Although the holiday season may make us all feel warm and fuzzy inside, it’s still important to remember that this time of the year is always when crime surges. Between packages left by the door and pricey presents sitting pretty under a tree, it’s no wonder that criminals choose the holiday months to cash in on their bad deeds. It doesn’t matter if you’re staying home for the holidays or if you want to travel with loved ones, there’s a chance you and your items could end up in danger. Luckily, there’s some precautions you can take to help cut back on your home being a target. These techniques cost little to nothing to pull off and will ensure your holiday won’t be ruined by those looking to cause harm.
1. Set a timer
There’s two indicators that a house is empty, which could cue a burglar to come up with a plan to rob you. The first is a lack of lights for a said period of time and the second is lights that are always on. You can easily avoid this problem, and a huge electricity bill, by placing your lights on a timer. These can be purchased for next to nothing to begin with, and you can set them to come on and go off when you’d normally get home from work and go to bed. Some timers are even controllable through your phone, so you can hop on the program and turn on a light or two to give the empty house a more lived in feel. This should stop even the more experienced criminals from targeting your home. If you think the lights alone aren’t enough, then you can also place a timer on your TV or a radio to add a little noise to the mix. This can also come in handy if you have pets that get a bit lonely while you’re gone.
2. Talk to a Neighbor
In the good ole days, you used to spend lots of time with your neighbors. Between barbeques and family outings, there was no reason to think twice about the people on your block. Nowadays, neighbors aren’t usually as friendly as they once were and sometimes people don’t even know who their neighbors are. This can be a problem especially during the holiday season. If you plan on leaving the home for the holidays or if you are supposed to receive packages during this time of the year, then a friendly and trusted neighbor can be a huge asset. Letting your neighbor know what’s going on in your life can help prevent crime from happening. For instance, if you tell your neighbor you’ll be leaving for the holidays then they can always keep an eye out for suspicious behavior. Also, neighbors can help you by collecting mail on your porch that may otherwise be stolen. This doesn’t mean you should share with neighbors you don’t trust though, but it might be wise to try to build a relationship with at least one person that lives around you. Also, you could gather the neighborhood and talk about starting a neighborhood watch to help safeguard everyone during the holidays.
3. Hold Your Mail
Sometimes, the neighbor trick doesn’t always work. Not to mention, during this time of the year many mailboxes are broken into. So, if you’re expecting pay checks holiday cards and other items that may be of a financial gain then you might want to consider asking the post office to hold your mail. This can come in handy even if you aren’t’ going on a trip. With your mail being held at the office, you can go in to pick up items whenever you feel like it and you won’t have to worry about things going missing. Of course, if you don’t want to deal with all of the hassle of having your mail held, then you could always get a PO box. This holds the same principle and will allow you to feel more secure about your mail all year long.
4. Set Up Home Surveillance
If you’re worried about what goes on in your home, then you may want to consider setting up a little home surveillance in and around the home. Don’t worry though, this doesn’t mean you need to spend thousands of dollars just to protect your family during the holiday season. Instead, you can easily set up home surveillance on your own. Between mobile phone and webcams, you can inexpensively set up cameras around the home. Simply set them up to work with laptops or a DVR system and your home will be under surveillance as long as the power is on. This can come in handy if you are staying home for the holidays as it is easy to run these devices while you’re away from the house for a few hours. You may even be able to watch a live feed on your phone. Of course, if you plan on traveling then you may not have as efficient of an experience. DIY security systems can be unreliable, especially if a battery goes dead or you lose power in the house at one point in time. If you do want to reduce the risk then shop around for a system that suits your needs and budget. Often you can find older models online. Most of these new cameras will also allow you to send a live feed to the phone, which means you can travel without thinking twice.
5. Never Pack in Public
Once again, in the golden days, you could pack up your car in broad daylight and the neighbors would probably wave goodbye as you drove down the road. However, today, packing in front of an audience can lead to some major problems. First of all, you’re sending a huge alert that you’re leaving the house for a little while. Although it may not be your neighbors that pick up on the signal, it could be someone willing to do your family harm. Thus, it’s always best to load up your vehicle in a garage if you have one. If you don’t then simply pack it up in the dark. It may be best to do it in the early hours of the morning before you leave, so your items won’t sit outside unsupervised all night. Also, you may want to try to leave while it is still dark too. This will prevent others from realizing you’ve gone.
6. Use Illusions
If you don’t want to sink a lot of money into a home security system or deal with headache of installing a DIY system, then illusions may be your best bet when it comes to tricking a criminal. One of the best things you can do is add a beware of dog sign to your yard. This will let people know your dog isn’t on the friendly side, even if you don’t actually have a dog or your dog is the biggest love bug on the planet. Another idea is to add security stickers to your window. May it be from a security company or a simple Neighborhood Watch sticker, this could detour criminal activity. If you want to be even more menacing, then buy fake cameras to place outside of the home. This is a tactic that many businesses use, which helps detour criminal activity substantially. These cameras don’t cost much at all and are simple to install.
7. Don’t Advertise
We live in a world of over-sharing, which can be a huge problem if you’re not careful. One thing you should never do during this time of the year is post you’re going on vacation on your social media pages. Sure, telling a neighbor or friend about the trip so they can help out is one thing, but telling everyone on your friend list is another. You can easily allow someone you don’t want to gain access to your personal life into your personal business, thus offering them an invitation to come see what you have worth stealing in your home. Even if you manage to keep things hushed about your trip, your friends and family might not. So you may want to ask people not to share photos until you’ve returned home, or you can simply block yourself from being tagged until you’re ready for people to know about the trip. You should also never let people know what gifts you have under your tree. This may be harmless, especially when you’re just talking with other parents about the “it” gifts of the season, but letting people know what is under your tree could be opening an invitation for theft.
8. Mind the Decor
Believe it or not, but your holiday decor can aid a thief in robbing you. For starters, if you choose to place you tree by a window then make sure your blinds or curtains are shut at all times near that area. A tree placed near the window is basically an open invitation for some criminals. It means they have to do very little work for the items they want and can often go undetected until the criminal is long gone. So, if you can, you should always place the tree out of the public’s eye. Another major problem is setting up holiday lights. Often, people will string the extension cord through a window in the house, which makes the window easy to get through for a criminal. This is especially bad if you leave the home. If you do choose to light your home this way, make sure you have backup security to deal with window, or simply remove the cord when you leave, so you can lock up efficiently.
9. Lock Up
It may seem like common sense, but locking up the home is the best way to prevent others from coming into it. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget to lock up some windows or the back door, especially if they’re rarely in use. However, during the holiday season you should make sure to take as many precautions as possible. You may even want to cut off pieces of an old broom to block sliding doors and windows. This will help add more protection to areas where a lock may be more fragile. You may want to get into a ritual of checking all the doors and windows before you leave the home, so you won’t have to stress all day. Also, if you have an alarm system, always make sure to alarm it, especially during this time of the year.
10. Ignore Solicitors
Sure, the holiday season brings many people to the door, but one key rule to remember is don’t open up for anyone you don’t know. If the person is delivering a package, then you’ll either know the package is coming or they’ll simply leave it behind. Other than that, holiday visitors like religious solicitors or those selling goods for a charity are not something you should open up for. Although the people may have the best intentions, you never know who they truly are. In fact, they could use religion as a way to get into your home, so they can take inventory on the items they may be interested in stealing. It is also an easy way to get most people to share what they will be doing for the holidays. So, save yourself a bit of trouble and simply don’t bother with these visitors at this time.
Keeping your home secure is always a priority, but the holidays bring a whole new world of challenges that can leave you wondering how to keep your family safe without breaking your budget. These ten tips should help you find the perfect way to secure your home from those who aim to cause harm.
