4 Tips for Improving Your Home’s Security

No matter where you live, you need to think about protecting your home. But keeping your home safe doesn’t require an expensive alarm system, patrolling watchdogs, and guard towers. All it takes is a little knowledge, preparation, and vigilance. If you’d like to keep your house safe and secure, learn these four tips for improving your home’s security. Employ them right away so that you can rest easy.

Lock It Up

This one should be a given, but people often forget to perform this simple and secure task. Whether you’re home or away, it doesn’t hurt to lock and latch your doors and windows. Crooks look for unlocked doors and windows for easy access to your home. Truth be told, even the simplest lock discourages a thief from attempting a noisy break-in. That said, consider upgrading your doors with a secure multipoint-locking system. A single lock in a doorknob is relatively easy to pick or smash in, but a multipoint-locking system provides a firmer hold.

Don’t Overshare

We all love to share the story of our lives on social media, but you should keep some things to yourself. Don’t announce vacations, and don’t provide a time range for when you’ll be gone. Deactivate location tags for photos and posts, and adjust your privacy settings to keep vacation and similar posts private. Wait till you get home to share any photos from your trip as well. Here’s another piece of social media advice: don’t post pictures of valuables like new cars, electronic devices, jewelry, upscale clothing, and the like.

Restrict Key Access

How many people can unlock your front door? Maybe more than you think! When you move into a new home, call a locksmith, and change the locks on the front, back, garage, and other doors. The previous tenant should’ve provided all their keys but may have forgotten that a friend, neighbor, or other individual has a key as well. Be cautious about who has access to your house. Only share keys with trusted individuals.

Light Up Your Life

Here’s the last of our four tips for improving your home’s security, and it’s a bright idea. You probably have a porch light in front and back. But are there other places around your home’s perimeter that provide dark spaces for thieves to break in without interruptions? Install motion-detector lights around windows and outdoor garages too. As an extra-safe step, be sure to trim bushes and remove objects that provide perfect hiding spaces where criminals can lie in wait. Expose them to the world!