Keep your home safe this festive season with these tips
The festive season is when you get to spend ideal time with family and friends and keep the stress at bay.
But the festive season is also the time to ensure that your home is safe in your absence.
It is the time when burglars love to practice their criminal activities and improve their skills.
It is a convenient time for burglars as the holiday season is when most people go out on vacations as well.
Safety tips for your home during holidays
All the decorations, shopping, dinners, parties and fun come with a price if you fail to keep your home safe.
It is not only burglars you have to worry about during the festive season, but you must also take precautions to prevent incidents.
Carelessness can end in painful loss and injury. How can you keep your home safe? Here are six festive safety tips to keep your humble abode safe during the festive holidays.
Install a monitored security system
There are many home security systems available in the market at an ideal price.
These security systems are a great way to keep monitoring your home from any remote location.
Most of the security systems nowadays come with continuous recording, monitoring, detection of fire and burglars, detection of excessive carbon monoxide concentrations, smoke alerts and other alarm alerts, among other features.
A monitored security system is your first step to holiday safety. Make sure to test all zones of the alarm system before you leave, to ensure they work properly.
Keep your plans offline
Taking proper precautions will not only help you keep your home safe, but also lets you enjoy the season without worrying about your home. One of the most important steps is to keep your vacation plans offline. Social media has become a very important part of our lives.
We tend to upload everything that we do, and plan to do, to share our lives with our family and friends. By updating your holiday travel plans on social media, you are sending an open invitation to burglars. There is always time after your travel to update on social media. Keep your plans away from social media; keep your holiday plans offline!
Give your home a lived-in look
Would a burglar attempt to enter a home with people in it? A brilliant way to keep your home safe is to deceive outsiders into thinking that the house is lived in.
Technology is the key to successfully implementing this holiday safety tip.
Install a home automation technology system that can be controlled remotely by a model device, or scheduled to turn on the lights or turn them off at a set time.
Take help from a neighbour or neighbours
Having friends around is the best security system that comes for free. Take help from your neighbours when you travel. You can ask a neighbour to pick your posts and newspapers in your absence so that the house looks lived-in. You can also notify the neighbourhood watch regarding your plans so that there is someone to keep watch while you are on vacation.
With your neighbours watching over your home, they can notify any suspicious activities that happen. Just make sure to notify a neighbour or neighbours whom you trust.
Position your and gifts wisely
Christmas tree
The best part about Christmas is decorating the Christmas tree and arranging the gifts around.
Make sure you position the tree and the gifts away from the window, preferably away from outsiders’ view.
Fireplaces and candles are worse than burglars; electrical safety is important as well
The do’s and don’ts to protect your home are not just precautionary measures to evade burglars during holidays and festivities; these tips also help to keep your home safe from fire and other incidents that can destroy your home completely and severely injure you.
To ensure that your home is protected from potential fire and other accidents, you must first take help from an electrician and get the wires tested.
Other holiday safety tips
include:
■I■spect the furnace and the chimney
■Keep the decorations minimal
■Make sure not to overload the electric circuits
■Make sure that all electric bulbs work properly
■Make sure that there are no damaged sockets that can trigger a fire
■Keep the external decorations safe from snow and ice
■O■●y use cords and bulbs rated for outdoor use
■Use candles and fireplaces safely, hang the stockings and keep the tree branches at a safe distance
■Keep a fire extinguisher handy
■Keep the Christmas tree and gifts away from the fireplace
It is time to relax and unwind and not worry about your home. Follow these festive season tips to keep your home safe, and let the festivities lessen your worries and bring joy throughout the season.