The Cheapskate Guide To Home Security

By Author: Foster Carr
Total Articles: 30
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One of the best ways to improve your home security and bring down your home insurance premium is to install an alarm system. However, alarm systems can be quite expensive to install and maintain. Thankfully, there are a number of steps that you can take to improve your home security situation without breaking the bank.

Keep any hedges, trees, and bushes near your windows trimmed back so that a potential burglar can find no hiding place in your garden, as this may be enough to make them look elsewhere.

You can uprate the security of any door by installing a deadbolt, which makes the door more robust and harder to open without a key. Ideally, breaking into your home should cause as much of a disturbance as possible, so you do not want to give burglars any easy options.

Motion detectors, which turn on your driveway lights whenever anyone goes past your home in the dark, can be a highly effective deterrent to burglars and badly behaved children alike, and hint at the presence of a more expensive alarm system.

Few burglars will risk trying to gain access to a property that has a guard dog, but actually ...
... owning a dog can be a very expensive business, what with all the vet bills and expensive tins of jellied meat that a dog owner has to pay out for nowadays. If you cannot afford to keep a dog, or do not want the hassle, simply faking the presence of a four legged friend can be an effective deterrent to burglars. Leave some obvious canine accoutrements, such as a dog bowl, collar, or leash outside the front of your house, and most burglars will move along.

Creating the illusion that a very big, tough man lives on the property can be a highly effective anti burglary device for women who live on their own. A few choice manly items, such as builders gloves or work boots, left out on the front step can make all the difference.

Buy some timed switches, and connect lights to them. By setting them up to turn lights on and off inside your home at a set time each day while you are away, you can create the illusion that there are people inside when there are not.

All the cunning ruses in the world may be undone if you fail to lock all the doors and windows every time you leave the house. A lot of burglaries are opportunistic, quick affairs, so even if you are only going out to the shop, make sure that everything is locked before you do so.

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