Nothing ruins a great vacation like returning home to find someone tried to break into your home while you were out of town. An empty house is practically an invitation for a thief, but going out of town doesn’t have to leave your home vulnerable.
Before you take off on your summer vacation, take these steps to secure your home.
- Automate your lights - If your house is dark all night, potential prowlers will notice you’re out of town. Instead of tipping them off, use smart lighting to make it look like someone’s inside. Smart bulbs that work with Alexa or Google Home let you create a schedule for the lights and control things on an app while you’re away.
- Secure the doors and windows with sensors - Step one is making sure they’re all closed and locked before you leave, especially the ones you rarely use, like the basement window. Adding smart sensors gives another layer of protection because with an app they’ll show you if any windows and doors are still open and let you monitor them.
- Swap out spare keys for smart locks - Professional thieves know many of us hide our spare keys under a rock or planter on the front porch. So instead of leaving them that way to get in, switch to smart locks that can be controlled remotely and accessed with a code. That way you can give the code to anyone you want to be able to get inside the house while you’re gone and no one else can get in.
- Plan for package deliveries - If a package didn’t make it before you went out of town, you don’t want to have that box sitting next to the front door until you’re back because it’s a clear sign to porch pirates that no one’s home. Start by trying to make sure all orders will be delivered before or after your trip, but if you can’t, a doorbell camera can help. It can alert you when something is delivered and you can ask a friend or neighbor to come pick it up for you, then you can return the favor on their next vacation.
Source: Real Simple
Scott's Thoughts:
- Why is it always the packages that you need for your trip that seem to get delayed?!
- I live in a nice neighborhood and we all own guns. We all lookout for each other!
- Not everyone is lucky enough to have a home security system.