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No one wants to feel unsafe inside their home. When you have paid good money to rent or purchase a house, you want everyone living there to feel they are untouchable in that space.
While you can invest in a residential safe to keep your valuable belongings, important documents, firearms, or any other items, you will want to think about general home security as well.
People are not necessarily breaking into your house to take the most valuable items you own, they may only want to grab a few electronics or other merchandise which they can sell quickly.
Whether you are worried about burglars or intruders who would do you and your family harm, you can take steps to ensure such situations never arise.
Below are the top nine ways to improve your home security in 2022.
1. Window Shades
When you have window shades or curtains, you can ensure that no one can see if you are home when they are closed. Perhaps you are going away for a few days, or you do not want people to know that everyone leaves the house for a specific number of hours each day. Having shades or curtains is a great way to keep prying eyes away from the inside of your home.
2. Upgrade Your Locks
Investing in smart locks is a great way to stay safe this year. Even though you can still go with a traditional lock and key, smart locks do have some advantages. Rather than a key, you have a code, which means you do not have to worry about a key being stolen and picked up by someone who could enter your home. Smart locks also allow you to provide temporary access codes to visitors if you are not there to greet them.
3. Light Timers
By purchasing a few smart switches, you can program when you want the lights in specific rooms to turn on in the late afternoon and early evening. Perhaps your family does not get home until late, but you want people to think that someone is home as the sun sets. You can have your lights switch on in a few rooms around 4 pm or 5 pm, making it seem as though people are at home.
4. Motion Sensors
When you are ready to go to bed at the end of a long day, you do not want to worry about someone prowling inside or around your house. You can set up one or two motion sensors outside your home, which will go off if anyone attempts to get onto your property. You can turn on the sensors at night, and they will immediately alert you to any concerns.
5. Put Up a Sign
There are two signs that you can put up outside your home or on your property to ward off criminals. Studies have shown that people are far less likely to burgle a house when they see a sign for an alarm company. Perhaps you invested in a home alarm system for several years but then did not renew your contract. You can still keep the sign up to ward off intruders. Another sign that can be useful is a neighborhood watch sign.
6. Invest in Cameras
You do not necessarily have to pay for an expensive alarm system to get better home security. While we have already mentioned motion sensors, you can pair them up with cameras to watch the front and back areas of your home for any illicit activity. These cameras can be on 24/7, allowing you to quickly see the footage through your computer, smartphone, or tablet for a real-time assessment of the area around your house.
7. Secure Your Wi-Fi
Not every crime that is committed against families is physical. Aside from wanting to steal your items, people may also want to use your Wi-Fi. Make sure that you are password protecting your network, as you do not want other people slowing down your internet or potentially accessing or downloading illicit material using your connection.
8. Invest in a Safe
Having a safe is the perfect way to protect all your belongings that you do not want to leave lying around. If you have expensive jewelry, gold bars, documents such as your passport or property ownership deeds, and other such items, you can keep them all inside a safe. Invest in one that has a code combination, as those are very quick to open and almost impossible to hack.
9. Outside Lights
Install one or two lights that you can set up for your yard. Having lights on ensures that if anyone is doing anything dangerous or nefarious, your whole neighborhood can see what is happening. People are far less likely to venture onto a yard that is lit up.