We all want to keep our homes secure, of course. Burglary, robbery, and even being assaulted in our homes are terrible crimes to have to experience. A sense of violation, financial loss, injury, and a fear that it could happen again all get rolled into one horrible package that nobody should have to experience.
Many people compensate against this with extremely elaborate and expensive security systems. This is an excellent idea, but it isn’t always within everyone’s budget. Fortunately, there are a number of inexpensive and simple solutions that can improve your home security without going all out on a monthly payment plan for an electronic service.
Illuminate Your Yard With Solar Lamps
While most burglaries take place during the daytime, there are miscreants who will try to break into an empty house if it’s frequently empty at night. Illuminating your yard can deter these thefts by making it harder or impossible for a thief to approach the house without someone noticing.
A great way to light up your yard is to go to a home improvement store and purchase a number of solar-powered lights. These can be fairly inexpensive, with some models costing as little as $5. They spend the daytime charging up, and automatically switch on their lights at nighttime. LED lights require relatively little power, so they can provide hours of illumination after a normal day in the sun. As a bonus, you don’t have to fiddle with electronic timers or spend any extra money on powering them.
Place Signs
There are hundreds of home security signs of varying sorts available to put up around your home. A popular one shows a silhouette of a dog and states in some fashion that a dog can run faster than any perpetrator can. Other signs could include putting up a sign saying you’re protected by electronic security, or that the house is part of a neighborhood watch program.
These signs don’t even necessarily have to be true. You can put up a Beware of Dog sign without actually having a big scary dog, after all. This or an electronic security warning can still give a potential burglar pause, and make them think it’s not worth the risk even if they can’t SEE a dog in your yard.
Park Your Car Outside
Having a second car is pretty common to most families at this point. If you don’t use one of your cars during your normal day, park it in your driveway or in front of your home instead of in a garage. This gives the perception that someone may well be home, just as the warning signs in the previous section do. It can give the thief just enough pause to consider going off and trying a less risky target.
None of these solutions is perfect – no security system ever is. If someone wants to, they can find a way past any security system on earth. The point however is to create enough doubt and hesitation in the potential invader’s mind to reconsider it. Most thieves aren’t professionals. They’re desperate people making an impulsive or reckless decision, and they are usually worried about getting caught. Putting these systems in place may not foil a dedicated professional, but they will worry the impulsive thief who just wants to get in and get out without risk.