Taking precautions to keep your home safe is a lot easier than you think. When contemplating home security, the hope is that your techniques will never be put to the test. While you can do anything to control the actions of others, you can ensure that you do everything in your power to safeguard your home from potential ne’er-do-well activity.
Secure Your Entryways
The easiest way for one to access your home is by simply walking through the front door. Likewise, the most effective way to keep intruders out is to lock the front door.
Whenever you leave the house, remember to lock and secure all windows and doors. Take the time to regularly evaluate every exterior entrance. Make sure that your door frames are sturdy, and their hinges are secured. And, if you move into a new home, replace your locks immediately. Make sure you and you alone have access to your space.
Invest in a Home Security System
If you want to have a full view of your property, add installing a premium-quality home security system to your list of home improvement resolutions.
A set of security cameras allows you to monitor movement on your porch or yard, so if there’s any unwanted visitors, you’ll have a record of them. Modern security systems also use cloud streaming so you can view your system through a remote feed. All you need is a smartphone or a laptop, and you can watch over your home from anywhere, making sure it’s safe and sound.
Light Up Your Landscape Intruders never like to be in the spotlight, so keep them at bay with outdoor lighting in your backyard or porch. Adding lights along pathways increases visibility, making your home a riskier target for intruders. You can also utilize motion-sensor lights, which illuminate when movement is detected. This can catch intruders off-guard, scaring them off.
Hide Your Valuables
Home intruders often scope out their targets before breaking in, looking inside to find valuables fast. Therefore, hide all laptops, smartphones, large TVs, and jewelry from the sight line of your windows, and never leave large sums of money where it can be easily found. Keep blinds and curtains down to prevent prying eyes from looking in, and if you really need to stash some cash, try hiding it away under a set of sectional covers.
Install Thorny Shrubs, Hedges & Climbing Roses as Barriers
Chain link fences can be easily scaled or crossed using bolt cutters. If you want a truly impenetrable barrier to intruders, try planting a series of thorny hedges. Thorny hedges are hard to scale, can’t be cut through, and have better aesthetics than barbed wire or spikes. Examples of such thorns are flowering quince (japonica), whitethorn (hawthorn), holly, and berberis.
Keep Your Garage Locked
It’s easy for us to put a lot of effort into keeping your home secure, only to forget about protecting the garage. The garage is one of the easiest ways for an intruder to enter your home.
To make sure it’s secure, ensure that you keep the windows and doors of your garage locked at all times. Don’t leave your garage keys in your car where they can be easily spotted and stolen, but keep them tucked away in your dresser, under a chair cover, or in a lockbox.
Consider a Safe
Now that you’ve taken the measures to prevent a break in, it’s important to have a plan to protect valuables if your security fails. Consider buying a safe where you can place items such as jewelry, cash, essential documents, and other items that are of the utmost importance to you.
In Plain Sight
Hiding something in plain sight can actually work to your advantage. This strategy can be implored by using your interior design scheme to camouflage whatever it is you’re trying to hide. The secret to doing this is simply thinking of ways you can cleverly incorporate what you’re wishing to hide into the design.
Whether its on a bookshelf that’s already littered with various tchotchkes or even in a coffee can at the back of your freezer, hiding in plain sight is an apt way to conceal interest by overwhelming the eyes. Remember, intruders want to be in and out as quickly as possible. In the event that they do stick around, the last thing they’ll be spending their time checking out what you’ve got in your freezer. Got an heirloom you’d be devastated to find out is missing? Hide it in a storage bag underneath the bed.
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