Prioritise Safety To Prevent Common Household Threats
Prioritise Safety To Prevent Common Household Threats
To prioritise safety when it comes to your family and your home can work hand-in-hand with redecorating or, in some cases, come first. All homeowners want their properties to look and feel great. Before thinking about the addition of new furniture and cool designs, though, you must prioritise safety. Until you have those elements sorted, the other issues will seem almost redundant. Make sure that…
Garden shed security is an issue that often doesn’t receive the same attention as our house and garage. Why? Garden sheds are somewhere to keep many of our possessions, but often overlook when it comes to security. Burglaries from garden sheds are increasing in Australia, with burglars realising that many homeowners don’t have adequate garden shed security. Sheds can often be where you store…
Garden security is not something most of us think about when it comes to protection for our home and contents. When it comes to home security, we usually think about the inside of our homes. While you do need to make sure that the inside of your home is protected, don’t forget about your garden security! The backyard area with barbecues, patio furniture, bikes, and even the gazebo, can be a prime…
Before Your Vacation: How to Burglar-Proof Your Home
You’re excited about the upcoming vacation. Everything is in place, from tickets to the hotel reservations. You’ve even mentally packed all of your bags five or six times – and you aren’t even leaving for another two weeks!
In all this excitement, don’t forget to fortify your home against burglars. These tips will help you relax and enjoy your hard-earned time away, instead of coming home to broken windows and missing possessions.
One of the best tips is to make your home seem occupied even when nobody’s there. This discourages many burglars. These thieves aren’t often violent. They instead prefer to get in, grab your things and get out without being caught. If they suspect that someone is at home, they generally move to someone else’s house.
These tips will help you make sure that your home is as burglar-proof as any home can possibly be. You’ll enjoy your vacation knowing that you’ve done everything you can to discourage burglars.
Make sure someone’s taking in your mail and newspaper. You can call the post office and newspaper to have your deliveries held if you don’t have a neighbor or friend come over and take them inside.
If you have motion sensors on outdoor lighting, make sure they’re engaged before you leave. Many burglars hate messing with homes that light up outside when they approach. They aren’t always tricked into believing that someone is home and has just flipped on the porch light, but they won’t second-guess the fact that other neighbors can clearly see what they’re doing.
Make sure that all of your windows and doors – including the garage door – are locked. You should also put your hidden spare key inside the house, or leave it with a friend or relative, while you’re away.
Find a neighbor who’d like to use your driveway while you’re gone. Burglars who canvas your neighborhood will see a car that’s parked in your driveway at night, but moves during the day. Be sure that your neighbor, or whomever you ask to park a car, moves the vehicle. If it’s just sitting there, all day and night long, the burglar might think that you just left a second car at home and took the other one.
For another smooth decoy, have a neighbor leave trash out on your curb for pickup.
Contact your neighborhood’s crime watch association to let them know that you’ll be gone. They can pay special attention to your house if they know it’s going to be empty. You should also mention to them any house sitters or pet caretakers who might stop by. You don’t want a confrontation between a neighborhood watchman or watchwoman and the person who’s been kind enough to pick up your mail!
You’ll be tempted to let everyone in the world know that you’re going to spend two weeks in Hawaii, but don’t. Tell only people you know and trust. Otherwise, the information could find its way to people who will take advantage of your absence.
Put your jewelry and other small valuables into a wall safe. You can buy fireproof safes for a couple of hundred dollars or less: well worth the investment if you have a few thousands dollars’ worth of diamonds and gold to protect. These safes are easy to install and very difficult for thieves to open.
Store your personal documents in a secure place – perhaps even the wall safe. Even if thieves don’t break in and pull an identity-theft scam with your personal data, you could still lose these hard-to-replace documents if your home floods or catches on fire.
Take pictures or videos of all your valuable possessions, from the DVD player to the personal computer. Keep copies in your safety-deposit box as well as in your home. If you record serial numbers with the photos or videos, the police are much more likely to find and return what’s been stolen.
You can also have your valuables engraved. Your full name should go on them as well as your driver’s license number for positive identification. If you don’t plan to move anytime soon, you can also put your current address on your items.
Make sure that your alarm system is armed and ready to go. This is one of the best deterrents, especially if you have the warning signs and stickers on the lawn and windows.
Finally, make sure that you leave contact information with a neighbor so he or she can get in touch if necessary. You’ll be less likely to worry about what’s happening at home if you know that someone will call if you’re needed.
Knowing that burglars like easy targets will help you burglar-proof your home and put your worries aside. If your house and valuables aren’t easy to access, the thieves will move on to a house that hasn’t been secured.
