A home is supposed to be a safe place. It’s meant to be where you can unwind and relax, and take shelter whenever you need it. Dreaming of owning your own home, or even just having a place to yourself, is something we do all the time as kids and teenagers! But imagine, when growing up and putting a deposit down on an apartment of your own, that your own little haven is nowhere near as safe and secure as you’d thought it be.
Your home is your place; it’s private, it’s all yours to do whatever you want with, and you absolutely hate the idea of anyone else being allowed access to your interiors. Even just someone looking through the window, who you don’t know and aren’t expecting as a guest, is a thought that’s bad enough!
So, when it comes to keeping your home safe and secure, what can you do? Sure, you’ve already made sure there’s an alarm system in place, and you draw the curtains when it gets dark, but what else can be done? Well, we’ve gone into a bit of detail over some other methods below.
Create Climbing Barriers in the Garden
Your garden is an extension of your home, and when it comes to home safety and security concerns, being able to secure your lawn and the fence around it is key. After all, anyone who wants access to your home that you’re not allowed in through the front door is going to look to come in through the back. And sure, you’ve got a porch light out there, and you make sure your back door is locked at all times, but there’s still some extra measures you can take.
For example, you can create climbing barriers out there, and mostly via natural means. Anyone who wants to get into your home isn’t going to let a tall fence stop them, not when they’ve got gloves to protect their hands and legs to make good use of. So, you’re going to need an extra layer of protection that’s going to obscure your property and also hurt anyone who tries to cross it.
You can use trees, hedges, and big bushes to create a thorny and awkward natural deterrent – rose bushes especially make great guard boundaries! They also look great out there in the garden whilst they do the job for you!
Know What to Lock Up
Do you have a safe in your home? If not, it’s time to invest in one, or a similar type of lockbox where you can store your most valuables. You want to be sure these are contained at all times, if they’re not currently on your person, to ensure your mind is always at ease. Plus, it’s always nice to have some kind of safety system in your home for you to keep things away from prying eyes, even if it’s just a Christmas present you don’t want the kids to see!
So, if you’ve got some expensive and/or sentimental jewelry in your home, don’t just leave it on the bedside or the dressing table. If you’re not wearing it for some kind of occasion, make sure it’s kept nice and safe and locked away. Similarly, make sure any cash you keep in the house is safe and sound under lock and key. If you like to always have a bit of money in the house, just in case, you’re definitely going to need a safe to make use of.
You’re then also going to want to find a good place to conceal the safe or lockbox. You don’t want to leave it where anyone can see it – of course, having one fitted into the wall behind a painting could work, but it’s a little cliche and everyone will want to look under the painting just in case! Thankfully, a list of more uncommon places can be found right here, so use it as inspiration if need be.
You can also get ahold of items like fake plug sockets and fake drawers; instead of seeming like the innocuous household item they look like, they’re lockboxes for a person to keep their valuables in. Most people wouldn’t even think of trying to look behind a plug socket to find something they could sell for cash!
Get a Video Doorbell Installed
Not knowing who’s at the door is one of the main problems we’ve had since the doors were first invited. You can’t see through the wood, for obvious reasons, and not everyone has a peephole at the eye level they can look through to see who’s on the other side. So, to remove this barrier, and to ensure you don’t get spotted trying to gauge a person through your living room window, invest in a video doorbell instead.
There are quite a few video doorbells on the market, so you could really take your pick here. You could also use a Nest doorbell installation service, to ensure your new doorbell is put up with professionalism and ease. After all, if you’re not too sure about your own DIY skills, it’s always best to leave home security improvements to the experts!
It’s an incredible way to take your home safety and security to the next level, and all for a one-time investment that probably won’t dent your income too much. After all, home safety and security is often considered priceless, and think about how much better you’ll sleep at night! And seeing as these doorbell systems allow you to connect to the camera no matter where you are in the world, you’ll always be able to keep an eye on what’s going on outside of your own front door.
Make Your Driveway a Bright and Noisy Place
Your driveway outside of your home needs to be a place that creates a lot of noise when someone walks up to it, and it needs to be a place you can always see. That can mean installing a movement-activated light on the outside of your house, of course, but it also means putting a lot more time and thought into what kind of material you want your driveway to be made out of.
After all, tiling it over, or using some kind of tarmac material, will allow someone to creep their way up to the house, and potentially escape all of your notice. But, if you use something like shingle or gravel, a person will never be able to stop the stones from crunching and rubbing beneath their feet. And you’ll definitely never miss a car pulling up outside either!
At the same time, think about using something like a bright and flashing dummy alarm, to try and deter anyone who might think about trespassing. Sure, you may have an alarm system anyway, but if it isn’t bright and alert like you’d want it to be, using a decoy on the outside of your home can help to bridge the gap.
You could also cover the lawn parts of your curb with noisy and brittle plants; having plenty of roots and stems, as well as broken twigs to step on is a great way to ensure people can’t just hop on the grass to avoid making noise by walking on the gravel that lines your driveway.
And Keep Your Home Life to Yourself
And of course, it’s not just the physical parts of your home you have to think about here. You’re going to need to remember what you’ve said about your home, and in the future, keep from giving too much away about what you’re up to concerning your home. If you don’t know who’s listening, and you can’t be sure about whether or not you trust someone to keep information about your personal life safe, don’t share anything with them!
For example, the most common way in the modern era that burglars will find out whether a house is good to mark is via social media – posting about your plans to go on vacation, or about your time whilst you’re away is a surefire way to let them know your house is currently unoccupied. If you don’t know if the privacy settings of sites like Twitter and Facebook will keep you safe, make sure you update them, and then keep your statuses to a minimum.
Also, if you receive deliveries on a regular basis, make sure you cancel them if you’re going to be away for an extended period of time. Don’t let parcels or newspapers, or even more traditional items like milk bottles build up outside of your house – it’s just another surefire sign that the occupant is away and the house is ripe for the taking!
So, does your home feel safe and sound? Even if it does, are you sure you can’t do more to make sure of it? Take tips like those above to heart, and make sure your home is as secure as it could ever be.
