Our home is not only the most important investment that we have spent our lifetime savings at but also houses our most important family members and kids. Every homeowner needs to understand the importance of keeping their home safe and secure in every possible way. Now, safe home security goes beyond setting up a “burglar alarm” and taking the whole thing easy. It is about paying extra careful attention to your home, and effectively preparing for any contingency.

And contrary to popular belief, it does not require a heavy investment. With a bit of planning and by paying attention to the details, you can indeed make your home secure and send a strong signal out to the burglars that you are prepared.

When we talk home security, we’re not just referring to the expensive methods out there, but also to some basic steps that you can take such as installing the right type of peephole. You obviously don’t want to open a door unless and until you know who is on the other side. A peephole does the job of letting you see who’s there. However, most peepholes are too small and can make it hard for you to identify who’s on the other side. So in order to ensure that you get a clear view, install a “wide angle” door viewer. This helps you avoid uncertainty of any kind. Do you need one of those big and heavy safes to keep your valuable safe/secure? Absolutely not. For about $100 bucks you can get a good safe that helps you protect your valuables from thieves. Make sure you fasten the safe to the wall or the floor so that in case someone breaks in, they aren’t able to walk off with it. If you’re looking for a safe that also offers fire protection, or has a fingerprint reading system built in, then it will cost you more. Nevertheless, installing a small safe is important to keep your valuable papers/jewelry safe.

Your first line of defense against thieves is keeping the doors along with the windows securely locked. Adding wireless alarms to your doors/windows (which are activated by their opening and closing) makes them even more secure. It’s a fact that burglars don’t like noises, so even a simple alarm can scare them off. You can use these alarms for doors/windows in secluded/hidden areas in your home where there’s not much activity. Adding a heavy-duty strike plate along with some extra long/sturdy to reinforce your door jamb screws will give your door the needed strength to face any fierce kicks from the burglars if and when they try to break in. In order to check if your dead bolt is reinforced or not, just remove the “strike plate”. If you see a heavy reinforcing plate on it or it has heavy/strong steel with long screws, then it’s okay. If not, then you’ll have to purchase strike plate reinforcing hardware from one of the home centers.

When it comes to safe home security, it’s important that you don’t leave any stones un-turned. The tips that we discussed above may look simple or common, but at the end of the day, they make your home more secure. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and take the necessary steps to make your home burglar-proof. We all like to leave windows open at night, especially in the summer months when it’s viciously hot. But an open window can easily become a point of access for robbers and all manner of bad people. You can easily enjoy the cool night breezes without the risk of being broken into by installing security screens on your windows and doors. A proper security screen, unlike a weak and ineffective fly screen, is too strong to be kicked in by passing opportunist criminals and is bound to last for years. There are many security companies, such as Stylewise Security, that can provide window security screens and mesh.
Hot Wires

Motion sensors and trip wires that are synched with alarm systems are one of the best ways that you can deter potential home invaders. Even just having an empty box (that admittedly looks like an ‘official security system’) on your outside wall can deter many criminals but the real deal will always be far more effective than an empty box painted to look like a bona fide alarm system. With modern technology, you can receive SMS updates and notifications on your mobile phone if/when your alarm system is tripped so even when you are away from home, you can still keep up-to-date with what’s happening in your home.

A massive dog with huge teeth and claws is probably one of your best options when it comes to home security. This option does involve ongoing costs such as veterinary fees, dog food and the possibility of said dog munching down on your sofa and/or other property. There’s also the issue of having to clean up after your pet, the fact that it might get escape from your property (which will involve council penalties etc.) and the time required to train your dog. Remember a dog is for life, not just for Christmas.

As another visual deterrent, having an alarm positioned clearly on the front of your house will work wonders – you may even be able to get away with just attaching an empty box to the wall to deter would be burglars. The same goes for security cameras; you can buy ‘dummy’ CCTV packages from most hardware stores, which you can then mount above your front door. More often than not, the appearance of additional security will keep the house-breakers away from your property. That and the deep throated barking of your new guard dog.