Anyone ever been away from home for a month plus?

I'm trying to think of anything I could be forgetting if I go ahead with being gone for a month.

Long story short, my schedule is shaping up to look like this shortly:

April 17 or 18 - fly up north April 22 (late evening) - come back, sleep for 8 hours April 23 - fly up north April 25 (late evening) - arrive back, go home, grab racing gear, go back to airport, and fly to LA May 2 - fly from Cabo to Portland (I'll see if any of you can figure that one out) May 6 - drive home.... orrrrrrr May 5 or 6 - company fly me to San Francisco for training May 12 - fly home

Is there anything that a typical person does in a monthly fashion that I might not even consider and miss taking care of before leaving? I'm just nervous that I could be thinking of something simple but extremely important and might not realize it until I'm at the point of no return...

unplug the iron

Turn the taps off on the washing machine. Or at least install braided hoses, which is a good idea regardless.

Enough clean underwear?
For the gap of LA to Cabo, I was hoping that maybe you were doing the Newport, CA to Cabo sailboat race but that was last month and the Baja-HaHa is not till Oct.

Basil Exposition wrote: Turn the taps off on the washing machine. Or at least install braided hoses, which is a good idea regardless.

Just turn the water for the whole house off with the main shutoff.

Yep, turn off the water to the house--the assorted risks from washing machines, ice makers, terlets, etc., just aren't worth it. Before the water goes off, fill your toilet bowls as much as possible, add a healthy couple glugs of bleach, and put the lid down. Helps avoid mold, dry traps. Also pour water in each drain. Turn off your ice maker, set your HVAC to extreme settings instead of flipping the breakers, turn off the water heater, unplug electronics. Don't forget to check ALL the drawers in the fridge.

Oh, if you have pets, treat them now for fleas, and bomb when you leave.

Sounds like a lot, but I have it down to about 15 minutes for our cabin, and she sleeps like a baby until I return.

Margie

Also, if you don't get your monthly bills electronically, don't forget them.

Kevin.

newspapers and mail, if you still get any.

Have any plants? They won't like being without water for 30 days.

Yeah. Shutting off water at the street is the biggie. You could do saran wrap over the toilet bowls, but I think it takes way longer than a month for all that water to evaporate.

Have somebody check on the house and keep the grass cut. Have them turn random lights on and off so that it looks like somebody is there. Anything to help eliminate the threat of burglary...simple things; like not telling an entire online community...a large percentage of which, you've probably pissed off at some point, that you're going away for a month

plug in timers to turn lamps on/ off, just so the place ain't dark all night. Maybe a radio during the day

Don't forget to turn off the water heater when you shut the water down. Don't stop paper delivery. The paper boy probably has criminal friends. Just pay somebody to drive by on their way home from work every day to collect the mail, paper, and switch a few things around.

Slightly related: My brother and his wife are retired, and spend a lot of time away from the house. They installed an electric water valve on the inlet that is controlled by a switch at the top of the stairs. They are so used to it now, they shut the water off if they intend to be gone for more than an hour.

At least you're not doing it in winter. My folks used to winter at South Padre. One year the pipes froze and it flooded the house while they were gone. Subsequently the old man used to turn off the power to the well pump, drain the pipes and THEN fill the pipes with anti-freeze.

Engineers.

yep, off with the water. I like to unplug the garage door opener and manually lock down the doors. unplug computer, tv etc

stroker wrote: At least you're not doing it in winter.

It's still below 0*C here and we just got 20cm of snow. So, yea (think way north LOL!)

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. Keep em coming :D