9 No-Brainers to Protect Your Home

The desire to protect our homes and families is instinctive, which is one reason why so many technological advancements have focused on creating great home security systems. Though investing in a home security system is always a smart choice, it’s not the only way to keep your possessions and loved ones safe. Here are nine simple, cheap, and effective tricks everyone can do to help keep the bad guys at bay.

• .Lock the Door:* This may sound elementary, but it’s important—burglars often walk right through unlocked front doors. Whether you’re home or not, always double-check that all your doors are securely locked.
  
  
  2. Light Things Up: Bad deeds thrive in dark places, and ample outside lighting can help banish would-be burglars. Smart lightbulbs can often be programmed or triggered by motion and are an affordable, bright way to add extra security.
  
  
  3. Put a Stick in It: A metal rod or wooden dowel can also add extra security to a sliding glass door or window. If you have entry points that slide open, you’ll sleep better at night knowing they can’t be easily forced by a determined burglar.
  
  
  4. Be Neighborly: It can be easy to pass our neighbors without getting to know them. However, having allies down the street or in the cul-de-sac helps your entire neighborhood feel safe. Learn each other’s vehicles and exchange your schedule with a trusted neighbor so it’s easy to spot something or someone that doesn’t belong.
  
  
  5. Maintain Your Home: Keep up your home by shoveling the walk when it snows and trimming the hedges. Burglars look for signs that a home is vulnerable—overgrown landscaping, piled up leaves, or growing snow drifts are a signal that your home may be vacant and an easy target. Make yard work family time so you can spruce up your home and get in valuable bonding time.
  
  
  6. Add to the Family: While a new baby won’t make your home safer, an adorable puppy eventually will. You can give your kids the dog they’ve been begging for and instantly decrease your home’s likelihood of a break-in.
  
  
  7. Post a Sign: There’s no question that security systems help deter crime, but not everyone can make that investment. If you can’t purchase a home security system right now, do the next best thing and post security system signs and stickers on your property. The mere idea that your home may have a high-tech security system makes it far less attractive to burglars.
  
  
  8. Keep Your Codes Secret: Whether it’s the security system code or the garage door keypad, robbers know what to look for to find out your secret codes. Change your codes often, be sure your kids know not to share codes with friends, and remind them to cover the keypad if they enter a code while accompanied by a friend.
  
  
  9. Don’t Announce Vacations: Nothing is more enticing to a thief than the sure knowledge that no one is home. Don’t advertise your vacation with social media updates that reveal you’ve left home. Try to load your luggage in the garage and save those awesome pictures of the kids hitting the waves for after you’re safely back at home.
  
  
  Keeping your family and home safe is extremely important, and these are just a few of the simple things you can do to upgrade your home’s security level without breaking the bank.
  
  
  
  Alyse Ainsworth is a safety and security expert with ASecureLife.com. As a mom, safety and security is not only a concern but a passion of hers. She loves researching new advances in security technology along with coming up with her own new ways to make her home a safer place for her family. When she isn’t covering advancements in security you can find her spending time with her family, traveling, and backyard farming.