Not that much money--stop off three times----twice with family and once for a short motel (by the week) stay. Womb to tomb, including travel time, is only about 3 weeks but still better than nothing. I've looked into the "freeze alarm" systems but there are a couple of drawbacks with the ones that I've seen. They don't work too well, compatibility wise, if you have a telephone/answering system in place. And you need someone trustworthy who will take on the responsibility of coming into the home, be willing to arrange for a service call, hang around for the service tech (the company I have my contract with will only give a 6 hour window) and then hang around to oversee the process. All my family lives too far away or out of state to be able to perform this function. I do have someone who makes a quick house check about once a week. I also take some simple preventative measures--shut off main water valve, open faucets and let the water drain, put RV antifreeze in all the fixtures and traps ----Primarily, I just keep my fingers crossed that the system performs troublefree for a few weeks. MLD