<p>We’re going to be Florida snowbirds for one month in February for the first time - renting a house and taking the cat. We’ll be driving down from Illinois. We both telecommute so are bringing laptops. I’ve already thought of:</p>
<p>Call the vet for advice on traveling with the cat.
Call the plumber for advice on draining the pipes (we’ve had several burst pipes over the years).
Already got the pet sitter to housesit once a week - water plants, send us first class mail.
Turn down heat and hot water heater.
Stop the paper.
Fill any prescriptions.
Bring all normal monthly paperwork and checkbooks to pay bills.
Notify the neighbors and local police.
Park the left-behind cars with the hoods facing out to make it easier to jumpstart when we get back.</p>
<p>Not sure about:
Checking with phone company about forwarding calls - maybe just call home phones for messages.
Turning off cable to save one month cost - worried about something going wrong with getting it turned back on.</p>
<p>So what have I not thought of yet? I know one neighbor loves snowblowing and will almost certainly do our sidewalks without us asking. Any tips on leaving a house behind or settling into the rental? Thanks!</p>
<p>Not sure about:
Checking with phone company about forwarding calls - maybe just call home phones for messages.</p>
<h2>Turning off cable to save one month cost - worried about something going wrong with getting it turned back on.</h2>
<p>My elderly parents have been four-month per year snowbirds for years and years, and my tiny two cents worth on the questions above – they have turned off their cable for the four months. However, for only one month, the cost savings hardly seem worth the hassle you’ll have getting cable turned off and on. They leave their phone on, no forwarding; they just call home for messages.<br>
The lived-in look is important, so I would suggest arranging for snowblowing of the driveway and sidewalks, and also suggest turning on some lamps on timers.</p>
<p>Ask for referrals for a vet and, well, people doctor. Mapquest those and other locations you will need to be able to find quickly (grocery store, drug store, urgent care clinic, etc.) Before each move, I put all of those sets of directions in a binder with a map of the city. I study it a few times to get a general feel of the layout. These days you can even look up different types of restaurants and read the reviews. It’s so handy. </p>
<p>My binder makes landing in a new town so much easier than just relying on the phone book and mapquest once I arrive. </p>
<p>You need internet banking to pay bills. I rarely use checks now.</p>
<p>I am not sure if I would tell too many people you’ll be away, including your neighbor. We live in very safe neighborhood and we go away few weeks at a time, I am always reluctant to let people know that we are away.</p>
<p>Mail forwarding.
Timers for the lights.
I second Internet Banking. Best thing that ever happened.
Bring Garmin, you can find shops, banks,pharmacies, ATMs, restaurants anything you need in a new area along the way of your travels.</p>
<p>Thanks all! We do use Internet banking for some bills, but others don’t accept it or have a service fee more than the price of a stamp. We did recently acquire a Garmin and expect it to be very useful. Just for fun we took a Google street view walk around the block and satellite view review of the area so found the closest drugstore, restaurants, and groceries. I’ve already been on TripAdvisor researching restaurants! Oh - just realized I’d better look up the closest post office. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of printouts and will set up my usual vacation folder.</p>
<p>I will ask our vet about local vets; good idea. DH has relatives about half an hour away from the rental so hopefully we could ask them if we need a doctor; but just in case I may check my health insurance web site to see what’s close by.</p>
<p>We’ve had the same neighbors on one side since we moved here 22 years ago and they would definitely notice we’re away; our driveways are side-by-side. They’re always alert to suspicious behavior so would notice anything awry.</p>
<p>Good idea also to bring our favorite kitchen tools.</p>
<p>Be sure your neighbor friends have a key to your house and the phone numbers where you can be reached in case of an emergency, including your relatives near your vacation spot. Ask your neighbors to walk through the house 1-2 times per week to check that everything is OK. Hot water heaters or toilets can spring a leak and cause a huge amount of damage if not addressed. (Toilet malfunction happened to my former boss and her D found it when she came to feed their cat.)</p>
<p>I think you do need to let a trusted neighbor know your whereabouts if you will be gone more than one night or so. Things happen.</p>
<p>Make sure to have some stain remover on hand at the rental. Pet stains, wine stains, and whatever, you are going to want to attack them as soon as they happen. Nothing like spilling red wine late at night…</p>
<p>You need to hide a key outside of the house or give it to a trusted neighbor just in case you need to have someone enter the house.</p>
<p>Chances are the only time the cat gets in the car is to go the the vet. The cat probably has an aversion to getting in the car. It is time to get the cat used to being in the car. Take a few very short trips and at the end be sure the cat gets a favorite treat. It won’t take long for the cat to settle down.</p>
<p>How did you find a rental for only one month? I’m very interested in this for my parents - to give them the chance to get out of the cold NE and see if they would like to relocate to FL.</p>
<p>We’ll be in Deerfield Beach; relatives are in the North Miami area. We’ve vacationed on both coasts.</p>
<p>We found this rental through VRBO but it wasn’t easy starting so late, especially since we needed internet and cats allowed, and preferred a house to a condo. In fact, this listing was a cancellation and didn’t have the paw print symbol, but it didn’t specifically say “no pets allowed” so I tried and luckily he’s willing to let us bring the cat with a damage deposit.</p>
<p>I also tried Corporatehousingbyowner in addition to VRBO. I spent many hours checking almost every town on both coasts all the way up to Tampa on the gulf and Jupiter on the Atlantic. Altogether I sent out about 15 inquiries and got back a half dozen replies that there was no availability. This included both places that showed Feb open, and others that said to check with owner. We lost out on one place to a Florida Marlin coming for spring training! So far I haven’t heard back from ther rest of the places, which I guess is typical.</p>
<p>Our pet/house sitter has a key and will be there once a week; although we’re friendly with our neighbors it’s more the “over-the-fence” instead of “come in for coffee”.</p>
<p>The cat has taken one non-vet trip for 90 minutes each way and didn’t seem to have a problem traveling. She doesn’t freak out in the car going to the vet, just lays down in her carrier and complains. So I’m hoping she’ll tolerate this trip.</p>
<p>I actually wanted to be a snowbird in California, not Florida, but the thought of driving there from Illinois in the middle of winter was a bit much. Stranded in the Rockies with a mad cat…:eek:</p>
<p>I know this a broadening of the topic, but I’m in the same boat as michone. My mother (VA resident) has expressed interest in starting to spend winters in someplace like Florida, but has no particular connection to that state and we’re not sure how to even begin to start the search. She’s mostly looking for a place that has grocery/restaurants within walking distance. Short-term rental at a retirement community would be ideal, but I hear there are more than a few of them down there!</p>
<p>My neighbor, an antique dealer who’s always on the road headed to an auction, has her phone set up so that all calls that come to her home (land line) number are automatically forwarded to her cell phone. She has Verizon cell ph. service</p>
<p>I’m the OP and we are in Naples right now - the Deerfield Beach place didn’t work out. We rented via VRBO and had planned on a month until DH got the kidney stone (but that’s another thread). We’re in an attached villa/townhouse in sort of a golf community (the holes seem very short). We did walk to a Publix the other day - about 15 minutes away. There are also restaurants in the same mall as the grocery. We had a lot of limitations (DH didn’t want an elevator building) so choices were somewhat limited. </p>
<p>To see which communities might be interesting, I would suggest reading through Trip Advisor forums in various towns to get a flavor of the areas.</p>
<p>I did google map the house once we knew the address to see what kinds of services were nearby. There does seem to be a lot to do in Naples - we went into town for Mardi Gras with street entertainment - all retirees and enjoying it!</p>
<p>Oh - and about that vet issue - I noticed a Cat Care Clinic near by and our cat just wouldn’t eat on the drive down or when we got here. So we ended up seeing the vet and she was just wonderful - but Tabby still has almost no appetite; I’m feeding her senior invalid pet food via syringe.</p>
<p>So here we are for just 2 1/2 weeks - and when is it going to get warm?! Probably as soon as we leave…:(</p>