Top Residential Home Security Tips for The Holidays
Home safety is always a major concern during the holidays. Because of the time of the year, there are many ways that the security of your home can be compromised which security experts have come together to help you mitigate against. The basics of home security during the holidays is ensuring that at the barest minimum, all your door and window locks are in good working condition.
If this isn’t the case, the first thing you should do right now is call a local locksmith in Naples Florida to help you with changing your locks or rekeying them, whichever works better for you.
Here are some ways that you can increase the security of your home during the holidays;
1. Christmas Lights
When installing Christmas lights around your house, do not use them keep doors and windows open. If you pass your lights through windows, you can leave a small wedge that is an easy way for a burglar to get inside your home. Instead of passing the lights through an open window, find a power source to put outside the house so that you can lock your windows. Alternatively, you can look for Christmas lights that run on solar power or install external power outlets that you can use for the Christmas lights.
2. Christmas shopping
When doing your last-minute shopping, you should try not to draw the attention of thieves to your shopping contents. Do not leave valuables unattended in the driveway. If possible, when coming back from Christmas shopping, pull into the driveway in reverse so that onlookers do not see your purchases.
Also, be careful about how you dispose of gift packaging. Do not display boxes of gifts in the driveway or outside your house to let criminal elements know what you’ve got inside. Do not tempt thieves. Recycle used boxes and ensure your trash is cleared out.
3. Show discretion with social media posts
You don’t need to display everything about your home and gifts on social media. This is just an easy way to alert people to your movements and value. A lot of thieves stay on social media and use it to monitor people who may make easy targets. If you are traveling, do not post your location or let people know that your house is empty and defenseless.
You should also not post confidential details about your life of social media as these could be used to steal your identity.
4. Check all your doors and windows for damage or weakness
A large percentage of home break-ins happen through the windows. You should speak to a locksmith in Naples Florida to assist you to carry out a security assessment of all your doors and locks to ensure that they are fine. Whichever ones are bad should be replaced. If you lose your keys, you should ask the locksmith to rekey your locks.
Simple maintenance activities like replacing window hinges and installing dead bolts on doors should exponentially increase your home security during the holidays.
5. Access control to your home
If you are going to be having friends and family over, you should consider giving them an extra key if you won’t be home. If you have a digital lock, you can create a new security code for guests which will help you keep track of who comes and goes.
Garage, sheds and backdoors should be kept locked too so that strangers do not wander around the house and gain access to places where they should not be. Valuables like bicycles, tools and other gardening equipment should be kept inside the garden shed and locked away.
6. If you are going away for the holidays, keep up appearances
You don’t need to announce to everyone that you are traveling for the holiday and your house will be empty. If you have motion lights, you should ensure that they are activated and ready to go off at night. Also ensure that all windows curtains and drapes are kept closed at night so that passers-by do not see into your house.
Avoid leaving telephone answering messages that explicitly tell people that you are not home. Don’t leave messages like “we are in California skiing”, a simple “please leave a message” should do just fine. Automatic timer lights are also going to be helpful as they give the imo
7. Be careful when hiding keys
Hiding your keys should be done with discretion so that you are not giving criminals free reign into your home. Do not put your house key under that flower pot or welcome mat or by the door ledge. If you want to leave a key behind, you should give it to a neighbor or a friend for safe keeping.
If your house has an alarm system, you should also have it set and inform the local authorities that you would be traveling and may not be available for a verification phone call. You can assign a trusted friend or family member who would answer such calls and other things that may require urgent attention
Conclusion:
Peace of mind is worth more than any headache a lapse of security can cost you this holiday period. Do not wait until you have a security emergency before you ask a locksmith in Naples Florida to check all your locks for fitness. If required, the locksmith will recommend the necessary repairs or upgrades that you need to do.
December is a month to be happy. Ensure that your bag and wallet are kept close to where you can see then at all times if you would be hanging out as part of a crowd this holiday season to avoid falling victims to pick-pockets. If you are going to be at home, have all these tips in mind so that you can have a happy holiday.
I didn’t know that you could replace window hinges. I just always assumed they were built into the framework. I’ll have to consider getting a locksmith to reset all of my windows.
Ah, thank you for your fantastic holiday home security tips. I’m thinking that, perhaps as a belated Christmas present to ourselves, we should get a home security system installed. Having that little bit of extra protection would certainly help me sleep better at night.
Awesome tips for home security especially to those
new to this blog. Brief but very accurate information!
Thanks for sharing that article.