You always hear about it, don’t let it be you…
Here are 5 Things you can do to make your home more secure...
- Get an alarm system that covers all the accessible doors and windows. Smart technology can also help you control your homes thermostat and lighting, lock and unlock doors, open garage doors, offer video and voice communications and give weather forecasts. These can be controlled by your smart phone. Use your phone for more than just playing Scrabble and watch Netflix - gee, does anyone ever use them to make phone calls anymore?
- Keep your shrubs and bushes trimmed away from windows. As a general rule of thumb you should be able to see the whole window from the street. Wanna go a step farther? Plant prickley plants under your windows like holly bushes or prickly white roses or a crown of thorns plant.
- Install a wide-angled peep hole in all your doors, and use them before you open the door, every time! (side-note - make sure you install them facing the correct way. Nobody wants a close-up of your mud room).
- Create the illusion that there is always somebody home. Have a neighbor push your trash can out to the curb and bring it back in on trash day. Stop your mail delivery and your newspaper delivery until you return. Hook your doorbell up to your smart phone and respond when it goes off visually and vocally. Use timers on lights. Get the kind that allows you to program 10 different times so your lights aren’t predictable.
- Don’t give burglars a reason to break in. Don’t leave boxes for gifts or new home purchases out where all can see for the trash man. Also - if you see anything suspicious in the neighborhood, call the police. If it looks suspicious, it probably is.