Before you leave on vacation, book the pet sitter, hold the mail, tell your bank you’re traveling, eat down the fridge, pack early, and lock up the house. The trick is spreading it out over three weeks instead of cramming it into the last night. Use our free checklist below to track it all.
Alice’s Pick
Ring Camera
See who’s at your door from anywhere, right on your phone. Check on the house from the beach, talk to the delivery driver, and get an alert if anyone’s poking around.
Here’s the part nobody tells first-time trip planners: good vacation prep happens over weeks, not the night before.
- Cramming it into 48 hours is how you forget things and start the trip exhausted
- Small pieces over a few weeks is the difference between dreading a trip and enjoying it
- You don’t have to do every item perfectly. The list is there so nothing falls through the cracks
The checklist saves on your phone, so check things off as you go. Add your own items, delete the ones that don’t fit your trip, and tap the buttons to grab what you need. When you’re home, hit reset and it’s ready for the next trip.
What Should You Do 3 Weeks Before Vacation?
Three weeks before vacation, take care of anything that needs time: the pet sitter, the bank, the car, and slowly stocking up. Doing these early is what makes the last few days easy.
- Book the pet sitter. Good ones get booked early, especially around holidays. Even a friend deserves to be paid, since it’s their gas, their time, and their car
- Stock up on pet food, litter, and supplies. Buy more than you need. If the sitter makes a mistake or you get home late, you’re covered, and nobody has to make a pet store run the day you get back
- Shop for snacks a little at a time. Grab shelf-stable stuff on your regular grocery runs and skip one giant pre-trip shopping trip
- Start eating down the fridge and pantry. Bread, milk, eggs, and fruit won’t survive the trip. Eat them now, so there’s no rotting milk surprise when you get home
- Clean the car and add Rain-X to the windshield. Most people remember Rain-X in the middle of a downpour. Don’t be most people
- Check your car insurance for towing and roadside help. A breakdown at 9 PM, far from home, with kids in the back seat, is a lot less scary with a tow truck on call
- Tell your bank and credit cards you’re traveling. Most banks let you do it in the app in under a minute, and it keeps your card from getting frozen
- Save every address in your map app. Hotel, grocery stores, attractions, and gas stops, so you’re not typing while merging onto a highway. Following one of our trips? Skip this and print the stop cards. Scan the QR code on each card for directions.
- Put a hold on your mail. The post office can hold it for up to 30 days
What Should You Do 2 Weeks Before Vacation?
Two weeks out, start pulling things together and protecting the house.
- Pull out swimsuits and pool stuff into one pile. Then your favorite swimsuit isn’t stuck in the laundry the day before
- Confirm the pet sitter details. Do a walkthrough or a call, and write down feeding times, meds, vet info, and your emergency contact. Sitters are amazing, but they’re not mind readers
- Stop ordering packages. Boxes piling up on the porch tell the wrong people nobody’s home
- Get cash in small bills. Most things take cards, but road trips are full of cash moments: a diner tip, a farm stand, a flea market, a parking meter, or a little trip money tucked in a kid’s pocket
- Ask a neighbor to keep an eye on the house
What Should You Do 1 Week Before Vacation?
One week before vacation, pack your clothes and handle the paperwork. Packing this early gives you time to fix whatever you forgot.
- Pack your clothes. Yes, a full week early. If your favorite shirt is in the wash or you need new shorts, you still have time. Packing the night before is how you forget your kid’s swim trunks
- Print tickets and write down app passwords. A dead phone shouldn’t lock you out of your own reservations
- Make sure everyone’s IDs are accounted for
- Pay any bills due while you’re gone. No coming home to late fees
- Check the propane tank if you have one. Running out while you’re gone in winter can mean frozen pipes, and you don’t want to be calling for an emergency fill from a beach
- Set your work out-of-office reply. Say you’re out, not where you’re going
- Give someone your itinerary. A friend or family member should have your hotel name and phone numbers in case something goes wrong
What Should You Do the Day Before Vacation?
The day or two before you leave is for loading the car and closing down the house.
- Pre-portion snacks into bags. Each bag is one snack stop. No fighting over the last handful. Got the vacuum sealer we use? You can do this 3–5 days ahead. It keeps apples white and crisp in the fridge for at least a month, though we don’t recommend snacking that far ahead!
- Bake cookies for the road. It feels like the trip is starting early, and they beat gas station snacks
- Make extra ice for the cooler. Bagged ice melts fast, because all those little cubes have more surface area to warm up. Big blocks melt much slower, so you need less ice and it lasts longer, even in a cheap cooler. Freeze your own before you leave, and here’s our big ice trick if you want the whole setup.
- Pack the car with things that can handle heat or cold. Suitcases, beach gear, towels, and books can go in the night before. Save food, drinks, toiletries, makeup, and anything battery-powered for the morning
- Set the thermostat to vacation mode. A little warmer in summer to save money, just warm enough to protect the pipes in winter
- Lock up valuables. Jewelry, cash, and important papers go in a safe or somewhere not obvious
- Leave a room light on. Pick one that isn’t facing a window, so it looks like someone might be home without showing off an empty living room
- Turn the TV on for pets staying home. Background noise keeps them company
- Charge everything. Phones, tablets, headphones, and power banks
Leaving in the middle of the night? Do all of this before bed, not at 4 AM on no sleep.
What Should You Do the Day You Leave?
- Pack the cold and fresh stuff last
- Bring cash, including enough to get home in an emergency
- Bring at least 2 cards. A friend of mine went on a trip with one card, didn’t tell her bank, and the bank locked it. She couldn’t unlock it over the phone, so I booked her hotel rooms from home. Plan for problems, and they’re just Plan B with a smile
- Download music, podcasts, and audiobooks. Don’t count on hotel Wi-Fi or gas station signal
- Grab the car games. They keep kids off devices for at least part of the drive
- Pack a night bag for each person. For overnight stops: toothbrush, pajamas, and tomorrow’s clothes. No hauling every suitcase into the hotel for one night
- Wait to post trip photos until you’re home. “We made it!” in real time tells the world your house is empty
How Do You Make Your House Look Lived-In While You’re Away?
The goal is a house that looks like someone might be home. Most of this costs nothing.
- Hold the mail and stop packages, so nothing piles up out front
- Leave a room light on or set lights on timers, using a room that doesn’t show off the inside through a window
- Ask a neighbor to keep an eye out, and grab any flyers off the door
- Bring in any spare key hidden outside
- Stay quiet on social media until you’re home
How Do You Get Your Car Ready for a Road Trip?
The Car Check tab in the checklist covers it. It takes about five minutes in the driveway.
- Tires, including the spare
- Oil and washer fluid
- Lights and wipers
- AC or heat
- Registration and insurance card in the glove box
- Emergency kit, jumper box, and a flashlight
I’ve driven over a million miles and never been in a wreck (knock on wood), but I always plan for one anyway. The point isn’t expecting disaster. It’s keeping disaster from owning your trip. Our best car emergency kit has the stuff that’s actually saved us on long trips.
How Do You Make Coming Home Easier?
Coming home is part of the trip. A little prep before you leave keeps the last day from feeling like work.
- Plan an easy dinner for the night you get home. Freeze a meal or stock the pantry. Nobody wants to grocery shop after a long drive
- Have extra pet supplies waiting, so the first stop isn’t the pet store
- Leave the fridge clean. Fill the empty space with water bottles, since a full fridge stays cold longer if the power goes out
- Empty the trash and run the dishwasher before you go. Your house will thank you
FAQ
Before leaving on vacation, book the pet sitter, hold your mail, tell your bank you’re traveling, pay upcoming bills, and eat down the food in your fridge. The day before, charge everything, empty the trash, set the thermostat, and leave a light on. Spread it over three weeks so nothing gets missed.
Start about three weeks before you leave. That gives you time to book a pet sitter, get the car serviced, and stock up slowly. Pack your clothes a week early, so you have time to fix anything you forgot. Leave only the last-minute items for the day before and the day you go.
Make the house look lived-in. Put a hold on your mail, stop ordering packages, and leave a light on or set lights on timers. Ask a neighbor to keep an eye out, bring in any hidden spare key, and wait to post trip photos until you’re home.
Eat down anything that will spoil in the weeks before you leave, like milk, bread, eggs, and fruit. Clean out what’s left the day before. Fill empty space with water bottles, since a full fridge stays cold longer if the power goes out.
Yes, unplug small appliances and electronics you won’t need while you’re gone, like the coffee maker, toaster, and TVs. It saves a little power and protects them from power surges. Leave the fridge plugged in, and anything on a light timer.
More Free Road Trip Tools
- Splitting costs with friends? Use our free Trip Split Calculator.
- Planning the route? Try the Road Trip Itinerary Planner.
- Need something for the kids in the car? Play our free car games for road trips.
- Still packing? Check the ultimate packing list.
Why It’s All Free
Everything here at Road Trip Owl is free. No emails, no sign-ups, no pop-ups, and no making things harder so we can sell you something later. We believe that good, easy-to-find information is what brings people back, not an inbox full of emails begging for clicks.
About the Author
Hi, I’m Alice. I’ve been running Road Trip Owl since 2021 and take 6+ multi-day road trips a year (plus more weekend escapes than I can count). I’ve driven over a million miles, and this checklist is the prep that gets us out the door without forgetting the swim trunks. Honest, helpful information takes just as much time to write as bad information, and I’m already doing the research for our own trips, so I might as well share it to help you.
