Is your Home Alone this Christmas?
Christmas is not only a time of giving it is about togetherness and being surrounded by the ones you care about most. With only a few more sleeps to go and with presents are piling up under the tree, we want to make sure you are safe and security aware.
Follow these simple and easy tips to make sure that you have systems in place to protect the people and things you care about most this festive season.
- Install a security camera
Security cameras do not have to cost the world and they don’t have to be hard to install either. Simply purchase any IP camera (see our list of supported cameras here), connect it to WI-FI and download a smart home security app (we can suggest this good looking bird named OWLR) and monitor away from anywhere you are.
- Keep your valuables safe with a safe!
Keep those irreplaceable items safe such as jewellery, family heirlooms and more by securely storing it in a safe. Safes come in all shapes and sizes including traditional padlocked, fireproof and smart home safes – all are a safe bet to protect your things!
- Ain’t no fence high enough!
Put off burglars by erecting your fence around your home high enough to deter potential break ins. Don’t forget to lock the gates too!
- Tidy those gardens
Let your home stand out in all its beauty instead of being overrun with a neighbourhood forrest. Make sure your home gardens are neatly trimmed, especially when it comes to high hedges to ensure there are no camouflaging burglars lurking behind a tree or pot plant.
- Make it Bright!
Fool those potential burglars by leaving a few lights around the home to make it seem like you are home. If you are away from home for a longer period of time, we can suggest making use of timers to give off the false appearance someone is home.
- Stray away from public broadcast announcements
We now live in a world where we feel the need to almost document every move, step and breath we take and word does spread easily! Consider how much information you share over social media as this may entice those ‘friends’ or followers across all mediums to get up close and personal a bit too much with your life and the things you care about.
- Hide those big ticket items
Make sure your house is not a shop window. Conceal those big ticket and valuable items not to persuade burglars even more so. Make it less attractive we say!
- Check your home insurance policy
This won’t make your home safer but will help you if worse case scenario, your home is burgled. Make sure your home insurance policy adequately covers any losses.
- Collect the post and whip out the trash
If you are on holiday for a period of time, ask a friend or neighbour to collect your mail to give off the appearance that the house is operating as per usual and your real life inbox is not cluttered with junk mail. You may also ask your very generous helper to put your bins out on bin day to again give off the illusion that your house is not at all vacant during the time you are away.
- Woof woof!
A dog can be your best friend. A dog can also be the cutest looking security guard you have ever had! The bark can be more than the bite itself and prove to scare away potential burglars.
Keep an eye on the Christmas Tree by downloading the OWLR app today from the App Store and Google Play.
Image credits: 20th Century Fox
This article also appears on Medium