4 Ways to Keep Your Home Protected During the Holidays
As the holiday season begins, it’s a time for celebrations, parties, and spending time with loved ones. While the festivities are certainly enjoyable, the time of the year is also one that attracts the attention of opportunistic thieves looking to take advantage of the presence of expensive gifts found in many homes.
Hundreds of thousands of burglaries occur throughout the country during the holidays, so it’s important to take some extra steps to keep your home and family protected. Here’s 4 simple ways you keep your home protected during the holidays:
1. Hide gifts from plain sight
Nothing is more enjoyable that setting up the holiday decorations, with many families enjoying it as a yearly tradition. The Christmas tree is one of the big center-pieces of most households, with many families choosing to have it near or viewable from an outside window.
Unfortunately, a Christmas tree with a mountain of gifts beneath it that’s visible from the outside is a prime target for burglars – it’s a sight that many burglars struggle to resist. So, a simple yet effective measure to take is to ensure your gifts aren’t visible from the outside.
This may mean moving the tree to another space or simply relocating the presents until Christmas morning.
2. Be mindful of social media posts
While social media is great for connecting with friends and family, it’s also the ideal place for burglars to find potential targets. Think about it – countless people share what gifts they have purchased through social media posts; thieves will use this to determine if their home is worth robbing.
Similarly, if you are posting about going away over holiday season, then a burglar knows that your home is empty and an easy target. Therefore, always take the time to consider what you are posting and whether it could be make you a potential target for a break-in.
A great trick is to make your profile private so that it cannot be viewed by everyone, although this doesn’t guarantee you are safe from hawkeyed burglars using social media.
3. Consider getting a timer for your lights
If you love to decorate your home with lights over the holidays, it may be worth getting a timer device for them to turn on automatically, even when you’re away from home. The reason for this is most burglars look for signs that nobody is home, and having plenty of Christmas lights that aren’t turned on clearly shows this.
So, grabbing a timer for your indoor or outdoor lights is a great idea, as your home can remain illuminated to detract any attention when you’re away. Also, make sure the wires you run outside never go through the window, as the space it makes can be enough for some criminals to break in.
4. Dispose gift packaging with caution
A big pile of paper, boxes, and gift packaging is a common sight on Christmas morning, and many people simply stick this out in the trash like any other day. Unfortunately, this acts as a big advertisement for all the nice gifts in your home, and you can be sure burglars and thieves will be looking for homes with signs of expensive presents.
One way to do this is to inspect your trash for old boxes and packaging, as it gives an idea of the kind of stuff that might be worth stealing. Common sense is important here, so be sure to avoid leaving all your packaging by the curb in clear sight, taking the time to place things in bags, rip up boxes, and generally making your trash look more inconspicuous.
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