Struggling with a tight budget is hard enough when you just have to deal with bills and everyday stuff. But when the necessity for home security improvements hits, I bet you get cold chills! After all, all those gadgets cost a fortune! Fear no more, as we’ll give you some interesting and rather helpful ways to increase your home security while being on a budget:
- Don’t empty it out
- Lock it up!
- Program it!
- Lights, camera, go!
- Don’t be naive
- Alarms are a smart investment
- Security cameras
- Neighborhood watch
It’s common knowledge that robbers aim for empty houses. They sometimes observe to see who is in the house and when, whether residents of the house are taking a vacation and what not. To avoid becoming an interesting target to a burglar, implement window shades which keep direct sunlight to a minimum and can be used when you are not around. At night, the glass will give away the impression of you trying to cover that there are people in the house.
Even though relying on simple locks worked so far, it’s time you upgraded locks on your doors and windows as well. Another great advice is to have a safe-proof room to hide in during a serious robbery. This can be any room in the house, a pantry, basement, attic… Just make sure you’ve got multiple locking systems installed. Better safe than sorry, right?
It is impossible to stay at home all day long, every day. You’ve got to go out, do some errands, meaning – leave your lovely home unattended. But! Make sure you make the house look like there is someone home, even when you are not there. Technology of today has made it possible for us to use digital timers that remotely control electronic devices in your home. You can set them up to become active at certain points in time! Nobody will dare try and break in when they hear a blender buzzing, will they?
The logical way of keeping burglars away is to have lights on at your front and back yard. Still, this would waste you tons of money, and unnecessarily! A great replacement are motion-sensors that can trigger the lights and surprise any robber (or any unwanted guest, wink wink).
If robbers have decided to rob your home, they will be on constant outlook, trying to figure out whether there is someone at home or not. This is why you need to be careful about the signals you give away. Small things such as full mailbox outfront (always ask your neighbour please to pick up your mail for you if you’ll be away for more than a day; call and cancel all subscriptions delivered to your address if you are away for over a week or two), your greeting message on the answering machine (do not great by telling that you are not home currently but say ‘I cannot pick up right now’ or something similarly vague), leaving a spare key under the mat (trustworthy neighbors/family should have a copy in case there is an emergency) are things you should be paying extra attention to!
Even though they may cost a bit more than you hoped, they are really an investment worth spending money on. There are alarms that can immediately let you and the appropriate authorities know that something’s wrong. If you really can’t invest in something this expensive, go for a regular alarm system – they are cheaper and they only alarm you and the immediate neighborhood. Still, this may be just enough for you!
Obviously, security cameras are the best way to have a burglar caught on tape.. There are cameras that can be programmed to feed the videos directly into any of your handheld devices. This way, you can be on top of what is going on even if you are away on a trip. Still, if the budget you are on doesnt allow installing cameras, go for fake ones. Just the appearance of cameras is sufficient enough to scare robbers off!
If you live in a compact neighborhood of people who are aware of current crime rate, maybe you could all organize neighborhood watch. You can do shifts, each night. It might sound unrewarding and as way too much effort, but at least you know you are doing something for a safer tomorrow. Obviously, neighborhood watch isn’t a permanent solution, but it’ll do good at least until the crime rate is not as high in your part of the city.
Damian Wolf is a JD Security associate in the Brisbane area, where he has instructing new customers since 2012. He is also a contributor on company website, mostly writing on alarm monitoring and video surveillance equipment. When he’s not at work, Damian loves to dive or enjoy in sports.
