Are you looking for great and easy home security tips for protecting your loved ones, house, and possessions? You’ve clicked on the perfect article!
The best way to identify weaknesses in your home security and protect your house from home invasion is to try and think like a burglar! If you aren’t ready to invest in complicated security systems but still want to improve the security of your home, here are some solutions that you can use to make your home a safer place.
What are the safety rules at home?
Here are the basics: Every homeowner needs to follow some essential rules if they want their home to be safe.
Double-Check Everything Is Locked
Before going anywhere, make sure that all the doors and windows are locked in your house. Locks are one of the most primary and straightforward defenses against home invasion, and yet, according to a study from 2019, 25% of homeowners leave their doors unlocked. One burglary occurs every 30 seconds, make sure you don’t make it easy for them.
Befriend Your Neighbors
Welcome to one of our home safety tips that will motivate you to make friends and keep your house safe! Many house burglaries are detected due to neighbors’ suspicions, making them the best free security option. Having people look out for each other in your neighborhood makes everyone feel safer and is an excellent source of theft prevention.
Be Mindful of Who Enters Your Home
Being mindful of those coming into your house is among the top 10 home security tips experts give to homeowners. Granted, it’s not always possible to disallow strangers into your home, with specific services needing to be provided. Instead of just simply trusting companies, it’s important to use services that adequately vet their employees to prevent suspicious workers from gaining access to the house.
Today, you can easily check reviews and recommendations online about home services while still taking home security measures when somebody you don’t know comes around.
For instance, show them directly to the place they need to be, and stay with them to ensure they don’t look through the house. Notice if they are acting suspicious or if they make you feel uncomfortable. Avoid taking them to rooms where you keep your valuables and be discreet about the information you share about your home and yourself.
Invest in a Home Security System
This one is a no-brainer! If you’ve been asking yourself how to protect your home efficiently, investing in a home security system is a must. When experts asked burglars what keeps them away from a house, all mentioned security alarms and cameras as a considerable deterrent.
Installing a security system, as well as sensor-automated lights in any poorly lit areas of your yard will significantly decrease the chance that your house will be seen as an easy target. Many security systems come with smart home features, allowing you to check your house and turn alarms on and off using your phone or tablet.
Update Your Door
If you keep typing “how can I secure my home without an alarm?” because you don’t want to invest in the alarm system just yet, there are still ways to keep your home safe. Check all of the doors and windows in your house. If they are outdated and old, replace them with new, heavier models. One indicator burglars saw for an easy break-in was that the doors and windows were poor quality or not very strong. As such, installing deadbolt locks also increases security without installing a modern system.
Home Safety Tips for When You Are Going Away
Are you planning on being away from your home and want to know what you can do to ensure your home is safe? The best tips for preparing your house when going on vacation involve making sure that it looks like you are still at home. Some of the biggest deterrents burglars mention about selecting a house to steal from is whether lights are on, if it seems like someone is home, or a car is in the driveway.
Make Sure Your Lights Are On
Houses that have no lights on are a clear indicator that homeowners are away. If you don’t want to invest in professional security systems, but you still want to keep your property safe, leaving external lights on and even a few inside when you go out will help make it appear that someone is home. Well-lit and maintained yards are a great way to keep people from targeting your house, as the risk of being seen and caught is much more likely.
Buy a Timer
The ultimate simple home security device for when you are away is a light timer. This device allows you to program your lights to turn on and off automatically at specific times. This way, you can create the appearance that you are still at home without racking up a huge electricity bill. Keep in mind not to place them too close to ground-level windows, as thieves might be checking for these devices.
Have Someone Pick Up Your Mail
Preventing piled-up mail on your doorstep is one of the standard home security tips that everyone mentions. Make sure you avoid this clear sign that you have gone out of town by asking a neighbor or friend to drop by and pick up your mail or suspend your subscriptions until you get back. This is also a good way to prevent mail theft.
Get a House-Sitter
If you want a catch-all and simple security option while you are on vacation, try and get a house-sitter. This way you don’t need to worry about making it look like the house isn’t empty, because it won’t be!
How Can I Protect My House From Burglars During Extreme Conditions?
Power outages and extreme weather conditions can leave your home particularly vulnerable to burglary. While it’s advisable to have a security system with backup power options installed in your home, having other, more simple defenses is a necessity.
Staying calm and alert during an extreme situation will help you remember the things that you need to do to protect the house in the case of a power outage. First, check all your doors and windows to ensure that they are locked and secure. The best non-automated house protection is having heavy windows and dead-bolts for your doors.
Even simply installing a security system sign in your front yard is enough to deter most burglars from attempting a burglary, as most will assume that the system has backup power and is still functional during extreme conditions.
Whether you have a security system with a backup power option or not, always make sure that you have access to other light sources such as battery-powered flashlights, lanterns, and candles to keep walkways visible and prevent injury.
Home Security Tips From a Master Burglar
While we can all read through the lists of home security advice with the interest of keeping our houses protected, there is one way to secure your house that many don’t think of. According to security expert and ex-thief Michael Fraser, the best thing you can do to protect your property is to get into the criminal mindset and try and rob your own house!
By speaking with actual burglars, experts have identified some home security tips based on common strategies reported. Take a look at your property from the perspective of the street and try to find all of the weak spots that could be potential entry points for an intruder.
Fraser says that burglars are criminals of opportunity, so keeping doors and gates locked, yards maintained, and lights and security cameras on is a definite deterrent. Among these suggestions is ensuring you can’t see valuables and the interiors of your home from the outside.
Just the act of advertising that you have home security measures seems to be enough to deter most criminals from attempting a robbery. Security signs, visible sensors and cameras, and even having a dog have been revealed to keep burglars walking to the next house. There are a few other insider tips that Fraser shared with the world:
Beware of Letterbox Fishing
Letterbox fishing is one of the most common ways for thieves to steal house keys in order to gain entrance into a house, making where you put your keys a serious home door security consideration.
This term refers to using something like a rod or hook to steal keys commonly placed in the front doorway through the mail slot. While it may seem like an unlikely way for thieves to get in, statistics tell the use of this tactic is on the rise. It may be the best place to keep your keys so you don’t lose them, but Michael Fraser says it’s not the best idea for theft prevention.
Keeping your keys in a bowl on the kitchen counter instead of in the front doorway is the best simple security tip in this case.
Don’t Put Your Calendar Near A Window
Almost every household has a family calendar somewhere indicating notable dates, schedules, vacations, and times when everyone will be out of the house. One thing that we rarely consider as regular, law-abiding people is the visibility of this calendar.
One of the most unthought-of ways to make a burglar proof home is keeping your calendar away from a ground-floor window. Many burglars are opportunists; making a look through the window to see when no one will be in the house a definite strategy.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to wanting to secure your home, it helps to get a little insider information. The home security tips that come from looking at your home through the eyes of a burglar allow you to see all of the ways in which we leave our homes unprotected to those who are skilled in taking advantage of trusting citizens.
You can have the highest technical security system, but in most cases, staying aware, informed, and employing simple strategies for security will ensure your home stays safe.
