Preparing to leave home

Remote settings for heating, lighting, alarms, etc.

We all know the routine that goes into place when we are going off on our week or 2-week annual holiday, but what about when you are leaving home for a longer period of time, and over the winter and Christmas holiday period? How do you make sure it is going to be safe and that you don't invalidate your home insurance policy? Well, there are actually quite a lot of things you need to do and think about, but there are also a lot more technology tools that can also help, so you don't need to bribe, beg and borrow favours from family, friends and neighbours.

Avoiding the cold, dark, wet and generally miserable winter months was one of the key things that R and I wanted in our retirement. Not just because it's a depressing time of year, or the fact that my old joints and bones are starting to feel the effects of the cold weather (heck, now I'm even starting to sound like my auld granny!). No, have you seen the cost of gas and electricity these days?? It's ridiculous and when you live with a cold blooded human (that's R by the way), then it costs us a bloody fortune to try and keep the house warm for him over the winter (and especially now that we are no longer able to scrounge the free heating of our old employers premises!). You see, R and I are very much a 'yin and yang' couple, which probably explains why we tolerate each other so well. He feels the cold, and I feel the heat (ok, I do have a lot more insulation on me than he does!), but we have the incessant battle of the Nest controller in our home. Apologies, as I'm digressing - I knew that would happen.

Anyway, back to technology wonders, so the Nerd of us (that's R too) has sorted us out with online home cameras, automated door and light sensors and schedules for lighting and heating in addition to the usual security items of door security and a home alarm system. So we have Blink, Tapo and Nest all connected to both our phones. We get notifications if any activity is detected (e.g. post is delivered, the doorbell is rung, if I go out to the bin, etc.), and we can see online and via video who is at the door. Thought just don't get me started with the jingle bell alarm that was going off every time I went out the back door....

These new 'tools' mean that we can still keep 'an eye' on things at home by remote means. So our kids, friends or neighbours can get away with fewer visits, and we can also request a stop by fairly quickly if anything looks or seems odd. The use of these tools do rely on having an internet connection (so hopefully that will not fall over whilst we are away), and our home manual and instruction book (for the kids) to cover what they need to know and do in our absence should hopefully mean that the house will be in the same state as when we left it when we get back (fingers crossed and touch wood!).

A quick final check and it's 'hey ho, hey ho - it's off to the airport we go'.