I don't have any kids or pets so luckily it is not to hard for me. My biggest things are making sure the fridge is cleaned out & free of perishable goods. I usually also cook & freeze a couple of meals before I go so there is something to eat once I have come home. I organise my landlords (who live upstairs) to collect my mail & water my houseplants occasionally. Turn off all the appliances but Tivo & the fridge. I lock all the windows & close the curtains & pour bi carb soda down all the drains to avoid coming home to a funky smelling apartment

My kitty (only one now) is my main concern. And like you I have even paid cat sitters, only to return to disappointing results. And even worse to have a friend volunteer to sit and at the last minute change her mind.
I guess the next concern would be someone picking up the mail.

Putting a hold on mail is the best thing ever. They just hold it at the Post Office until you get home.

I also clean out the fridge, we usually really deep clean the house too. My husband hates coming home to a house with chores, and as I much as I hate having to fit in cleaning while packing, I always agree how nice it is once we get home.

I'm considering getting a timer so that we can have a lamp or two come on during evening hours.

Thanks for the tip about bicarb down the drains, BakeandBloom. I'd forgotten about that one for years! Especially good in summer.

i like the photo with the antique suitcases.
obviously, you have a sense of style.
follow that in packing outfits that easily mix.
mail should be stopped, timers on lights,
drapery or blinds, shutter closed.

have fun.

I have a big reservoir water bowl for our kitties. We are lucky they aren't gorgers, so I can leave a week's worth of food in their bowl without a problem. So everyone needs kitties like mine. Meanwhile...

I clean the house, so I come home to no clutter, empty trash cans, a clean fridge, a sparkling bathroom... since my parent's house was always messy, I treasure my clean clean clean place. Once I walked in to my apartment after visiting them for a week and shrieked "Oh my god, I've been robbed!" It took a few minutes to realize it was just clean. So yes, I clean.

For a long trip, I arrange to have the mail and newspaper stopped.

Oh, yes, and I pre-pay all the bills that I haven't automated, although with automated bills now, that's not as much of an issue. For my freelance work or jobs that aren't direct deposited, I ask for full payment for the month (instead of bimonthly) if I will be traveling during a pay period. Again, that's not so much an issue anymore with auto deposit.

I mostly worry about the dog and the cat. But I live close enough to in-laws that they watch over the cat very graciously.

I also have a cousin that lets my dog vacation at her house with her two big pooches.

I clean. I hate coming home to a messy house from my work day, so I hate it even more when I'm coming from a trip.

I clean house before leaving--hate coming home to any kind of mess.

We're incredibly lucky to have neighbors on both sides who we trade cat sitting and yard/house care with while traveling. They spend tons of time hanging out with the cats, and I return the favor when they travel. It is so nice not to have to worry about that!

I love old suitcases. Had a friend long time ago - put legs on one and used it as a coffee table. Brilliant idea!

Things I always do:
1)Take out the trash-hate to come home to a smelly place full of flies!
2)Clean-nothing is worse than coming home from vacation (when you don't want to) to a messy house.
3)Run back in the house at least three times to make sure my straightener is off.

I don't go on many vacations, but I travel for work quite a bit. I live with dogs and don't have close friends or family in the area so I have to take care of everything all by myself. I board the dogs with the kennel at the vet's office (the dogs are very old and while I could probably find a more bucolic place to board them, the vet always checks on the boarding animals for any problems. Since I board them regularly, the vet techs know the dogs and are very kind to them).

I do a hold mail online so I don't have to stand in line at the post office.

I always take out the trash and run the dishwasher (or make sure to hand wash any dirty dishes). I don't always have time to clean (other than trash and dishes). I do what I can as far as any other cleaning is concerned and I don't worry about it.

I make sure the bird feeders are full. I usually get a big block of seed instead of the regular loose seed and make sure there is plenty of suet on the suet feeder. I put extra water in the birdbath (when the food and water for the birds is gone they are on their own).

I keep a living room light on a timer year round. Sometimes I put a timer on a light upstairs.

I water all of my houseplants and position them as close to the windows as possible. Right before I leave, I position the blinds to a mostly closed position, but so that just enough light comes through for plants.

Sometimes I tell my landlord when I am away so he can do disruptive or major repairs.

Some of my neighbors are retired and keep an eye on things in the neighborhood. I usually don't explicitly tell them when I am leaving, but I suspect they know my regular patterns of coming and going and they do keep an eye on things.

On the way out the door, I make sure that the stove, computer (and any other unnecessary appliance) is off, the back door is locked, I reset the thermostat to an energy-saving temperature, turn the front porch light on (a compact fluorescent bulb) and lock the front door.

I can get most of these tasks done in a reasonably short amount of time.

No kids, No pets, No yard, No car, No plants.

I live in a secured building with an on-site manager, so I do ensure that the rent and bills are paid and I let the building manager know I'll be gone for whatever period of time.

Other than that - it's pack, clear out the fridge and take out the trash, make certain I have tickets and passport, call the taxi, lock the door, drag the luggage to the elevator and leave.

A good petsitter is a lifesaver. One time we had a huge leak, that would have caused very expensive repairs if left for even a few days. To me, it's worth the money to just have someone come daily to check on the health of the pets, and the condition of my house. She calls each day and leaves a voice mail telling me what's going on at the house and with the pets. Worth every penny.

We have a reliable pet sitter (professional) so if we are going to be gone more than just overnight, we set things up with her. (I suppose if called away on anemergency, we could call her remotely and she'd manage.) She has power of attorney for medical emergancies, and is authorized at the pet clinic to sign for us. (We later pay, naturally.)

If I take a trip but he stays home, it's all on him, of course!!

Things I plan for have mostly been mentioned: plant watering (pet sitter), mail (ditto, unless we have it held), yard maintenance (landscaper through homeowner's association, on a schedule), etc. Sometimes we set up spy cams on our computers to watch what the pets are up to and just in general to see if things appear to be normal, no smoke or whatever... (One piece of software was motion activated, recorded for later playback: it was hilarious to see our cats and house rabbits bopping by while we were thousands of miles away!)

But for a quick, unexpected trip, I'd just pack the best assortment of clothes I could pull together at the moment, and make sure I had my credit card/s and some cash to use to deal with unmet needs as they cropped up.

I'm meticulous, my husband isn't. If I'm traveling alone, I have more freedom to plan and prepare than if I'm preparing for both of us.

Either way,first thing-- I choose a purse and check that it has wallet, cash and coins, keys, cell phone, charger, pen/pencil and an old-fashioned address book. Plus a cereal bar or two.
I make up a first-aid/medicine kit in a ziploc bag.
Make sure my earthquake emergency box is prepared and recoverable (I'm in California:)).
If I'm flying, call a cab the night before and request it 1/2 hour before I need it (I don't have a car).

I try to prepare for the day and after I get back: make a list of things to do, keep clothes/food ready, etc. Do what folks up here have mentioned already: request mail held at Post office, pay bills, etc.

Then I pack. I usually pack for (number of days= number of bottoms) x 2 (tops, lingerie, socks, etc.). Layers. Extras for cold or wet or warm (I have Raynaud's and dread getting an attack unforeseen). Lay it all out in combinations and do battlefield triage.

Meanwhile, I back up my laptop onto 2 different external hard drives (I'm writing my dissertation, do a lot of creative work, and am paranoid about losing the slightest revision) and either leave one HD at my husband's office or carry it with me. The other stays at home.

I check that my valuable documents (e.g.passport) are locked away where I remember them, if I don't need them with me for international travel.

The day I leave, I do pretty much what the others have mentioned around the house: empty trash, run dishwasher, clean sink and bath, put food out for my birds, move plants to shade, turn off power and unplug precious electronics.

Finally, all the time until I fall asleep on bus/train/plane, I pray I haven't forgotten anything major (!).

I'm getting better at this :) , so I can do a short version of the process if I need to leave unexpectedly, or even for a day trip.

yelp, that was long!

A few weeks ago, I decided to take a trip to NY on Thursday night. I only had Friday afternoon to get it all together. For a Saturday morning flight (um, 5 am).

Since I have a roommate and no pets, I didn't have to worry about the apartment. Had to borrow a carry-on and camera from a neighbor, though! And ask a friend to drive me to the airport.

Since I was only staying until Monday afternoon, I used the same jeans, purse and jacket every day, and packed 2 versatile shirts, 1 pair of shoes, a pair of pj's and slippers.

My purse ended up weighing more than the carry on, as it had my makeup, a book, magazines, hair brush, notebook, pens, snacks, water bottle (bought at the airport), Kleenex, iPod, cellphone, camera, chargers, batteries, toiletries, wallet, ect.

Happily, this meant I had enough space in my carry-on for a bunch of souvenirs and the entire Sunday NY Times.

Oh, also: various OTC meds, underwear, old-fashioned style address book, and my keys of course.

It did rain on Monday, but the hotel provided cool old-fashioned umbrellas, though I didn't use them. It was Florida rain, you know? The sun's out, the rain's light...

Oh, and I have no kids or plants. I've just realized how easy traveling is for me! :)

Aside from a light cleaning up of the house and some standard packing, we:

1) Set up the timers on lamps

2) Run/empty the dishwasher

3) Clean out the fridge of anything that won't be edible when we get back. (We always order out the day we get back—it kinda extends our vacation just a little longer.)

4) Water all the plants, inside and outside the house

5) Make sure all the windows are locked

6) Change the AC temp so it's not running needlessly while we're gone

7) Shut off the water heater—big $ saver!

8) Unplug all appliances/electric stuff that don't need to be plugged in

9) Remove the sheets from the bed to let the mattress air out while we're gone

10) Give our alarm co. my sister's number as a temporary contact, just in case

11) Tell our good neighbor when we'll be gone so she can keep an eye on the house

12) Unplug the phone so there isn't endless ringing in case anyone calls. (We never use our home phone anyway.)

and this last one is AWESOME...

13) We sign up for our city's "House Watch" program, a free service that provides a daily check of our property while away.

That's "basically" it! Ha!

We have cats, so of course I make sure they have everything they need, plus I arrange for a friend to come in and give them canned food every other day if we're away longer than a weekend.

I like to make sure everything's picked up and put away before we go (the chaos of getting out the door with three kids...), because I hate to come home from a long travel day to a mess at home. I also try to change everyone's sheets the day we leave, because it's heaven to come home and sleep in a fresh bed.

If I was planning to be away, I'd probably give my mail box key to my mom and ask her to check it every other day or so - she lives less than ten minutes away. I'd also let the ladies in the apartment office know I'll be gone in case they want to do anything while I'm away. No children or pets to worry about.

Then I overpack - I know I do it but I can't help the what-ifs. So an extra pair of pretty much everything goes in plus a nice skirt just in case, plus some sweaters. I tend to carry a tiny sewing kit and a flashlight with me. Also within my luggage you'd be apt to find 2-3 books, the laptop and everything that you need for it, the Nintendo DS plus the charger plus games, a small travel pillow and blanket (I don't drive so I get to do the sleeping), my cell phone charger, etc.

I don't overclean, but I make sure anything that will perish is in the trash and the trash is out, the bed is made, the living room is straightened, etc. I tend to stick a little cash under the phone for ordering in some food once we get back since I never want to cook as soon as I'm home. Everything that doesn't need to be on gets turned off, I set the thermostat on a reasonable temp (don't want to come home to frozen pipes or to a furnace), and I make sure all windows and doors are locked.

Now if an emergency arose, I'd hurry to pack clothes and whatever else I'd have to have, get the trash out, at least make sure no lights are left on and the windows are locked, and I'd lock the doors as I left. The mail would just have to collect and I'd call certain people to let them know I'm gone.

I am leaving for vacation next Thursday (yay!) and have been doing the following:

Laundry
Consuming all fruit and vegetable perishables
Preparing 'frozen dinners' for my return
Cleaning the apartment

I have no pets or kids, so there isn't much to worry about.

-Put my Betta fish in a smaller bowl and tote him to work the day before I leave (if I'm gone more than 3-4 nights), as I have a Betta-loving coworker who feeds him for me.

-Take out the trash

-Turn off my alarm clock so my neighbors don't hate me -- the walls in my apartment building are THIN, my alarm's LOUD. :-)

-Start finishing off or freezing perishable foods the week before I go

-Unplug my modem and router -- I never leave anything else plugged in, so my unplug list is short.

-Make sure the coffee pot is cleaned out. I forgot this once and came home to a moldy coffee pot that never came fully clean again. Ew!

-Turn my thermostat up or down, depending on the season, so that I'm not wasting electricity

-Fully charge my cell phone so it doesn't die on the days I'm traveling to and from my destination.

-Put my mail on hold

-Give my plants a really good watering. I'm never out more than a week (though I wish I could be!!), and they're all indoor plants, so they do OK until I'm back.

-Make sure my parents have my hotel contact information and a general itinerary in case an emergency comes up and they can't reach my cell phone. For instance, I'll be vacationing in the middle of nowhere in a few weeks, and wireless coverage around there is quite sketchy if even existent.

One more: I make sure to run a backup on my cell phone contacts (service provided by my wireless carrier) so that I can access phone numbers online if need be.

As one who travels more than they stay home, I'm looking forward to having a list of anxieties like those above one day.

As it is, I stay packed and leave in about 10 minutes (just enough time to add any weather layers needed). An automatic irrigation system keeps things green while I'm gone from Florida, and my wonderful sister and law keeps an eye on my Oregon condo.

For a very long trip, I put houseplants in the tub, water thoroughly and cover with a dry cleaning bag. Makeshift greenhouse!

I've only had a two day notice for a trip to the Bahamas and I am leaving on Wednesday. Unfortunately, I just moved and everything is still in disarray (my bf is not an organizer like me so this is a one-woman show). Like the other commenters, I love coming home to a clean house. However, I have two male roommates so the chance of that happening is slim. At least I know my cat will be taken care of!

We usually go away within the UK so we just take the dog with us, or drop her at kennels on the way so:
Pack clothes, dog stuff, food from fridge etc etc
Hide laptop/jewellery if I'm not taking them (we got burgled once and it was those things that made me most upset)
Make sure the place is relatively tidy, dishwasher run etc
Tell neighbour we're away and ask her to water the garden in summer
Turn off hot water and heating if on
Put bins/recycling out for collection (came home to maggots in the garage one hot summer. NEVER AGAIN!)
Lock up
Run away :-)

Sounds pretty simple, but always takes me far longer than I think can ever be possible! I blame the dog :-)

It's important to make sure all of your gas and electrical appliances are unplugged, and that all of your lights are off. Fire damage repair can get really costly, and you lose all of your stuff--a major bummer!