Home sweet home. It’s our haven and our protective shelter from the dangers of the outside world. Or is it?
Our too-trusting selves caused 30% of all burglaries to happen in the shape of an intruder simply walking through an unlocked door. This is an approximation of 750,000 homes or so. Those are a lot of lost money and mental trauma that could have been avoided by just locking your front door.
Whether you’ve just got a new home, or you’ve owned your home for decades, maybe it’s time to either install new security protocols or even update your old ones. Keep on reading to learn our top seven ways you can sleep soundly at night, knowing that your home is safe and secure.
1. A Safe and Secure Haven 101: Lock Your Doors and Windows
Sure, this one sounds obvious. Yet, the statistics show that a lot of people don’t take it as seriously as they should.
Generally speaking, burglars will want to target homes that are easy and quick to break into. The whole premise of their crime is getting in and out of a house unnoticed. Therefore, the longer it takes them to break into a house, the higher the risk of someone noticing something fishy.
It’s as simple as locking your doors and windows at all times of the day and night. It’s an easy and free way to sharply cut down on the opportunity of thieves entertaining the thought of making your home their next target.
2. Let There Be Light
Building on the same notion of burglars wanting to avoid the spotlight, literally, you’ll want to make sure that your landscape and outdoor areas are well-lit.
Put up lights around your pathways, your front and back yards, as well as near your garage and other spots. It’s not only a great way to add to your home’s security, but also a simple strategy for preventing trips or stumbles on your front steps.
You can use one of the following tools:
- Outdoor lights with a timer;
- Using solar-powered lights to save energy;
- Adding motion-activated lights
Simple, yet, quite effective at scaring thieves away from your property.
3. Lock up Your Garage
Speaking of entry points, your garage is a big one.
You’d think that breaking into a garage wouldn’t be worth it, especially if they won’t be able to access your house anyway. Yet, some thieves will take off with the stuff you have stored in the garage and call it a day.
That’s why you’ll want to make it a habit to lock all doors to your garage, whether the interior or exterior doors. Besides, you can set up a gate installation service to help you shut these doors automatically.
Moreover, you might want to keep your garage opener key in the house properly. This way, a thief would;t be able to grab it out of your car if they’ve already been successful at breaking in.
4. Install a Security System
Regardless of your budget, there will be a home security system that would suit your needs.
You can go for a basic DIY system or go full-throttle with a system that has home automation capabilities, and professional monitoring. Of course, the higher the level of protection, the more costly the system would be.
To make the right choice, you’ll want to evaluate your actual needs, specifically your house and neighborhood. Make sure to start with researching your neighborhood crime statistics, as well as doing a home security evaluation of your home before making your final selection.
5. Strategically Trim Your Shrubbery
It might sound a bit silly, but you’d be surprised to learn that unkempt shrubs and high bushes are great hiding places for thieves, especially during their information-gathering process about your home’s security.
You’ll want to keep your shrubs and greenery trimmed, so they can’t be misused.
On the other hand, you might actually be a fan of tall shrubs like the Rose of Sharons. You can still have them as part of your shrubbery, just make sure that they’re not placed under your windows.
Besides, you might actually want to use short and thorny shrubs to your advantage. You can always put them underneath your windows for some karmic pain, which will make it more difficult for thieves to break in.
6. Cultivate Your Relationships With Your Neighbors
What better form of security than the nosy lady next door?
Seriously speaking though, you’ll want to get to know your neighbors and nurture a trusting relationship with them. It’s a mutually beneficial system, as you can keep them in the loop when it comes to your general schedule, so they’ll know when you’re going on vacation.
If they have a different schedule than yours, it’ll be the perfect security system, as they can always alert you to any suspicious activity that might happen when you’re away.
7. Don’t Advertise Your Location on Social Media
Sure, we all want to share all of the cute pictures that we took on vacation. However, maybe you’ll want to wait until you’re home before posting all about your vacation on social media.
when you post about your vacation, and even worse, tag your location while you’re still away, you’re basically signaling to opportunistic burglars that you’re not home, which creates an opportunity for thieves to rob you.
You’d be surprised at the number of burglaries that occur due to the misuse of social media. Almost 60% of burglary victims reported that they were active on social medial daily and posted about being away from home.
Ready to Turn Your Home Into Fort Knox?
Well, as secure as Fort Knox, but hopefully not as unwelcoming.
We know how overwhelming it can be for homeowners to update or install home security protocols for the first time. However, we hope that our guide was enough to shed some light on the simplest of ways you can make your home safe and secure.
Start by implementing our seven tips, then feel free to tweak them or add other protocols as time goes by. It’ll depend on your specific needs and your budget.
