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Did you know that there is a burglary in a home, apartment or condominium every 15 seconds.
In fact, according to FBI statistics, 60% of burglaries occur while the home is occupied!
So, there’s no time like the present to make your home as secure from thieves as possible.
Right?
Following are the best things you can do to prevent your home from being broken into…
Make your home look like it is occupied at all times.
Most burglaries actually happen during the day — because people are not at home, they’re at work. So if your house looks like it’s occupied all the time, a thief will think twice about trying to invade your home.
One simple thing you can do is put TVs, radios, and lights on automatic timers so that your home appears to be occupied when it’s not.
Enlist the help of friends & neighbors when you’re away.
If you’re going to be away for a few days, have your phone messages forwarded and have a neighbor pick up your mail. The reason: some thieves will actually call a house to see if anyone is home, and if they get the voicemail and it’s full they will assume that no one is home.
Secondly, ask your neighbor to remove any newspapers or fliers that may appear in you driveway or on your doorstep while you’re gone. The reason: these things are a sign that you are away from home, making your home an easy target to burglars.
Along those same lines, make sure that your lawn gets mowed while you’re away, and in the winter, make sure the driveway gets plowed if it snows.
Take extra steps to secure your garage.
- Keep your garage door closed (and locked) at all times — even when you’re home. Thieves frequently enter a home through the garage whenever the homeowner is working in the backyard.
- Keep your car in the garage rather than parked in your driveway — so people can’t tell when you’re home and when you’re not.
- Put curtains or blinds on the windows in your garage so no one can look in and see if your car is gone or not.
Those types of things make it more difficult for thieves to tell when you are home and when you are not. It also makes it harder for them to see any possessions that you might have inside your garage.
Use landscaping to your advantage.
Ideally, you should remove tall shrubs, hedges, and bushes from the landscaping around your home. Those things make it easy for a thief to hide and monitor the comings and goings at your home.
Burglars could even listen in and spy on you through windows and doors if the landscaping is tall enough to provide cover for them.
If you want to have bushes around your home, consider planting some that have thorns.
Add lights with motion detectors around your home.
Security lights should be installed near windows and doors.
If someone is trying to sneak around your home, the lights will go on, so you will have some warning and the automatic lights will deter burglars that don’t want to be seen.
Keep your windows and doors locked at all times.
We all like to open the windows and screen doors around the house whenever the weather outside is nice. Just don’t forget to LOCK them when you close them again. It’s as simple as that!
Locking your doors and windows seems like common sense to most, but people often get careless about this simple little security measure that yields big results. Yep, 32% of burglars actually enter homes through an unlocked door or window.
Without a doubt, deadbolts are a necessity on all exterior doors, and if you need to leave the house temporarily, don’t leave the windows open!
Install a wireless home alarm system.
If you frequently keep your windows open when the weather is nice, then a wireless home security system will be your new best friend. Even if you don’t open the windows much, a wireless home alarm system will give you peace of mind by alerting you if someone (or something) comes within range of a window or door in your home.
A wireless home alarm system is much easier to install than a wired one. Plus, it’s relatively easy to uninstall as well, so it can be taken with you if you move. The only downside is that, with the right equipment, someone could possibly hack into a wireless home alarm system.
Don’t hide a spare key outside your home.
If you absolutely must hide a spare key someone outside your home, don’t use the usual places (under a rock, under the door mat, in a plant, near the door, etc).
Also, if you do hide a spare key outside, then don’t use that key regularly to get inside your home. The reason: if neighbors (or a burglar) see you repeatedly reaching in the same place before you enter your home, they’ll pick up on the fact that you’ve hidden a key there. You never know when someone’s personal circumstances could entice them to break into your home the next time you’re not there.
It’s better to give your spare key to a neighbor you trust.
Make sure that your valuable are well hidden.
Leaving jewelry, money, and other valuables out in the open — especially near a window where someone could look in — is an invitation to thieves. Instead, use a home safe that you install and keep hidden somewhere inside your home.
There are even drawer safes that you can install yourself to hide money and jewelry in. Plus, there are pieces of furniture that already have the safe installed or hidden compartments built-in.
Whichever method you choose to protect your valuables, they should be hidden from view and only known to you.
Keep your cell phone charged and with you at all times.
Yes, you should even keep your cell phone near you when you are sleeping!
Thieves sometimes disable land lines, therefore having a cell phone handy can be the difference between calling for help and standing helpless in the room with a burglar.
Increase your bedroom door security.
Make sure that your bedroom door is made of something other than particle board. A solid wood door can be a deterrent and give you some time to hide after an intruder enters your home. You might even want to put a deadbolt on it, so if someone does get into your home, you can barricade yourself inside.
In addition, small personal door alarms that can be hung on your bedroom door to alert you if someone tries to open the door. These also work well when you’re traveling; just place it on the inside of your hotel door.
If you don’t already have one, get a dog.
Dogs are a huge deterrent to thieves who are thinking about breaking into a home. Even a little dog works well, as long as it makes a lot of noise.
If you are not in a position to get a dog, then consider getting a barking dog alarm. Such an alarm can detect movement through thick doors and even glass. So, if you want to receive an audible warning whenever someone approaches your home and you want to let others think that you have a dog, just place this alarm near the front door.
Install a home security camera.
Finally, if you want to see what’s going on around your home at all times, you’ll appreciate the tips in these DIY videos which show how to install home security cameras yourself:
My favorite things to write about are topics that have to do with pregnancy, weddings, saving money, living green, and life with dogs. When I’m not writing, I love to spend time with my husband, read, create 3D artwork and Native American beadwork.
Do you have any tips for safeguarding windows specifically? I was thinking about adding some custom wood shutters perhaps, just as another layer at night between the house and anyone maybe trying to get in. There are also these rolling window covers, what do you think of those?