It’s not all that reassuring seeing the crime sprees lately in the news as robberies spike in big cities across the United States.
While we all do our part in making our communities better places to live, for our families and ourselves, we must consider the security of our own homes—this is one of life’s realities.
Not everyone can afford to install a big security system. Fortunately, common sense and workaday folk—our handy dads, coaches, and neighbors—have some simple hacks to offer to help fortify our homes with relative ease and little cash spent.
Here are 9 simple things that average people can implement at low cost with fairly simple materials to keep their castle free of break-ins.
1. Replace Your Door’s Small Strike Plate Screws With Long Ones—Like, Really Long
A savvy neighbor may have mentioned this on seeing you install that new front door using the factory kit. The tiny, half-inch screws the door’s strike plate came with are no match for a burglar wearing heavy-duty workboots; one kick and both lock and tiny screws will surely rip clean off the doorframe and go scattering.Seasoned homeowners know that installing long, 2-and-a-half, or even 4-inch (approx. 10-centimeter) screws to secure your door’s strike plate solidly to the door frame and, more importantly, the house frame itself will give that burglar a jolt when it holds fast. After the first kick fails, he will more likely take off than make a big scene and reveal himself.
2. Do Not Keep Your Garage Door Opener in Your Car
You can spend big money on a fancy front door lock, but if a burglar smashes into your car, he can easily open the overhead garage door with a simple click of a button on your garage door opener.Don’t overlook this vulnerability. Instead, take your garage door opener with you when you leave the car and go inside the house. That way, should the burglar break into your car, though you might lose your valuables inside, if not the car itself, at the very least your home will remain secure.
3. Install Fake Cameras—Or Real Ones
Burglars tend to prey on the easiest targets and avoid spots where they will be seen. Whether you’re away or sleeping at home, the sight of a fake camera installed on the premises might make them think twice about breaking in.These can be purchased on Amazon for relatively little money—roughly between $12 and $30—and installed without much hassle. Just screw them to studs on the wall. Of course, if you can afford a real camera system, and have the money to have it installed, that will ensure that seasoned burglars who aren’t fooled easily know they’re being watched. That might be enough for them to skip your residence.
4. Be Smart on Social Media
Seasoned burglars might go the extra distance to stake out your home by finding you on social media and monitoring your location online. They might have found out who you are by rooting through your trash and then looked you up.If you post about that upcoming vacation, business trip, date night, or trip to the supermarket on social media, it will be not just friends and family who find out. Everyone else following you will see it, too. That might make your house an opportune target for a would-be burglar, scoping for an unoccupied domicile to break into and rob.
5. Make It Seem You’re at Home
This may sound like simple common sense, but not everyone knows that it’s important to make your home seem occupied when you are away. You could leave a light on in your living room or kitchen during your trip to the grocery store. Leaving your TV playing would have the same effect.This is even more imperative if you’re heading out on vacation for a week or two and it will ensure burglars don’t know you’re on a beach somewhere. While leaving a light on, remember to shut the blinds so that snoopers can’t see inside and dispel the subterfuge.
6. Lock Your Overhead Garage Door
It might alarm you to learn that some criminals will go to extraordinary lengths to locate target homes. Some go so far as driving through neighborhoods with a hacked garage door opener testing to see if random doors open as he passes by rows of homes.Should this ploy work on your garage door, that will be an easy entrance for a robber, as your garage will provide cover while he breaks down the door connecting the garage to your house. Moreover, garage doors themselves are often easily lifted manually by force—without a remote opener.
By installing a padlock inside the garage, firmly securing the overhead door to the garage frame, it will fasten the door down and stop the mechanism, remote or no remote.
7. Lock Your Shed With Screws
Turning to security in your yard, your shed might house expensive lawn equipment that could entice would-be burglars. While some homeowners employ padlocks to secure the door of their shed (and you should, too), which often does the trick, a burglar intent on his target might come ready with a bolt cutter. Yet screwing the wooden door to the shed itself will cause a much greater hindrance, making the burglar’s efforts riskier and more finicky, adding extra deterrence.8. Sleep With Your Car Keys on the Nightstand
This tip will cost you nothing, and it’s a simple trick to make a burglar abort an effort to rob you while you sleep at night. If you wake up to noises and suspect someone has broken in, you can easily grab your car keys next to the bed and press the alarm button. The noise emanating from your car will surely startle an unwanted guest, as thieves will be wary of sounds that might draw attention to them. They may take flight without further delay.9. Keep a Small Safe in Your Home—But Not Just Anywhere
Burglars try to spend as little time as possible in a target house. Keeping valuables such as cash, jewelry, or other precious items in a safe will create one more barrier between your goods and the thief. Small safes go up in price with options such as fireproofing and digital biometric or fingerprint opening systems. Most have holes in their bases where they can be bolted to the floor. They can be kept in a closet or mounted on a wall.Although the master bedroom might seem like a good place for a safe, you can add another layer of protection for your items by keeping it someplace hard to access or hidden. The attic, for instance, is not only less accessible but also presents no escape routes; a burglar would avoid places where he might get trapped. One can also hide a safe under the stair treads, behind a false door, or in a secret cubbyhole installed in the wall, perhaps with a painting covering it.
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