Your home is your sanctuary and you need to seriously think about how your house is protected. According to the FBI, 50% of burglaries occur during the day while the occupants are at work.
In this guide, we will show 7 easy and affordable ways to increase the protection level of your home. So, whether you’re going to your job site or taking a vacation, follow these doable security tips to improve the security of your house.
7 Easy and Affordable Ways to Protect your House
1. Lock everything up
Before you leave the house, make sure that all the windows and doors are locked. Many times the burglars go inside without breaking anything, just by finding an unlocked entry point. So, do a quick check of the locks.
If you’re renting the place or the business facility, it’s recommended to update your locks since the previous tenants may still have the keys. Other things you may consider: install locks from reliable manufacturers; if using smart locks, update their software regularly.
2. Make CCTV Security Cameras Visible
Security cameras are a great deterrent factor that provide extra safety for your house. Apart from recording, the camera’s presence will scare off any wanna-be intruder. For that reason, it’s important to make your cameras as visible as possible.
Think about it, someone casing the area is less likely to strike a house with visible and numerous security cameras. They’ll definitely think twice and most likely move on to a different target that lacks security cameras.
If you want something less invasive, then you can combine visible and hidden cameras to achieve the security that you intend. Additionally, you may use the large fake camera to further deter the bad guys.
Keep Up Appearances such as Landscaping and much More
Sometimes protecting your house involves keeping your landscape properly. You need to inspect the perimeter and manicuring your landscape can help deter burglars by eliminating hiding spots behind trees, bushes, or overgrown hedges.
Furthermore, if the landscape is not taken care of and it looks overgrown, burglaries are led to believe that residents are not home frequently, hence they’ll target the home for an easy break-in.
Generally speaking, keeping up appearances that indicate that someone is home can deter possible intruders. Check the following safety tips that increase your home security.
- Take the trash out: it’s a common telltale that someone is out; if you put the trash out they’ll know that there are occupants in the home. If you go on a longer trip, ask your neighbor to put the trash out just to keep up appearances.
- Check the mail regularly: If the mailbox is visible to anyone, make sure the mail doesn’t pile up. If someone sees that, they’ll assume no one is home to check the mailbox. If you’re going on a vacation, ask your neighbor to collect your mail periodically; or you can ask the Post Office to hold your mail.
- Keep the driveway occupied: sometimes the lack of cars in the driveway is a signal that the house is not occupied. Burglars can scan the area and if they notice no cars on the driveway for a week, they may assume that the house is momentarily uninhabited. To create the appearance that someone lives there, you may ask your neighbor to park the car on your driveway until you’re back from vacation.
4. Use Lights
Lights are an added home security feature, especially the external lights that get triggered by motion detection or heat. When some approaches close enough, the lights turn on and make the house less attractive for an intruder. So, install external lights to the access points.
Additionally, you can deploy automated lighting or even add smart lights (indoor/outdoor) and turn them on and off from your smartphone to give the appearance that someone is currently home.
5. Collaborate with your Neighbors
It’s good to be close with your neighbors. When you go traveling for a long time, you can ask your neighbors to keep an eye on the house and to collect the mail.
Nowadays, many neighborhoods have online communities such as NextDoor that can increase the overall security of your house. Additionally, you can stay up to date with events going on and team up with your neighbors.
6. Invest in a Safe Box
Buy a safe box and store there any valuable items such as jewelry, cash, watches, etc. It’s definitely worth the purchase if you own such expensive items.
Additionally, keep other items such as car keys, home keys, phones, wallets away from the windows or the main door. At least, make sure they can’t see them from outside, otherwise, they may get tempted to break-in.
7. Don’t share your travel plans on social media
Many people are careless and share all their everyday life on social media, where they are eating, where they are going and for how long, and so on. Imagine a burglar scanning the social media and finding out that you’ll be gone.
By sharing too much on social media, you’re inviting potential intruders to stop by for a quick visit. So, be careful and limit your posts on social media, especially if you plan to travel away for a long time.
