Snowbird Departure Guide
Departure Checklist
How to Leave Your Home
Focus on packing your bags and enjoying your trip. Just handle these few personal items, and Arizona House Watch will take care of the heavy lifting to lock down your home for the summer.
What We Need YOU to Do Before You Leave:
☐
Provide the Buckets: Please leave one empty 5-gallon bucket in each main room and bedroom, plus two empty 1-gallon buckets in the kitchen/laundry area. Leave them empty — we will fill and place them.
☐
Clear Perishables: Remove all perishable food from the refrigerator, freezer, and pantry.
☐
Take Out Personal Trash: Empty your interior trash cans into the main bins.
☐
Cover Your Furniture (Recommended): To protect against UV bleaching and dust, we highly recommend draping bedsheets or dust covers over your couches, beds, and dining chairs.
☐
LEAVE THE WATER ON: Please do not shut off your main water valve! We need the water on to do our final flushes and fill your evaporation buckets.
☐
Provide Access: Ensure we have your current gate codes, garage keypad codes, and that the physical key is in the lockbox.
☐
Patio Furniture: Remove outdoor cushions, umbrellas, and lightweight patio furniture so they don’t get damaged by monsoons. If you’d prefer, we offer a Patio Lockdown & Setup service and can handle this for you — just ask about adding it to your seasonal shutdown and reopening ($25–$75 per event).
☐
Provide Extra Batteries: Leave a supply of replacement batteries for smoke detectors, thermostats, and any other battery-powered devices in a labeled bag or drawer.
☐
Unplug Electronics: Unplug easy-to-reach electronics in the house and garage (TVs, computers, chargers) to protect against monsoon lightning surges. If there’s heavy furniture blocking an outlet or something you don’t mind leaving plugged in, just let us know — we’re happy to help with anything accessible.
That’s it! We’ll handle everything else from here — the full lockdown, climate settings, humidity prep, and your first photo report confirming your home is sealed up tight.