For every homeowner, their home security and the security of people living within it is one of the biggest concerns. With crime rates surging in recent times due to unemployment, it is important to understand the importance of properly securing a home and ensuring that it is fully protected from anyone who may want to intrude or bring any kind of harm to the lives or valuables of its residents. However, purchasing an entire home security system can be somewhat difficult, especially for people who are moving into a new home and are on a budget. Fortunately, there are ways for you to strengthen your home security without buying expensive equipment and services.

By home security, we don’t only mean protecting it from intruders but from anything that may harm it, including a power surge because you wouldn’t want to lose your appliances or let your home catch fire.

Here are simple tips that you can adopt to improve your home security:

Hide Your Valuables Well

Having anything you hold dear in plain sight is the most obvious mistake you should avoid. Break-ins are very calculated because intruders want to leave the place as soon as possible. If you do your best to make it a challenge to find valuables, you might actually end up saving a lot of things you own, since whoever breaks in will not have time to thoroughly search your home. Be creative with your hiding places and do not keep everything together. This way it becomes even more difficult to detect, and even if one of two objects are discovered, the rest will remain safe.

Do NOT Hide Your Key

It is common practice for homeowners to hide their key somewhere outside the door when they leave their home. This can actually be very dangerous since it is most likely the first place an intruder will search. A lot of them even spy on the homes they plan to rob, so someone might see you hiding your key, which makes it all too easy to break in. It can also be a bad idea to give your key away to friends or relatives, since the more keys there are, the more chances of them getting lost. So, it can be a good idea to invest in smart locks or doorbells if you can, since this way you will have full control over who you let into your home.

Keep the Lights On

It is much easier to access a home that is dark because the lack of light makes it more difficult to be seen. Keep the lights on, both inside and around your home to ensure that even if you aren’t present there, your neighbors or anyone else in the near vicinity can spot suspicious activity and report it. Moreover, keeping lights on may also give potential intruders the idea that a home isn’t empty, and they will be much more hesitant to break in. You can even use solar powered LED lights for your backyard and porch to ensure that they automatically turn on as soon as it gets dark outside.

Remove Obstructions from Windows

If you have any plants, vehicles or swing sets blocking any windows in your home that let you monitor the activity right outside it, remove them immediately. You should be able to clearly see who is outside your home, even when it is dark. Removing obstructions will also help you get rid of a lot of hiding places that people might be tempted to use until there is a good opportunity to sneak in during late hours and such.

Do Not Open the Door

Install a peephole in your front door if there isn’t one since it is not always safe to directly open the door to let someone inside. Make sure you confirm who it is before opening the door, even if you were already expecting someone. You can do this by calling the person who was supposed to visit you, or even asking them a personal question that they may know the answer to. Letting an intruder in directly through the front gate is surprisingly a very common mistake homeowners make, so it is important to take any possible precautions to avoid it.

Get Security Cameras

Even if you cannot afford a full-fledged home security system, you can always get low-end cameras that will get the job done, even if not in the fanciest, most hi-tech way possible. You can get these cameras installed in place like the front porch, the garage or anywhere that provides direct access to your home, but you cannot always monitor manually.

Conclusion

While these methods are not entirely fool-proof, they can add a certain level of comfort and relief to one’s life. You will be satisfied if you have done everything possible to make sure your home is as secure as it can be, which should be good enough in most neighborhoods. These tips will ensure that you are almost constantly monitoring every part of your home without it being too much of a hassle. Your home can become a much safer place than it is right now, and whether or not you have expensive equipment to help with home security, these tips will add an extra layer of security to your home.

Hemant Kumar