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The All In One Home Security Checklist
After all, your safety and security is about a complicated combination of taking the right steps around your property, being more diligent, and teaching yourself the right habits so that doors and windows are locked, and home alarms are set.
But instead of delving too deeply into each of these different elements of keeping a space safe, it sometimes seems better to just look at them all at once.
And here's a far easier way to do that: the all-in-one home safety checklist.
- Have you trimmed the hedges and trees? If you haven't, you're offering burglars a safe refuge while they figure out how to break into your home.
Be sure to remember that the garden can be an asset to a crook, and take care of it accordingly.
- Lock your windows, including those on the second floor.
Robbers aren't afraid to get up there on the roof, and if you're not taking care to lock up the windows, it's easier than ever for them to get in.
So lock all of your windows, not just the ones on the first floor.
- Shut all windows and doors before heading out.
Part of home security is realizing that it's always important to make sure that doors and windows are locked, even if you're just taking a quick trip to the grocery store or to visit a friend.
Don't worry that it's giving the impression you aren't home--open windows and doors while you aren't home is just giving the impression you want to be robbed.
- Remember the deadbolt.
As far as keeping your home safe, this is one of the most important tools.
Invest in one that goes all the way into the door frame, and don't forget to use it every single time you leave the house.
Otherwise, what's the point of having it installed? -Take advantage of low-cost techniques.
If you know that putting a yardstick in your sliding glass door or drilling simple screws into a window frame makes it that much more difficult to remove them from place, then take the 15 minutes to accomplish that, and boost your security that much more.
- Think like a crook.
If you're breaking into a home, you're looking for small items that are easy to steal and quick to go on the black market.
This means cash, prescription drugs, jewelry, and various electronics.
If you have these around the house, keep them someplace secure if they are irreplaceable items.
Consider investing in a safe.
For things that are truly priceless, it is a much better idea to invest in a safe deposit box in a bank, as that is a far better place for the necklace from your great-grandmother.
- Invest in outdoor lighting.
If your house is well-lit on the outside, it's that much harder to rob.
This means motion-sensor-activated lights, which will spook anyone and make it easier for you to walk up to the door at night safely, as well as bright floods that stay on all of the time.
Lights are a major asset in anyone's war against burglars, so use them to your advantage.
- Set that home security system.
If you've already decided to pay for one, then you should be using it all of the time.
There's no sense in investing in an alarm that you aren't going to use, so make sure to make it your habit to set it every time you are heading out of the house, or going to bed.
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