Yes, you can always stop newspaper deliveries and suspend your postal service or simply temporarily forward your mail.

But there are some other simple things you can do that most of us don’t think about.

First, put a cup of water in the freezer. When it freezes, put a small coin on top of the ice in the cup.

When you return home, if the coin is frozen at the bottom of the cup, it means you’ve had a power failure during your trip.

Want to know if anyone has been in your home while you were gone? Just place two cookies (yes, you heard that right) underneath an inside doormat. And if someone was there, the cookies will be broken.