This is a collaborative post.
Image from Pixabay – CC0 License
Making your home more safe and secure doesn’t have to be expensive. When you look for advice on home security, you can often find lots of high-tech tips on how to lock down your home like a fortress. But there’s no need to spend a lot of money to make your home more secure. In fact, much of what can help you to be safer and more secure at home is in how you choose to behave and the things that you do, rather than the gadgets that you own. Take a look at these tips if you want to make your home safer on a budget.
Practise Good Fire Safety
It’s always a good idea to have at least one fire alarm in your home, but it doesn’t need to be anything fancy. You can buy them cheaply and you just have to make sure they’re powered and test them regularly. One of the most important ways to prevent fires in your home is to practice good fire safety. That means doing things like always watching your food when you’re cooking, not leaving lit candles alone, and avoiding overloading power sockets. All of these things will help to prevent fires at no extra cost.
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Be Vigilant
Smart home security is becoming more popular, and people are using tech such as smart cameras and doorbells. But you don’t have to spend money on these things to make your home more secure. Instead of buying high-tech security systems, being more vigilant about your home security is a good idea.
Be sure to lock your windows and doors at night, as well as when you’re not at home. If you’re going away for an extended period, it’s even a good idea to have someone house sit for you or come and check on your home to make it look like it’s not empty.
Get Up-to-Date Safety Certificates
Safety certificates might cost money, but they could save you a lot of money too. If you know that things like your home’s electrics and gas supply are safe, you can reduce the chance of something dangerous happening.
You should consider getting a gas safety check and an EICR (electrical safety check). How often should EICRs be conducted? For a private home, it should be about once every 10 years. However, landlords are required to have them carried out every 5 years. A gas safety certificate lasts for just 12 months.
Image from Pixabay – CC0 License
Don’t Flash Your Valuables
Another way to keep your home safe and secure is to be discreet with your valuables. Having a huge TV visible through your window could increase the chance of your home being broken into. Leaving valuable items in obvious or easy-to-find places could increase the risk of theft. Try not to make it obvious to outsiders what you have in your home. Use a safe or other similar method to keep your smaller valuables secure.
Use these tips to keep your home safe without having to spend a lot of money to do it.
Moira Sutherland says
Simple measures work. We live in a single storey house the bedroom window has bars but was open. The burglar used some device to lean in take the house keys and my phone from beside the bed, he then unlocked the front door but we put a drop bar on it before going to bed, it is just lifted off in an emergency, so the door would not open. He then pressed the button to open 5he garage but that only lifted two inches as we put blocks in the door runners every night, the door movement set off the alarm. I live in a high crime area, not in the UK.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Wow! That’s an impressive bit of preparation, which worked amazingly well
Kerstin says
A dog is the best burglar deterrent but failing that blinds on windows..they make a hell of a racket if someone is trying to get in, gravel paths and also try windchimes on doors.