a long trip, that way they will pay more attention to suspicious activity. You may also be able to get one of the neighbors to agree to check the doors and exterior of the house periodically to ensure that the place is still locked up tight.

Don't let the mail pile up or the newspapers either. This is a sure sign no one's home. You can request that the same neighbor pick up your mail and newspaper or you can have your mail held at the post office for free.

Automatic timers for the lights and even the television in your home will help to give it a more lived in feel while you are gone. They are easy to purchase and install. You can set different timers to turn on and off at different times of the day so it doesn't appear that everything in your home turned on at once. If you all ready have a security system installed you should notify the company that monitors it to tell them how long you will be gone.

Be sure to get the phone number and address of the place you will be staying at and give it to one of the neighbors and the company that monitors your security system. In case your home is broken into they will be able to contact you and get instructions on how to proceed.