With the holiday season approaching, traveling plans to meet with family and friends are sure to arise, whether it is a local commute or traveling abroad. Among all the chaos that can accumulate from traveling, the last thing you need is additional stress caused by worrying about the safety of your home. Following these tips can ensure your home’s safety while you’re away so you can enjoy the holiday season with your loved ones in confidence. 

The Smarter Way to be Secured

Since all of Atomi Smart’s devices are engineered as smart home technology, you can enjoy the benefits of complete control, convenience, energy savings, and security. 

Atomi’s appliances can also send you notifications to alert you of any problems or updates to your devices. For example, all of Atomi’s heaters include a safety feature to automatically turn off if the heater is tipped over. If coffee is scheduled to brew at a certain time but the coffee pot is not in the machine, the app will send a notification and the scheduled brew will not happen/ go through. Monitor if your smart lights have been turned on or off through Atomi’s app. These are some examples of alerts that you can receive through smart home devices that can help keep your home secured from potentially dangerous situations. 

Besides utilizing smart home appliances to enhance the safety of your home, it is also important to avoid any actions that are out of the ordinary. This can be anything from the location of your car, the position of the curtains, lighting patterns, and more. Instead of closing all the blinds, leaving only one light on, or leaving a car parked on the driveway, it is important to make your home look as natural as possible. Trying to hide or lock down your house while you’re away can be obvious to potential criminals.

Smart Home Lighting and Security

One of the easiest and most convenient ways to deter intruders from your home is through lighting. Through the free Atomi smart app, any of your Atomi devices can be remotely monitored and controlled. Any smart lighting can be controlled to mimic daily schedules. On the app, you can set your lights to turn on and off at specific times to make it appear as if someone is home. This will make potential burglars or thieves more inclined to stay away. 

If creating daily or weekly schedules to mimic your lifestyle is not enough, Atomi’s lights can also be customizable through color to increase the illusion that someone is home. Atomi’s Smart lights include built-in special effects so you can bring your lighting vision to life. Choose from a twinkling feature, two-color combinations, a rainbow fade, and other pre-selected color schemes to add extra brilliance to your light display. With Atomi’s Smart technology, you can link up to hundreds of smart lights and browse through millions of colors. These features are available in any Atomi lights, whether it is stake lighting, wall sconces, floodlights, string lights, and more. By combining color and scheduled automation, your home has an extra layer of protection for the times that you or your family are not there.

On the days or weeks leading up to your departure, you can test out your lighting schedule to ensure that it is working correctly. To remotely control your devices, they must be connected to a 2.4GHz speed so ensure there is a strong connection before leaving. If you plan to unplug some devices to save on energy costs, avoid unplugging the smart home devices that you plan on remotely controlling. Without power and an internet connection, your smart home devices will not work. 

Don’t Promote That You’re Gone

Although it is exciting to share your travel plans on social media or in person with coworkers and friends, it is best to keep these plans to yourself in order to protect your home. Besides family and close friends, it is important to keep your travel plans to as few people as possible. This includes posting dates, times, and locations that could create possible schedules online for burglars to follow. When it comes to social media, it is also recommended to not post any photos from your trip while you are away. It is best to wait until you return home to post any photos. Posting photos may seem like a fun opportunity to check in with friends, but to burglars, it is an easy way to advertise your absence online. 

It is important to also ensure that your house doesn’t look empty. Some things you can do to prevent this are by ensuring that any packages or mail get picked up by neighbors or family, maintaining the yard of overgrowth or snow removal, and keeping any packaging from recent upgrades in a closed container. If any new packaging of appliances or electronics stays on the curbside for disposal, it creates an indirect message that the home is filled with new gadgets, ready for taking. 

Before Packing Up 

Preparing for your vacation doesn’t end with packing your bags. Ensuring your home is ready for your absence is just as important, so keep your travel plans private and keep your home as “normal” to your everyday life as possible. You can do this by setting up your Atomi smart lights on a schedule that automatically turns lights on or off and changes the color of the lights for additional peace of mind. Additionally, ensure all mail and packages are picked up by family or neighbors and that your yard is well-kept until you return. Automating your Atomi smart home devices to mimic your living schedules not only helps to protect your home but can also make life easier when you return.