A Home Security Primer: The 5 Most Obvious Mistakes

It can get a little bit easy to get carried away with the worst case scenarios when planning your home's safety. And along the way, sometimes people lose track of the actual threats to home security, focusing instead on things that don't matter as much. For instance, people might get fixated on spending the most amount of money possible on an alarm just because it allows some sort of monitoring while you're out of the house, without realizing that you won't actually end up using that at any point, and that it is not actually increasing your home's safety. And sometimes in the rush to get the absolute most expensive alarm installed, people will start to forget to do simple things, like shut the garage door when on the way to work.

In fact, when it comes to home security, it's easy to pinpoint the most obvious mistakes, how burglars take advantage of them, and how homeowners don't even realize they're making them. Here is a simple primer on the five most obvious mistakes that homeowners make and how to avoid them.

1. Move-In Day as a Showcase of Wealth. So you're finally moving into a more spacious house, and you are so excited. So are the robbers who have been casing the curb, checking out what sorts of boxes you put out with the trash. Look, there's a flatscreen TV! And there's one for an expensive computer. You see, with trash, you can do as much showing and telling as if you left a flatscreen on your front porch. Don't advertise what you've been buying by putting the empty boxes out by the curb. Breaking down boxes and not making it obvious what you have is a huge step towards the right kind of home security.

2. The Dark House/The Light House. It's true that more robberies occur when your house is empty, and it's true that leaving lights on is an important step towards deterring would-be thieves. But don't turn every single light on and leave them on for days, and don't turn every single light off, either. Both extremes make it obvious that no one is home, so shoot for something in the middle instead.

3. Remember Smaller Things. Sure, you locked the front and back doors, but what about the upstairs window to the bedroom? For a robber, it's no easier or harder to get in a small window on the second floor than right through the front door, especially if the small window is unlocked and the door is locked. Lock it all up to ensure the utmost safety.

4. Set Your Home Security System. This can be said literally over and over and over again. If you don't actually set your alarm, then things aren't going to be safer. If you invest all that money in getting something installed, then you better be prepared to actually use it.

5. Paying Attention To Surroundings. If you don't know who lives in your neighborhood, you can't really accurately gauge whether or not someone hanging around up at the corner is suspicious enough. Get to know your neighbors, the people who come and go daily in your neighborhood, and which cars are familiar. This way, if something fishy is happening, you'll be able to react accordingly.