1. Turn water heater down to the lowest setting.
    

2. Turn your air conditioner up in summer. You want to reduce your bills, but you may have to keep the house from getting too hot to protect your pets and electronics.
    

3. Turn your heat down or off in spring or fall. Be sure to leave the house warm enough in the winter. You may want to reduce your bills, but you may need to keep the house from getting too cold to protect your pets and water pipes.
    

4. Leave shades or drapes as you normally do.
    

5. Plug a cheap radio into a timer so you can have some noise in the house during part of the day.
    

6. Lock all doors and windows including basement & garage.
    

7. Unplug electronic items, such as, your computer to protect them if you have a storm while you're gone. Remember to unhook your phone line from the modem. Unfortunately, you may have to leave it all hooked up if your computer is your only answering machine. Make sure your surge protectors are properly installed.
    

8. Pack the car inside the garage, with the door down, so people driving by won't find out you're leaving.
    

9. Disconnect the garage door. Unplug it if you can, don't pull the fuse for the garage door until you verify the fuse isn't hooked up to something that needs to stay on, such as, your refrigerator or maybe a freezer in the garage.

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