Holiday Home Security: 5 Ways to Keep Your Residence Safe

• December 20, 2018
• By secureguard

With all of the decorations, shopping, parties, and fun coming up with the holiday season, it’s important to be safe and secure while also having a little fun. The best thing Secure Guard can suggest for the security and safety of you, your family or business assets during the holidays, as well as the rest of the year, is to be prepared and contact your local security company for service. But there are several other things you can do in addition to that to help keep your home and family safe. Here are five tips to help you do just that:

1. Keep your travel plans offline.
If you plan on traveling during the holiday season, be sure to keep your travel plans offline—meaning not on any social media networks. Never post where you are going, when you are leaving, or when you will be back. This is prime information for thieves because they’ll know when your house will be empty. Even if you have your Facebook or Twitter accounts set on private, posting personal travel plans is never recommended.

2. Notify a Neighbor.
If you are planning to leave town during the holiday season, it’s always best to notify a trusted neighbor. Ask that neighbor to keep an eye on your house and report any suspicious activity. Also, make sure your house looks like somebody is home to deter a burglar by keeping some of the lights on if possible. 

3. Hide Christmas gifts and packages.
Over the past few years, burglary in regards to packages being mailed to homes has been a common threat to many neighborhoods. You probably already have a plan to keep gifts our of your children’s sight, but you also need to make sure that these gifts are hidden from potential burglars as well. Placing nicely wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree may look nice, but it’s an open invitation for burglars. If you have a Christmas tree at home, try to keep it away from windows or other places with a view. When you aren’t home, it’s easy to break through a window to grab the gifts and go.

Most importantly, don’t forget to track the gifts/packages you haven’t received yet. Amazon Prime deliveries may be great, but thieves like to strike those packages left unguarded on the porch. Consider adding a doorbell cam or a security camera if your HOA hasn’t already provided security patrolling through your neighborhood. If you’re expecting a lot of deliveries and you know you won’t be home, consider renting out a package locker—Amazon Prime members have access to this for free—or invest in a secure drop box to keep on your porch.

4. Watch your Christmas lights.
According to the U.S. Fire Administration, the month of December is the deadliest for electrical fires. Before you decide to string lights around the house or Christmas tree, be sure you’re not working with frayed cords or cracked lamps. Replace any broken lamps and throw away strands with frayed cords as this will help prevent any accidental fires. You’ll want to buy cords that have been tested by an independent laboratory, like the Underwriters Laboratory. Be sure to check the packaging to see that the manufacturer’s name and information are clearly marked. Also, be sure to turn off holiday lights when you go out for the evening or when going to bed.

5. Inspect the furnace and the chimney. 
Heating-equipment, like fireplaces and furnaces, causes many deaths every year in the United States. In fact, in 2008, the U.S. Fire Administration reported approximately 2,650 people were killed by house fires. With that being said, have a professional inspect your furnace, sweep the chimney (if you have one) and clean out the air ducts before you need to you’re your homes.

While you’re at it, you might as well check the batteries on carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms—while you may be doing this for your homes, be sure to have this done at your workplace as well. It’s important that we test these life-saving devices that we take for granted sometimes; be sure to check expiration dates on them as well.

The holidays can be the most wonderful time of the year, so long as you stay safe and secure during them. If you need an extra hand during the holidays to keep you, your family or your business assets secure, be sure to reach out to a local security company like Secure Guard Security Services.

At the end of the day the goals are simple: safety and security.