We are now building on to our home, and we have put a lot of thought into ways to keep our home safe from burglars. Sadly, in todays’ world, especially with summer right around the corner it’s not something that should be taken lightly. You hear about burglars breaking into a home all the time, and you never know if your house could be next. Why not do everything you can to be sure to not only your home is safe from burglars, but be sure your home is secure for your family. If you are looking for ways to be sure your family and home are safe from burglars here are a few tips I hope will help.
Tips To Help You Keep Your Home Safe From Burglars
If you are thinking about leaving for vacation, or even heading off to work here are a few tips to keep your home safe from burglars, and keep your home secure for your family.
Vacation
If you have an upcoming vacation do not announce it to everyone. Telling all your coworkers you will be on vacation for a week is never a good idea. If you must tell people, only tell those you trust. All it takes is one wrong person finding out your home will be left unattended and you could be a victim of a robbery.
Social Media
Yes, we all love social media, and probably plan or at least talk about our upcoming visit with friends and family openly. DON’T! social media is probably even worse than telling your coworkers you are leaving for an entire week. I don’t know about you, but I do not know everyone in my feed enough to tell them where the spare key is to my house, or that I will be leaving for two weeks Monday at 8am. Be careful when talking about anything you do not want the world to know using your social media outlets.
Kids Online
Teach your children to be wise while they are online, they too can accidentally tell a friend the house will be left unattended for two weeks.
Know your neighbors
I highly suggest taking time out of your busy day to get to know your neighbors, and trusting them. You do not have to hang out together all the time, but do go across the street to say hi when you see your neighbors outside, invite them over for the kid’s birthday party, or have a BBQ and invite a few of your close neighbors. Try and build a relationship, so you do not just know who they are, but you can help one another from time to time. When we leave town our neighbors across the street watch our house, and we do the same while they are away. Your neighbors will be one of the first people to notice anything suspicious, and can
Pets
We have four dogs, and when we leave town they run loose in our yard, which goes around the house. If someone jumps in the fence I truly feel sorry for the, but they should notice the 8 “Beware of Dog” signs on the front of the fence. When robbers are looking for a home to break into they typically want something that is quite, so they can get in and out without being seen or heard. Many times just hearing a bark can deter them from entering your home.
Lighting
You cannot go wrong with motion censored lights outside your home. They too can be a great deterrent for burglars.
Valuables
Don’t leave your valuables on the kitchen table with the window open. The less people see, and the less they know you have the less likely they are going to break into your home.
Lights Inside the Home
If you are planning on being away for a few days, or just the night you may want to consider installing times for your inside lights. Setting a timer for your inside lights can make it look like someone is in the house. You remember the move Home Alone, right? Remember the part where the boy turned on the light in the house, had fake people, turned on music and made it look like there was a party going on? Okay, well you don’t have to go that far, but it might be a good idea to set timers for that rea.
Windows
Be sure you have something covering all of your windows, especially during the nighttime hours. If a burglar cannot see in, they are less likely to chance breaking into a home where they cannot see anything of value, or know they will be able to escape quickly without anyone noticing. , or notice they can easily break in without anyone knowing.
Landscape
Keep your landscape trimmed nice and neat so you can cut potential places a robber might hide out to watch your house. I know it sounds crazy, but they do watch houses and your patterns before they make their move. Overgrow bushes, makes it easy for someone to hide out for a few nights and know that you get home at 7:50 every evening. I don’t know about you, but on certain days we have a set schedule, and nobody is home because we are running kids to practice, and other activates. If someone was to watch they could quickly see what days and times we are away from the house.
Packages
I am guilty of leaving my packaging on the front porch, until recently. My husband brought it to my attention. We are putting all this time and effort into securing out home, and making it safe from burglars, and there I go putting a HUGE box to an expensive flat screen TV on our porch. Our neighbors even asked me how we were liking the new TV. Break down your packaging and take it to the garbage can rather than displaying it in your front yard.
Windows
Always check windows before you leave, especially if you have children who tend to open a window for whatever reason and forget to lock it. I recently had to seal my kids bedroom windows shut, because they kept leaving, we even lock our dead-bolt while we are home. I have four children who sit in the front of the house to watch cartoons, or play Barbie’s. It scares me to think someone could walk in and I wouldn’t know anything about it because I am in the shower, on the other end of the house, or even doing laundry in the room right across the hall. Don’t make it easy for a burglar to come into your home while you are home either.
Garage
While you are away on vacation it’s normal to turn off electronics, but what about your garage? You can turn it off as well, and ti will help keep burglars from opening it with, which can be done with a universal remote.
GPS
Don’t leave your GPS in your car. Whether you are running to the store, or headed for the airport, if someone breaks into your car they now have a map to your home. I don’t store my home address on the GPS, or any other device which is not password protected.
Friends come by while you are on vacation
While you are away on vacation, have a friend you trust visit daily, and make the house look like someone is still living in it. If the rose bushes out front start to die it could be a sign that you are gone on vacation.
Newspaper
Call and have your newspaper stopped, or have your friend grab it when they come over each day.
Alarm
It’s worth it to have an alarm in your home. Think about all the valuable things you have collected over the years, and all the things that cannot be replaced. It would be devastating to have your house rummaged through while you are away on vacation. Plus, haveing an alarm system can hpdadIf someone did find out, and tell you it will likely be too late if you are not prepared.
Cameras
There are some great affordable camera’s that allow you to watch your house while you are away from your smartphone. The camera’s detect motion, and alert your phone. It is something to consider, I have three of them in my house, and they work great. They also have night vision, and sound activation. If someone did come into your home you would likely have time to call someone before they left with your things.
I know you might be thinking cameras are a bit much, and at one time I might have agreed. The fact is that we live in a world where you cannot be too safe, especially when your home, and family are conserned. We recently added on to our home, and now that we have a 2500 square foot home I almost feel like we have to have a camera outside of each door.
Security System with Cameras
I cannot tell you how blessed I feel to have received the HD Security System with Cameras for my home. We now have a camera outside of the front and back door, and it rocks.
I spend a lot of time in my office working, and my kids are in the living room, in the backyard, one of their bedrooms, or somewhere in the house. I do know where my kids are at all times, and now when they are outside of the house, or someone walks up to the door I know who is there while I am in my office. Things couldn’t be sweeter, and I cannot tell you how much safer I feel knowing I have bird’s eye view from my office on the opposite end of the house.
Q-See has an AWESOME deal right now too, and the set up they are offering is great for your home or office. When you visit Costco.com here you will see the Q-See 8 Channel 720p HD Security System with 2TB HDD and 8 720P Cameras for only $499.99, which in my opinion is worth every last cent. You cannot be too safe when it comes to the things you value, or if it is your business that helps support your family.
The 8 Channel HD DVR shows in real time HD, 720p resolution, and the 8 HD 720p HD cameras capture details day or night. Get up to 20 frames per second, which are all smooth uninterrupted video. Plus you can enjoy remote monitoring with free apps from your iPhone, iPad, Android or even Windows Phone (yes I am one happy camper).
Setting everything us is super easy thanks to the easy to use start-up wizard that guides you through the easy setup of remote monitoring! PLUS you can save on up to 2TB of video or even expand hard drive up to 3TB, which is awesome? PLUS you will receive two cables that are 60ft and 100ft to make installation that much easier.
Whether you are just buying a home, been in the same home for years, or looking for security for your office you cannot go wrong with Q-See’s new Heritage HD! Check out everything that is included:
- 8-Channel HD DVR (QC908-2)
- Pre-Installed 2TB Hard Drive
- (4) HD Dome Cameras (QCA7202D)
- (4) HD Bullet Cameras (QCA7201B)
- (4) 60ft BNC Cables
- (4) 100ft BNC Cables
- (2) Power Supply for Cameras
- (2) 4-Way Power Splitter for Cameras
- USB Mouse and Remote Control
- Power supply for DVR
- Standard HDMI® Cable
- RJ-45 Ethernet Cable
- Q-See 2 Year Warranty & Lifetime Technical Support
You will love the night vision capabilities, enhanced viewing angle, real time recording, remote monitoring, and tons of other great features! To learn more about this fabulous security system for your home or business head over to Costco.com.
