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Security for your home is non-negotiable. It’s vital to keep your family and personal belongings safe and sound, and we take securing a home seriously. That is why we’ve developed tips for home security.
Our tips for home security are not sensationalized and based on fear. Securing your home does not have to include booby traps, an arsenal of firearms, and an unrelenting suspicion of your neighbors. Instead, our security tips focus on practical steps you can take to improve the everyday security of your home.
Keep readings for some of the most effective tips for home security.
Beef Up Your Everyday Security for Your Home
Securing your home does not mean distrusting your neighbors or delivery people and staying up all night with night vision goggles and firearms. Instead, you can beef up the security of your home by taking practical steps that focus onproactive security, not reactive.
Install A Home Security System
One of the most effective steps you can take to secure your home is to install a security system.
There is a variety of home security systems for every budget and level of protection. To get started, we recommend getting a home security evaluation. It’s also helpful to talk with local law enforcement to learn about local crime statistics.
Once you better understand how your home is at risk, you can hire a professional to install a security system that protects your home. And please, don’t forget the add-ons like smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
Light Up the Landscape
Statistically speaking, most crimes occur at night under the cover of darkness. Therefore, we recommend installing lights in the landscaping around your home.
Lighting up your landscape does more than look beautiful—it helps deter crime by eliminating the dark spaces where criminals may try to hide. Not to mention, it’s way easier to walk from the car to the front door when your walkway is well lit!
Devise a Home Security & Safety Routine
A safety routine is simply a list of tasks you habitually perform to keep your family and home more secure. Your routine may look different from your neighbors, or it might evolve as time goes on.
But in our opinion, every safety routine should include some basic tasks known to help secure your home.
- Set your alarm to “away” when you are leaving the house.
- Set your alarm to “stay” every night before bed.
- Keep your doors and windows regularly locked.
- Teach your family members how to set the alarm.
- Keep a list of emergency telephone numbers nearby.
Install a Home Safe
Our homes are full of valuable possessions: Televisions, artwork, cellphones, jewelry, tablets, and laptops are just a few of the expensive items we hold dearly.
We recommend installing a safe to help keep your most beloved and irreplaceable possessions safer. Here are some items to consider storing in your safe:
- Birth certificates and social security cards
- Important insurance documents
- Heirloom jewelry
- Expensive electronics
- Firearms
- Cash
Safes do not only keep burglars from reaching valuable possessions. They will also keep your items safe in case of a house fire or how to prepare for flooding. For that reason, safes are essential if you live below sea level inhurricane-prone areas or wildfire-prone areas located in thewildland-urban interface.
Tips for Home Network Security
Nowadays, not all crimes happen in person. Cybercrime targeting digital possessions, like financial information, is becoming more of a common issue.
An unsecured wifi network can be like an open doorway to your personal data for intelligent hackers and cyber criminals. That is why it's crucial to secure your wifi.
You can take the following steps to lock down your wifi and keep your electronic data safe:
- Secure the wireless router
- Turn on wifi-protected access and encryption
- Rename your home network
- Install a firewall
- Install antivirus and anti-malware software
- Create strong passwords for all your accounts
- Use a virtual private network to secure your internet connection
Invest in Self-Defense
The bulk of the safety you can provide your home and family comes from everyday security—practical steps and tasks that focus on preventative security measures that deter crime before it happens.
However, there may come a time when you need to employ self-defense tactics, especially if you arepreparing for civil unrest.
Self-defense looks different for different people. For you, it may involve non-lethal weapons, like pepper spray. For others, their idea of self-defense could include firearms.
Whatever the case, our message is the same—self-defense equipment should be used as a last resort, especially firearms. And should you invest in self-defense equipment, you should also invest in the proper training to employ andstore your self-defense equipment safely, especially when it comes to guns.
Have A Plan for Home Security When You are Away from Home
If you need to bug out or go on vacation, you cannot just leave your home without taking precautions. Below you will find some easy steps to better secure your home for the next time you are away for an extended period of time.
Notify Your Neighbors
The first thing you should do before leaving your home for a longer amount of time is to notify your neighbors of your departure and your estimated return.
When trustworthy neighbors know you are out of town, they can help keep an eye on your property. They can bring in the mail, water the plants, and monitor anything unfamiliar.
If necessary, they can report suspicious activity to local law enforcement and help deter anything from happening to your home while you are away.
Lock the Doors and Set the Alarm
Burglars are opportunistic criminals. If they can find an unlocked door or window, they will take the chance to enter your home.
So one of the simplest things you can do when you are away from your home is lock everything.
Locking your home is critical when you are away for extended periods. But it is also helpful when you leave your home to run errands or visit a friend.
The more habitual locking your home can become, the better. That way, you never have to experience that feeling when you turn the corner off your street and wonder if you remembered to lock up. We’ve all been there.
Your Home Should Appear Occupied at All Times
When you leave your home, it must appear occupied, because burglars are much less likely to enter a home if they believe someone to be home. For example, when you leave at night to go out for dinner, leave a couple of lights on in the home—especially the porch light. You may even consider leaving the TV or radio playing.
Your home should also appear occupied when you are away for extended periods. The best way to do this is to program certain lights around your home with timers. That way, lights will turn on every evening and give the impression that someone is home.
Hold Your Mail
Piles of mail and boxes from subscription services or Amazon can attract burglars. Sometimes, criminals will simply steal your mail from your front doorstep. But they may also decipher the undelivered mail as a sign that no one is home and decide to break in.
So before leaving your home, we recommend holding your mail and suspending your subscriptions.
If you have forgotten to do so, we recommend asking a trusted neighbor or family member to keep an eye out for deliveries and bring them inside or hold them for you until you arrive home.
Secure Your Home By Staying Connected With Your Community
We believe in strength in numbers. When we can band together, pool resources, and rely on one another, we keep our individual homes safer and our entire neighborhoods also.
Get To Know Your Neighbors
Unfortunately, nowadays, most people do not know their neighbors very well. This is especially true in large metropolitan cities and suburbs. But, conversely, folks in small towns get to reap the benefits of a close-knit community.
However, we recommend meeting and spending time with your neighbors—the more trust and rapport you can build with your neighbors, the better. Who knows, they may beprepping for unexpected disasters as well.
That way, you can create a symbiotic relationship with them where each household keeps an eye out for each other. And if you need a favor or vice versa, you can support one another.
Chat With Your Local Law Enforcement
Most people only interact with local law enforcement in case of emergency. But we think that interacting with local police and other first responders should be a regular occurrence.
The stronger your relationship with your local police department, the more secure your neighborhood and home will become.
Plus, you can learn about crime trends in your neighborhood and receive insights into how to keep your family and home safer and more secure.
Join the Neighborhood Social Media Pages
It is not uncommon for small neighborhoods, apartment complexes, and homeowners associations to have a group on social media like Facebook.
Social media groups can be a useful source of information. For example, neighbors can chat, notify the group of suspicious behavior, and communicate important news rapidly.
Don't Forget To Secure Your Emergency Supplies at Home
Part of your everyday security should also be prepping emergency supplies.
If you need to bug out or hunker down due to a natural disaster, or some other emergency, the safety and comfort of your family will depend on what you’ve prepared.
In the worst-case scenario, grocery stores may become overrun and sell out of food. In addition, your municipal water source may become unsafe or unreliable, and you may lose access to electricity.
Reacting to these events at the moment is less than ideal. Therefore, you ought to be prepared ahead of time with a cache of emergency supplies.
- Bug-out bags for every member of the family
- Survival food buckets
- Emergency water for drinking, cooking, and other household chores
- First aid and medical supplies—including necessary prescriptions and over-the-counter medications
- Extra clothing and footwear
- Backup batteries, a generator, solar panels, and rechargeable batteries
- Headlamps, flashlights, lanterns, and candles
Final Thoughts On Home Security Tips
Securing a home does not have to just rely on violence. Instead, security for your home can be as simple as performing practical steps to enhance the everyday security of your home.
If you follow our tips for home security, you can prevent anything serious before it becomes a problem.
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