We all love grabbing a go-bag and hopping in the car the literal moment the last class before a break ends. But if you haven’t made sure your apartment is buttoned up first, you may come home to a not-so-cool surprise or two. Or at the very least an inconvenient situation.
When you’re gone, a number of things can pop up without your knowledge. And a week or two later, what could have been a quick call to your rental company’s maintenance turns into a huge, awful deal. But you can eliminate pretty much everything except actual emergencies with a little apartment prep.
Don’t want to stay even a second after that last class? Do all these things beforehand! Seriously – it doesn’t take that long. Here’s 10 quick things to check and tidy up before you head home for a school holiday (+ max procrastination tips):
1. Clean your apartment! Not only is this going to make coming home nice, but it gives you a chance to see if there are any problems lingering in corners, like ants or leaks near sinks/toilets.
Put this one off until: 3 days before you leave
2. Do your dishes. All of them. You don’t want to leave wet, nasty food scraps sat in the sink for two weeks – it’s smelly, gets moldy and weird, and can attract vermin looking for a warm place to eat in peace.
Do this one: the day or day before you leave
3. Check all your vital appliances. Is the toilet running too much or leaking? Is it wet underneath the pipes of your sinks or under the fridge? Do the faucets drip? This is a call-your-landlord ASAP situation; it could prevent disastrous issues, and shows your rental company you care about maintaining your student rental.
Don’t put this one off: do it 5-7 days before you leave
4. Tell your landlord. Let them know the dates you’ll be gone, and get extra tips from them on how to prep. You can even ask them to peek in while you’re gone if you’d like.
Put this one off until: 1-3 days before you leave
5. Put your mail on hold. It’s not great to have mail piling up when you’re not home – it’s an instant sign to people with bad intentions that you’re away. You can easily have mail held via an online form with USPS.
Put this one off until: 1 day before you leave. But if you forget, you can do it after you’ve left as soon as you remember – it goes into effect the day following the day you submit the form.
6. Clean out your fridge. Old takeout? Fruit and veggies you haven’t finished? Get them out of the fridge so you don’t come back to moldy, smelly, rotten food and a potentially-ruined fridge.
Put this one off until: the day or day before you leave
7. Seal any dry goods like cereals, flour, pet food, etc. Don’t want to give mice or ants places to feast and sleep while you’re away! They’re not good about leaving voluntarily once they’ve found good food.
Do this one: any time before you leave – even right up until the last minute
8. Right before you leave, don’t forget to pull all the blinds/window coverings for privacy (and energy savings!).
9. And before you head out, double check the thermostat is set to at least 60 degrees so there’s no way the pipes will freeze.
10. Last thing! On your final walkthrough before you hop in the car and gtfo of here, make sure you put away any expensive items or maybe private things you wouldn’t want your landlord to see, should there be an emergency where they’d need to enter your place.
Bonus tip: Get paranoid 2 hours into your drive home about whether you locked your apartment or turned off all the lights? Give your rental company office a call! They care about your apartment, too – they manage it, after all. They can make a courtesy visit to make sure everything’s buttoned up.
Taking, like, an hour out of your day to do this apartment prep not only makes coming hOUme convenient, but helps you avoid potential disasters from happening while you’re away from your Athens rental.