Take out the trash, and make sure you don't have laundry in the washing machine! Blech! And especially if you live in an apartment: please turn off your alarm clock!

If you aren't taking your car, make sure it's not on the street sweeping side or leave a key with someone to move it - no one needs to come home to a ticket!

We usually get a house sitter eliminating most of the items on your list.

If you take a regular regimen of medications or vitamins, don't go for those lame rectangular boxes that have SMTWThFS written on their little lids.

It's much more fun to first, figure out what you need to take every day, and then go to your favorite drug or beauty store and buy as many of those stacking round pill boxes as you need.

Parcel out the pills according to day, and pack in each pill layer what you need for that day. I added a colorful label with the name of the day I was to take the meds and vitamins on. Put your little stackable towers in the refrigerator where you're staying. Then, when you get up in the morning, just unscrew the layer of the box for that day, and take your pills with your coffee or orange juice!

You don't have to pack a lot of pill bottles, or search around for your pill bottles, or wonder if you remembered to take your pills that morning.

In case you're wondering, neither Homeland Security nor any of the other law enforcement agencies hanging around airports care whether your medication is in a properly labeled prescription bottle, unless, of course, you're carrying a suspiciously excess amount.

I filled a couple of extra days' worth of layers of meds and vitamins in the stacking bottles just in case the travel plans went way awray.

If you have trouble remembering to repack everything when you leave (as I do -- something inevitably gets left behind), you won't be in trouble when you get home, because you've only taken what you needed, and there should be some extra vitamins and meds waiting for you when you get home.

One more travel tip I have is that plain cotton underwear is unbelievably cheap these days. Go to Walgreen's or wherever the plainest, cheapest, most simple cotton underwear is, and buy enough for every day of the trip. Take along a plastic shopping bag with a cool design, packed flat. As you wear your underwear, just throw the worn underwear in the plastic bag and seal it up as tightly as you can. You might want to pack a little plastic spring clip or two, or even the type of clip you use to seal up potato chip bags.

You won't be cruising for a laundry or having to wash out stuff in a sink with a miniature package of Tide, and you'll feel much more carefree.

I travel all the time for work, and my biggest chore before I leave is CLEAN!

The first reason is to make sure there's no stray food hanging around in your kitchen to breed bugs. The second is that, to me, there is nothing more depressing than coming home from a day of transit and finding a mess (and I'm a generally messy person).

please turn off your alarm clock!

Oh, this is the best tip yet. Please, please turn off your alarm clock. I don't know how many times I have had neighbors who forget to do this. It is soooo annoying.

Check your fridge for any food that will go off while you're away.

I, like engill, also clean thoroughly. It's so nice to come home to a place as clean as the hotel I just left, especially after a long day in noisy airports and crowded planes.

I can't say I agree w/ stripping the bed to air out the mattress. I usually arrive home late in the evening (8pm or later) and the last thing I'd want to do after staggering into my apartment is to make my bed. That sounds awful. I do make sure to put on clean sheets before leaving, however. Coming home to a dirty bed would be almost as bad as a naked mattress, imo.

Also, I make sure to have a favorite frozen meal ready for when I get back. I definitely don't want to have to go to the store, or a drive-thru, immediately upon my return.

I would love to add: finish laundry, take out the trash, clean (you'll thank yourself later), rid fridge of anything that will expire, turn off alarms, unplug all extra appliances, and set the temp to not be wasteful while you are gone.

The fiance and I have gone the paperless bill route a long ago and it saves us both much grief. I always make the bed before a travel because I'm not going to want to do it when I get home - same with cleaning.

I live in an apartment, so I don't get the lights/timers thing. But I do have my mother living five mins away and she doesn't mind driving by the apartment every few days and collecting the mail and making sure no one kicked the door in. I don't worry about windows on the second floor since you'd have to have a ladder and hope the at least dozen apartments near me are empty so they don't call the police.

Granted we always always have told the maintenance men when we will be gone along with the property manager - all three are trustworthy and the maintenance men kept an eye on the apartment while we was gone.

AustinSarah -- Those "lame" pill boxes you are talking about are good for people who are taking more than three pills a day. I actually have two sets - one for my morning meds and one for my evening meds. I take a total of 14 pills a day counting vitamins - explain how they will go into those ubersmall stacking? And also explain how that helps you remember if you took your meds that morning or evening?

Empty kitchen compost container!

Don't forget to run the dishwasher and the garbage disposal. In one week, those unwashed dishes or bits of food in the disposal can work-up a stink that would gag a maggot.

I definitely agree with cleaning your house before a trip! Our last trip, we did not have the time to clean before hand, because we left within 12 hours of arriving from another trip. Coming home to an unorganized house is so stressful!

ChrisGal, is it worth getting angry and confrontational about that? Take your pill.

1. If it's a foreign trip, leave a photocopy of your passport I.D. page with a trusted friend or family member. I've had a passport stolen overseas, and it's much easier to get it replaced at a consulate if you can give them the passport number, date issued, etc.

2. Remember to take back all your library books and videos.

I'm totally bookmarking this page for my vacation in a few weeks! A lot of good tips above.

That being said, I actually cant understand the difference between the "lame" rectangular boxes for pills or the "fun" little circular towers of pill boxes - aren't they serving the same purpose?

Don't forget to save electricity and unplug the TV and your computers, along with any kitchen electronics that you won't use while you are gone.

turn water heater up so you don't pay for heating water that you won't use.

thebradseed - Was I talk to you? Sorry, nope.

I'm not sure I understand buying all new white underwear just for a trip. Why would I want to wear granny panties from Walgreen's when I'm in some fabulous exotic place?

i thought austinsarah was rambling too w/ the pills tip..u too chrisgal! and it's 'talking'. peace v^^

sorry austinsarah your tip was actually quite useful! not rambling....

Along with turning off alarms, I turn off my doorbell. It sounds small, but there's no need to advertise that I'm not home at all different hours when random marketers and Sierra Club/JW people drift through my hood.

Also, if you live on a ground floor like I do, I'd suggest removing your air conditioner from your window. Although a pain to remove, they're usually not completely secured and are easy targets for B&E folks.

Last, if you live in a sketchy area prone to break-ins, don't feel foolish hiding any valuables. You're not paranoid and it can happen. Best place I've found so far: in the oven's broiler. Just remember to retrieve the items when you get home.

And if you have expensive bikes indoors, look them up inside before you take off. Nothing stops the theft of a bike faster than not being able to conveniently ride it away.

cookiemonsta - I was just mentioning how those tiny small pill things barely, if at all, hold the medication you need and it's not an easy reminder if you took something or not.

If you are crossing borders you are best to keep all pills in their original bottles. Some meds that are legal in US are not legal elsewhere...such as Aleve! I had my pro-biotics in atiny tupperware container and they were confiscated at the airport when I went to Mexico in December.

Good point LaurieLu. Anything w/ codeine is illegal in Greece if I do recall from my travels.

To add: do as much laundry as possible and put it away prior to leaving as it is frustrating to come home from a lovely trip to twice as much laundry as you are used to (especially with kids).

Make sure the fridge/freezer is stocked with basics that will not spoil to return to so immediate shopping is not required (no fun w/ jet lag).

I also would not air out the mattress, but make sure the bed is freshly made.

Hi, AustinSarah back again. About those pills -- I was embarassed to mention how many I have to take a day. Can't help it -- if chronic disease strikes you just can't ignore it. I'm sure there are a few others in the same position, and also people who are really into their vitamin regimes or whatever.

I take meds in the a.m. and in the p.m.

Those stackable bottles hold more than you think.

Frankly, I separated the pills by dates and by a.m. and p.m. and labeled them as such. The system still worked fine.

I'm fortunate enough to have a number of people in a generation older than myself still alive and traveling. But it always depresses me when people sit down with an unmistakeable air of resignation to open their SMTuWThFS boxes. It always signals that a certain revelry is over.

My daughter -- who is very young and athletic but has her own meds to worry about -- noticed my system and said it cheered her to see me work out a system other than those depressing pre-labeled boxes. It takes less space, too!

It's just a suggestion. Do whatever you like.

As to the underwear issue -- I was afraid it was going to be criticized as too yucky to raise. You don't have to go with white. There is inexpensive bright-hued cotton underwear available in packs of three at a lot of discount stores. It did occur to me that there are those for whom beautiful lingerie is a part of the enjoyment of the trip. I congratulate you who feel that way. I just never want to be standing over a hotel sink that doesn't hold a pool of water trying to wash out underwear and knowing no matter what I do, it's going to be damp in the morning.

I'm sure that people who have traveled to some internation destinations have a better idea what is acceptable and what is not when it comes to a prescription pill. However, in some jurisdictions, cops are just looking for the tip by giving you trouble over an Aleve.

However, I used to be incredibly nervous about traveling with meds and always had the bottles with the prescriptions with me.

It's become pretty clear to me that the airport police have bigger issues on their minds these days and don't want to stop the flow of people by becoming petty over prescription drugs.

I don't understand the underwear suggestions. Are people going on month-long vacations, or am I the only person who has more than 7 pair of underwear?

I really like the passport suggestion, and will definitely need to do that next time I go abroad. I also like the mattress suggestion as it's the perfect time for it to be able to breathe. I never come home and crash right away, and if I do, there's always the couch.

I like to unplug literally everything in my condo when I leave, even for a weekend trip. Not just because of the energy usage, but the fear of fire or energy surges killing my TV.

first5times - LOL, I agree with you on the underwear issue. I am sure I have at least two weeks worth in my dresser drawer - I guess I must be very strange. I have been known to have too much clothing, but I never felt like anyone could have too many pairs of underwear - LOL - since they don't take up that much space.

lisa (montreal) is sooo right!!! and i'll go her one better..make a photo copy and keep it somewhere in your suitcase so u have quick, easy access...after having our passports stolen and undergoing a grueling 3 hour interrigation in the bowels of the rome airport with several unsavory characters as company we learned the hard way to do this.