10 Simple Ways to Protect your Home
Last year, my husband was assigned to do his PA clinical rotations out of state. This meant packing up and leaving our home for a 3 month period of time. Although we live in a relatively safe neighborhood, while we were away, I had A LOT of anxiety concerning the safety of our home and belongings. However, after doing a little research, I found many simple ways to protect our home. Whether or not you’re headed out of town, these simple home protection tips will help keep your family safe while providing homeowners peace of mind.
I received compensation in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own.聽
10 Simple Ways to Protect your Home
1. Get a dog – A dog’s bark is a great deterrent for unwanted visitors. Something as simple as a dog’s bark can scare burglars聽away while alerting home owners to possible danger.
2. Don’t leave mail/flyers on the door – Burglars pay attention to things such as mail piling up on your doorstep or in your mailbox. Be sure to check your mailbox and remove doorstep fliers on a daily basis. If you’re headed out of town, ask a neighbor to bring in your mail. You can also put your mail and packages on hold at the post office and pick them up once you return from vacation.
3. Don’t leave garbage can at curb – Be sure to take your garbage can out and put it away on garbage day. If you’re headed out of town, don’t leave your garbage can at the curb all week; criminals keep things like this in mind. Ask a neighbor to take your garbage can back in after the trash is picked up.
4. Leave your porch light on – Turn your porch light on at night. If you are heading out of town, put your lights on a timer of ask a neighbor to come and randomly turn on/off lights in your home while you’re away.
5. Close your curtains –聽If you keep your curtains closed while you’re away, it will make it hard for anyone to tell whether or not the home is vacant.
6. Bar windows/doors – For added security, keep your sliding doors/windows safe by placing a stick or wooden dowel in the door/window track.
7. Store valuables in a safe聽– Keep all valuable (important documents, cash, expensive jewelry) in a safe.
8. Keep your lawn well kept – Make it appear as if someone is actually living in your home. Keep your lawn mowed, weeds pulled, bushes trimmed, etc.
9. Keep your doors locked – Whether you’re at home or away, keep your doors locked. Remember to lock your back door as well as garage door.
10. Use a camera – Keep an eye on the things that matter most by installing a camera in your home. Thankfully, the link-U Hybrid Connection SmartCam聽by聽Link-Union, allows you to access your camera via smart phone or tablet no matter the circumstances.
link-U, the first Hybrid Connection Smartcam, is more than just your average video monitor. With features like an 8 hour battery, live interaction, remote monitoring, SD storage, alert message system, you can monitor your home, children, and pets with ease. Power outage or internet issues? This is no problem for link-U; link-U automatically switches to 3G/4G to keep you connected. As if this smartcam couldn’t get any better, the set-up is quite simple; link-U is ready right out of the box. No drills, money, contract, or bandwidth needed for set-up.
Keeping your home safe has never been easier thanks to the link-U Hybrid Connection SmartCam. Be sure to pre-order your link-U Hybrid Connection SmartCam on聽Indiegogo聽for only $149.
Great tips for anyone whether going on vacation or just being safe. Thanks for all the great tips on how to protect my house. When we go away we have lights on timers so people will think someone is home. We also tell postman to hold our mail until we get back.
Wow, that looks like a great camera! Thanks for the tips!
We have an alarm and a HUGE dog, who other than size is completely un-intimidating. It’s the small, yappy one that you need to worry about 馃槈
We use cameras and have a security system, but these are great additional tips. Thanks!
This sounds great, I need this especially having littles ones.
We always have cameras inside and outside of our home. We try to lock the doors all the time as well but we have a teenager that seems to forget.
I have security, a camera and a dog. A dog that would probably pee herself if an intruder came in our home!
These are all great tips. We have our lights on timers when we go on vacation, and we have floods on the outside of your home.
These are really great tips. I always leave the porch light on until i go to bed. I have a new alarm system that i like. A camera is a great idea. I would love to look in on my house while i am away.
Great tips! I’d also add to not leave that safe out in the open…..hide it. Many safes are so small that a burglar can carry them out.
This link-U camera sounds great! I love the idea of being able to easily access a real time view of my home.
So many great ideas! And just when I thought we didn’t really need a dog, I guess I should be thankful for ours because a simple bark really IS a deterrent for a burglar. Of course, the camera is an awesome idea for anyone to have in their home!
Thanks so much for this. I recently posted a similar list, but I didn’t include the dowel in the window track. Great tips!
Having a dog is always a good idea to keep a home safe. Fitting some hidden CCTV cameras can be a another one. Loved all of your tips. 馃檪
These are really great tips and really common sense. But often we forget
I’ve also heard keeping your keys by your bed is a good thing. If you hear something hit your keys and make your car alarm go off. That will scare possible burglars.
We always leave our porch lights on. We even have motion detecting floods that come on during the night. No thieves for us (hopefully).
These are really great tips. The last thing you want to do is broadcast to the world that you’re gone. I always make sure I have a friend come over and turn on lights, get the mail, and things like that.
We have three dogs. One of them is a German Shepard with a very deep bark. It’s nice to know that if anyone comes near the house three excitable dogs are going to erupt into a barking frenzy.
We always make sure to keep up with the mail and the yard. The best deterrent to a thief is to make them think there are people in the house.
We have an alarm system as well as security cameras all around the outside of our home to catch all angles. It’s set up to record motion and we can view it at any time using our laptops indoors or even when we’re out of town.
We have an alarm on our house, but I think our dog would be enough to keep us safe 馃檪
Use a camera and get a dog are good ideas and leave the outdoor lights on it important. I did not even think about putting the garbage cans back. This could tip off someone that you are not home. Close the curtains is such a good idea!