Quick & Clever Steps To Making Your Home More Secure

You hear about home invasions on the news all the time and sometimes it’s happening right there in your very own neighbourhood. And as the growing number of home invasions are happening around you, so does your desire to want to better protect your home and family. It’s frightening to think that someone could actually intrude on your home and take things that are valuable to you or worse, potentially harm the people living in the home. It almost makes you want to build a moat around your home and set up missle launchers around your home to permanently deter away any unwanted intruders from even thinking about approaching your home. But believe it or not, that may just be doing the opposite of outsmarting a burglar. You might just be attracting burglars to think that there’s definitely some very valuable things you’re trying to protect.

These quick and clever steps to making your home more secure could just make your home as close perfectly secure as it gets:

• Make it a habit to constantly lock the front door whether you’re coming or going and not just at night. Home invasions happen in broad daylight more often than you think. Intruders think you’re at work and that it’s all clear to go in undetected. Keep all your windows closed firmly and locked when not in use, even the second story windows. If your windows and doors are not opening, closing, or locking properly, you should consider replacing them. Intruders won’t look for the most complicated way of entering your home, they’ll simply try to enter through the front door first, then the back or side doors, and then the windows. It’s crucial that your home is highly secured in that regard, not to mention that comfort and functionality it provides your home to have windows and doors that function with ease.
• Appearance is everything in terms of home security. Having a home that appears well-kept and clean is important for you, but you shouldn’t have your expensive belongings out on display for just anybody from the outside to see. Install functional window treatments that allow you to control the amount of privacy when you need it. The key is not to put your valuables in plain sight of unwanted intruders.
• Have good lighting on the exterior of your home. Try using a motion sensor light to be more energy-efficient. Providing good lighting outside will make it hard for intruders to lurk in the dark.
• Don’t leave a spare house key under the mat or anywhere outside on your porch. If you have another family member or trusted neighbour that may need a key to your home for emergencies, then make them a copy of the key. Leaving a copy of your front entry way door key for a burglar to use almost seems too easy and foolish at the same time. There is no really clever place to hide it around the porch that anyone could just find with a little extra effort. Plus, it has been known that burglars will scope out a house for a few days before targeting it so that they could get to know your routine, when you’re home, when you’re not, and maybe even watch you retrieve that spare key.
• Don’t store your ladder at the side of your home. You’re basically giving intruders an alternate tool to try to get into your home. This may seem like an easy tip but, so many people do it unknowingly.
• Reduce the shrubbery around your home. Having a garden is great, but it would be more secure for your home to have your windows clear of any bushes and shrubs as it gives intruders the perfect hiding place to lurk and peer into your home.
• If you have a window air conditioner unit, secure it with a bracket.
• If you have a home alarm system, use the windows stickers and lawn sign that may of come with your welcome package and have it displayed at the front and back of your home. It tells intruders your home will set off an alarm if broken into.
• Store your vehicle keys and garage door openers out of sight from the front windows. That includes not keeping the garage clicker in your vehicle parked outside on your driveway. It just makes your car more vulnerable to a break in if the burglar knows they can gain access to your home by obtaining the garage door opener. Keep them in a drawer or basket inside the house where it’s still convenient for you but, not in view of unwanted intruders.
• Whether you’re going on a long trip or just heading out for a quick errand, get into the habit of setting your home alarm system everytime you leave the home.
• Keep your front and back doors locked even while you’re working in the garage or in the yard. It is not unlikely that an intruder can attempt to enter your home while you are distracted. In fact, it is during this time intruders are aware that the doors are most commonly left unlocked.
• Organize a mock burglary to test your home’s level of security. This would work best if you had a neighbour who would be willing to participate, you would try to enter their home while they would try to enter yours. This activity will show you how well your security measures will work in the event a home invasion actually happens.

The goal is to simply take some extra precautionary measures to turn unwanted intruders away from your home, to create obstacles for them to think your home is not worth all the effort.