Best 15 Home Security Tips
Best Tips To Keep Your Home Secure
When a burglar breaks into your house, not only can you lose valuables, but your family’s sense of safety is shaken. Ensuring your home is secure is an important step in keeping your valuables and family safe. Good home security is vital.
Home security is something that concerns many of us, and it’s a real threat. In 2010, for example, there were over 300,000 home burglaries in Australia. Items that get stolen the most frequently include cash, laptops, jewelry, cameras, and cell phones. Of the houses burglarized, 20% were robbed again!
So what can you do to protect yourself, your home, and your family?
An ounce of prevention is worth of pound of cure!
15 Best Home Security Tips
Here are 15 easy ways you can secure your home and find peace of mind:
Lock your doors
Keep all your doors (and windows) locked, even when you are at home. Many times, thieves are looking for an opportunity, so don’t give them one with an easily opened door or window. Let’s not make it that easy for them. It is the easiest but still the number one home security tip.
Hide evidence of valuables
Don’t show-off your shopping spree– be discreet when you are disposing of the boxes of new electronics. A pile of Tv packaging out at the curb shows everyone what is expensive and inside your home. With this in mind, you’ll also want to keep valuables away from easy view through your windows, and arrange your furnishings accordingly.
Keep your spare key in a secure place
Everyone knows the space-key-under-the-doormat trick. Find a safer place to stash your extra key. If you don’t have a spare key, contact your local locksmith to have a spare set cut.
Upgrade your doors and locks
There are simple steps you can take to further secure your doors. You can easily add features like peepholes, and deadbolts, to your door. Just ask a locksmith.
Adjust your landscaping
Make sure any shrubs you have beside your house are well-maintained. This way, you’ll make sure there isn’t a good hiding place for a burglar. Keep any bushes trimmed, and consider varieties with thorns.
Use outdoor lights
Having a well-lit yard is essential for home security. It can help discourage burglars, and it just takes a few lights with motion-sensors. It’s much easier to approach a house in the darkness, and motion-sensor lighting is a great deterrent.
Meet your neighbors
Neighbors can help with everything from reporting unusual activity when you are out of town, to spotting a prowler outside your house, and more. It definitely helps if your neighbors know you and your habits.
Keep quiet on social media
It’s so much fun to post to social media all about the vacation you have coming up. However, it’s better to wait until after your vacation is over before you share that information with the world. There have been burglary cases where homes have been targeted because a thief saw that the homeowner was going to be traveling.
Install an alarm system… and use it
Having an alarm system in your home can be a great security measure, but many alarm system customers get complacent and turn it off. If you’re going to have an alarm system, you might as well use it!
Prepare your home for vacation
Before you leave town on a trip, stoping your mail is very important for home security. A full mailbox is a dead giveaway that you’re out of town, and shows thieves that your house is empty. It’s also a good idea to let your neighbors know about your trip, and ask them to keep an eye on your house as well.
New house needs new locks
One of the first things you should do upon moving into your new house is to call your locksmith and get the locks changed. It’s a simple precaution, but it’s easy to take. You just don’t know who has a copy of the old key.
Put your tools away
Did you do gardening and leave your tools around your yard? Do you leave a ladder lying around for when you clean the gutters? Put these things away, as thieves have been known to make use of these items when breaking into homes.
Strengthen your windows
Installing security film can make your windows shatterproof, and deter a would-be thief. You can also secure your windows to make sure a cracked window can’t be pushed open further.
Keep your garage door closed
Many break-ins occur through open or unlocked garage doors, but even keeping your garage door open while you’re home is a bad idea. That lets anyone scope out what’s inside your house and garage. Don’t advertise your stuff!
Put lights on a timer
Whether you are leaving town or not, it’s helpful to have your lights on a timer. This way, it can appear as if someone is home, even if you are just working late!
Wrap Up
While no method is fool-proof, taking these steps to protect your home will decrease the chances of a break-in. A final word of advice? Tighten up the security. Remain vigilant and aware, without high anxiety. Once you have taken the Best Home Security Tips steps you’ll be able to rest easy.
