In the last article, I made suggestions about how to secure both the direct and indirect entryways into your home. Here are a few more personal safety tips that will definitely enhance the security of your home.
Make it difficult for anyone to see inside your home through windows, especially at night time. Use window coverings or curtains that allow the daylight to shine through (sunshine is important to your health and you don't want to become a recluse living in darkness all the time!), but make it difficult for anyone to easily see in. At nighttime the windows (even window in doors) should be covered in such a way that it is impossible to see inside your home. The main purposes for doing this is to make sure no one can:
- Become familiar with your home's layout,
- Become familiar with what valuable items you may have in your home, and
- Know for sure if you are at home or not.
An obvious suggestion that I could make is to have a security system installed in and around your home by a reputable company (do NOT use a company or person who you are not familiar with or are unable to check out the credentials). If that is not in your budget (make sure to evaluate the cost versus the risk for your individual situation), then there a few options that you can possibly do yourself to deter someone or possibly decrease the potential for an infringement of your personal safety in your home. These include:
- Create and post a fake security company decal near your main entryway - it could state something like, "Property protected by XYZ Security Company". Obviously this does not provide the security services that a real company does, but it may be enough to put doubt into a potential intruder's mind. These kinds of people are rarely looking for a challenge or a hassle - they want an easy target.
- Install motion detector lighting around your home, especially at or near entryways and windows. These can be found at most hardware stores and are not difficult to install once the electrical is set up for them.
- Take a close look at the landscaping around your home. Is there anything there (bushes, trees, fencing, etc) that could provide a good hiding place for someone? Is there anything there could make it easier for someone to gain access to your home through a basement, lower level or upper level (climbing a tree, a fence, etc)?
- Look at all the potential entryways into your home (windows and doors) - are any of them completely isolated from the view of any of your neighbors (does your neighborhood help watch over each others home and property?)? If you have some entryways that are completely isolated, you probably want to concentrate some security efforts on those areas.
Again, I hope these tips provide you with valuable information that either supports what you are doing or gives you new things that will increase your level of personal safety even more! I have even more to come next time! In the meantime - One Body, One Life, One Choice...Be Smart & Be Safe!
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