Have you been on holiday and on your return you have found your treasured house plants looking in a sorry state due to lack of water? A solution I found to be helpful is to use a plastic bottle to act as a reservoir of water to help the plants to survive whilst you are on vacation.
Before you pack up and leave water and feed the plants well and leave in a cool place away from direct sunlight.
Now take a plastic bottle, preferably with a screw top used for drinks and not household products, drill a small hole through the centre of the end cap.
The next step is to fix a thin stick, secured by two elastic bands to the side of the bottle, this acts as an anchor point for fixing into the plant pot The fixing stick needs to protrude about two inches at the screw cap end of the bottle.
Fill the plastic bottle with water; you can add a little liquid fertiliser to help with the plants well being at this stage.
Screw back on the end cap and place your finger over the end cap hole, this will stop the water mix from pouring out whilst you place the bottle reservoir gently into the plants compost...
Secure the bottle reservoir by pressing the attached stick gently into the pots compost.
When you return from vacation you should have a healthy plant the life saving bottle will gradually feed and water the plants.
This method I have used for a number of years and it saves bothering neighbours in having the key to come and water the plants a chore that is not their problem.
The same method can be used in flower beds for those water hungry plants and vegetables.