4 Cost-Effective Home Security Tips
Admittedly, the type of home security you procure for your home could be a little on the high side. On average, you may be paying about $50 monthly for your home’s security monitoring.
Indeed, these are specialized services, and logically, you will pay more for the best security to protect valuables in your home. As you contemplate which alarm system to install in your home, you can also take these cost-effective steps to keep yourself and your family safe from burglary.
1. Keep Your Car Key within your Reach When at Home
If your vehicle is equipped with an alarm system, it can be an efficient security tool for your household. All it takes is to press the alarm button to throw burglars off-guard and away from your property.
The exciting part is that your car alarm may not stop blaring until you turn it off by clicking the button again. The loud sounds can also alert neighbors to what may be happening on your premises.
This trick works efficiently when you or a member of your family is at home in the event of a potential break-in. So what happens when neither you nor another person is at home. In response, this security tip works well when combined with other well-thought-out tips for your property.
2. Trim Trees and other Vegetation Around Your Entrances
In many burglary instances, unsuccessful burglars may lie waiting for the homeowner to arrive. According to a 2018 Police report, motivated burglars tend to monitor activities in a targeted house. This provides ample information on when the house is empty or occupied.
The report also indicated that if the front and back-doors are well reinforced, burglars look for overgrown hedges or other tall plants to hide and wait. With this information in mind, it is recommended to trim your yard, frontal parts, and sides of the house. You can also consider measures like securing your entrances with xceed security screens.
If you need to prune branches on your compound, it would be ideal to do so. That’s because if the trees on your compound are dense and strong, a determined thief can climb them to gain access to your interiors. This is particularly useful to those who live in two-story buildings.
3. Own a Guard Dog
There are several breeds, and it’s important to know which kind is excellent as guard dogs. Indeed, most dogs, if not all, exhibit territorial dominance. This is why they would growl, snarl or bark at an intruder or a stranger. However, getting yourself a guard dog may be one of the best cost-effective security options for your house. Moreover, burglars hate to draw attention to themselves, and guard dogs offer exactly that.
4. Secure your house keys
The days of hiding your spare key under the floor mat or flower pot are long over. Experienced thieves know how to search for keys hidden on the compound. In addition to this, you may want to be mindful of who you hand your home’s spare key to.
Sometimes, in a bid to ensure that you never lock yourself out of the home, you may find it useful to keep a spare key with a trusted friend or relative.
The truth here is, you never know whether they will lose it. Admittedly, the chances of a thief tracing a lost key to you are incredibly low, but the objective is to avoid taking such risky chances. Again, if you usually keep your house keys in your car when you visit the auto shop for servicing, now may be a good time to stop it.