5 Home Safety Tips for When You Travel
Home safety is a big deal when you’re travelling. Your home can be targeted even during the daylight, so take a few precautions to prevent thieves from breaking and entering this time of year.
By and large home safety during the holidays is all about prevention. Deter thieves from ransacking your house with a few simple safety tips. These 5 home safety tips will help you keep your home and your property safe while you’re away.
Home Safety Tips to Protect Your Home
When you’re away, home safety is all about making your home the absolute least desirable place to break into. When burglars see your home, you want them to think, “Nope. That’s not a great place to hit.”
Motion Detecting Flood Lights
Light is a burglar’s worst enemy, so outfit your home with motion activated flood lights at all four corners of your home, as well as motion activated lights at the doors. This will ensure that anyone trying to get into your home will be bathed in bright light. This is often times enough to send a prowler on his way.
Scheduled Interior Lighting
In addition to motion activated flood lights around your home’s exterior, you can install timers that will have your lights come on at certain times. Set your timer so that the lights in your home come on just before dusk. This will guarantee a fully illuminated interior at all hours of the night, making your home much less attractive to burglars.
Hold Your Mail
This is a big one in home safety while you’re away. Nothing says, “Nobody’s home” like an overflowing mailbox. It’s a clear signal to thieves that if they can get past your floods and if they can move fast enough in a fully lit home, they’ve got easy pickings. Your best bet while you’re away is to either have your neighbor grab your mail or have the post office hold it until your return.
Don’t Broadcast Your Trip
In these days of social media, we often broadcast our entire lives for all to see across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Nothing will undermine your home safety efforts like plastering your upcoming trip across the internet. It’s a burglar’s dream, especially if you don’t have your privacy settings correct. It’s a good possibility that ANYONE can know that you’re going to be gone from X date until Y date.
Keep an Eye on Things
These days, you can get good home video monitoring systems at very affordable prices. A good system will have an app associate with it allowing you to check in on your home whenever you want right from your smart phone or tablet. If you travel often, it would be wise to invest in one of these camera systems to add another layer of home safety while you’re away. Then you can check in on your abode periodically throughout the day.
And tell your neighbours you are going away. Even just one neighbour can help keep an eye out for your property and house when you travel.
Home Safety – Deterrence is Key
As you can see, the main theme of home security while you’re away is deterrence. You want your home to be a thieve’s worst nightmare. Adequate lighting, coupled with a good camera setup and refraining from plastering your trip across social media can ensure that your home is as snug as a bug in a rug.
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22 Comments
Robin (Masshole Mommy)
We usually have someone stay at our house to take care of the dog when we travel, so I feel ok when we go away.
Amanda Ripsam
I never would have thought about holing my mail but that’s a good tip I haven’t thought of unless for long periods of time but I think it would even be a good thing if you went for a few days.
Rachelle
These are awesome tips! I had no idea that you could ask the post office to hold your mail!
CATHERINE s
These are all really great ideas. I always have the them hold my mail and we have a light on a timer that comes on every night
Aimee fauci
We are so lucky. We have a neighborhood watch that will patrol our home when we are out. These are great tips though especially the sensor light.
Marielle Altenor
Those are some really great tips! I never thought of holding my mail when I go on vacation but that’s actually a great idea.
Liz Mays
It would be great to have my lights on a schedule. We have sensor lights but that’s about it. A police officer lives across the street though, just in case.
Lady Lilith
These are such great tips. There is nothing worse them comming home from a vacation to find your house visited by burglers.
Pam
These are all great tips but I think you can’t stress enough how important it is not to broadcast a trip. In this day and age with Facebook, too many people make that mistake and pay for it.
Mykidsguide
These are great tips. We have someone to watch for the house when we leave.
Amber NElson
Those are great tips. I will bookmark these for when I got on vacation.
Theresa
It’s good to get in good with the neighbors too. A few extra sets of eyes on the house can never hurt when you are away.
Gingermommy
I always worry about my home when I am away. These are great tips!
Annemarie LeBlanc
These are all great tips. I turn off my locator when I travel so the not so nice people would not know that I am not at home. It is always better to be safe than sorry, so practice these smart tips.
Carlee C
I have another tip, be sure to check your washer, freezer, and fridge to make sure they are operating correctly. It would stink to come home to a smelly house or flood due to a line busting for the ice maker or washer or just simple defrosting.
Sarah Bailey
The broadcasting one is such a big thing, I think so many of us just put things on social media these days without thinking about who might be seeing it. x
Ann Bacciaglia
These are great home safety tips. I have been looking into getting flood lights for my yard.
Fariha N.
These are very smart tips. Nowadays we tend to tell the world everything on social media and we don’t even realize what a threat it is. Thank you for pointing it out.
Toughcookiemommy
I’ve heard that robbers do watch to see if anyone is picking up the mail. It’s so scary to think that they could be watching you.
Amanda || Growing Up Madison
Since we have pets someone is always around and my neighbors keep an eye out for us so I don’t mind announcing it. With our security system and a neighborhood watch we’re good. I also don’t hold mail either but all great tips. 🙂
Veronica
great ideas! That’s when those crooks like to visit your house; when you are out of town
Mina Slater
One advantage to my parents living with me now is when I go away they’re still home. Before we used to do all of these things if we couldn’t get my cousin to house sit. The timers are so helpful and now you can turn on your lights with apps on your phone!