Essential Vacation Checklist for Your House Sitter

Simple tips for your house sitter or neighbor

By Kristy Alpert

Packing for a trip and making travel arrangements can be time-consuming, especially as you organize a vacation checklist for a house sitter or pet sitter. These helpful tips and advice will help you both get organized. Just don’t forget to bring back a gift for him or her when you return.

House-Sitter Checklist

• Pick up newspapers, mail, packages and flyers from your doorstep.
• Pet sitting? Show where your pet’s food, leash, and toys are kept and discuss when to feed your pet. Also, don’t forget to provide your veterinarian’s contact information and sign a release giving your neighbor or pet sitter permission to bring your pet for emergency treatment.
• Discuss which plants need watering and how often.
• Show your house sitter where the trashcans are and when to place them outside for trash collection.
• Leave numbers for you and an emergency contact so your neighbor or house sitter can reach you while you are away.
• Provide a spare key rather than “hiding” one; burglars are skilled at looking for those hide-a-keys.
• Ask your neighbors to report any suspicious activity. To be safe, don’t mention your trip on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media pages. Sites like http://www.robmenow.com show the danger of mentioning when you’re away from home.
• Provide your neighbor with your itinerary, including the names, phone numbers, and addresses of your hotels.