If you’re planning a vacation, those few days leading up to it can be super hectic. Whether you are leaving for a long weekend or leaving for 3 months, besides packing, there are a few things you’ll want to do before you leave.
1. Pay Your Bills
The day before you leave, go through your bills and make sure everything is paid. If you’re leaving for a while, it might be a good idea to switch to autopay so you won’t have to worry about them while you are gone.
2. Hold Your Mail
If you’re only going to be away for a few days, this might not be an issue, but I definitely recommend doing this if you’ll be gone for a long period of time. Mail piling up in your mailbox screams to burglars that you aren’t home. USPS will hold your mail for free for a month and you can sign up for it right on their website.
3. Alert Your Credit Card Companies
The night before you leave, alert your credit card companies to make sure they are aware of your travels. This is especially important if you’re leaving the country. You don’t want any issues when trying to use your cards.
4. Leave Your Key With A Neighbor
Leave your key with a neighbor that you trust, just in case anything happens while you’re away. We’ve exchanged keys with our next door neighbor and it’s nice to have the peace of mind that someone is looking over your house while you’re gone.
5. Take Out Your Garbage
Remove any garbage from your house and place it in your bins outside. You don’t want to come home to a house smelling of trash. If you’ll be gone for a while, ask the neighbor you left your key with if he can take your bins to the street on trash day.
6. Clean Out Your Fridge
Before you leave, eat anything that will go bad while your away. You don’t want to come home to those smells, trust me.
7. Clean Your House
After a long day of traveling, the last thing you’ll want to do when you get home is clean the house. Do it before you leave. Coming home to a nice, clean house makes everything a lot less stressful.
8. Do Your Laundry
You’re already going to have a ton of laundry to do when you get home. The last thing you need is more. Get all of your laundry done the day before you leave so you have less to worry about when you get back.
9. Put Clean Sheets On The Bed
The bed wherever you’re staying is never as comfortable as your own. There is nothing better than coming home to your own bed with fresh, clean sheets on it. Treat yourself.
10. Figure Out Your Travel Clothes
Lay out your travel clothes the night before so you don’t have to waste time trying to figure out what you’re going to wear the day you travel. Having everything ready to go just makes life easier.
11. Get Your Passports/IDs/Tickets Ready
Leaving these things at home means you might not be able to travel, so be sure to get everything ready the night before. Place all of your important travel documents together so you have easy access to them on travel day.
12. Take A Picture of Your Passport
It’s always good to have a backup of your passport, just in case something happens while you’re gone. Take a picture of it and email it to yourself.
13. Double Check Your Reservations
I had a friend that took a trip to Paris and London and realized when she got to Paris that she messed up her hotel reservations, booking the London hotel for the dates she was in Paris. Since hearing her story, I always double check your reservations to make sure everything is correct. If you do notice something is off, you’ll be able to take care of it before your trip, not while you’re there.
14. Charge Your Electronics
The night before your travel, plugin all the electronics you plan to take before you go to bed. Common items would be:
- Phone
- Laptop
- iPad or tablet
- Camera batteries
It’s nice to have a full charge before you leave, just in case you don’t get an opportunity to charge them for a while.
15. Get Your Medications Ready
This is one that is super important, but often gets overlooked! Get any necessary medications ready the day before you leave and make sure you have enough of your prescriptions to last you while you’re gone.
16. Get A Small Amount Of Cash
The day before you leave, hit an ATM to get a small amount of cash, just in case you can’t use your credit card.
8 Responses
Great tips!
Thanks, we are glad you liked them!
That’s ALOT of stuff to do the day before…. most of these things should be done at least a week before.
Yes, you could probably do some things a week before. The point of the post was to provide a checklist so you don’t forget important things. Because there is A LOT to do before traveling.
I do suggest the list should be called something else. Not only is this too much to do in one day. But some tasks cannot realistically be expected to be done in one day
You can’t count on being able to get every prescription refill you may need within less than a day. Of you are traveling outside your own country, your bank may need a day or more to get hold of the currency you want. And also if leaving your home country you should check on and receive any immunizations you may need. Some of these may require an appointment or several doses over a period of time. To be sure your mail hold order is in effect on the right day also requires at some advance notice.
I liked your easy-peasy checklist! This list is a not for the seasoned traveler. It is for the everyday person that maybe takes a few trips a year. It’s practical. If you are going to exotic places that require shots or extra requirements you’d know you had to do that before the “day before travel”. This is just a checklist. Leave with a clean house, clean fridge, clean bed, clean clothes and you’ll be much happier when you return!
Leave your spouse home then you don’t have to worry about most of these things. 😇
If you have a pet, always have a back-up pet sitter! Post emergency contact phone numbers on your refrigerator.