The holiday season is the time of year when family and friends get together. This is also one of the prime seasons of the year in which we take extra precaution to protect our home while we are away. If you’re planning to travel out of town this holiday season, consider these 10 holiday safety tips:
- Protect against would-be intruders or anyone who is near your home that shouldn’t be by installing motion detecting lights
- Keep shrubbery trimmed short to prevent blocking viewability in the event an intruder is trying to enter your home through a window
- Set timers on your lights and TV. This solution is one of the easiest ways to make it look like you are home, even when you’re not.
- Contact your local post office and request a hold be placed on incoming mail and packages. We all know how much burglars love it when there are unattended Amazon boxes left on the front door steps…
- Leave a parked car in your driveway. If possible, ask a neighbor to brush off any snow that may fall on your car while you’re away or this may be a tell-tale sign to potential intruders that you are not home.
- Make sure every window and exterior door to your home is locked and secured. This is simple enough, but you’d be surprised how many people leave their second story windows unlocked by accident.
- Remember in the olden days, how Santa didn’t leave his presents under the tree until the night before Christmas? We could all learn a thing or two from Santa, as leaving large gifts and valuables in plain view of your window is a calling card for it to be stolen.
- We look forward to smelling the scent of a freshly cut Christmas tree in our home, but we often forget to water our trees as often as it’s needed to prevent a potential tree fire. Be sure to not only test all fire detector and carbon monoxide detector monitors in your home, but also change the batteries.
- Speaking of watering the Christmas tree, if you’re planning to have a neighbor help pet-sit or bring in your mail, one of the easiest ways to control who is entering your home is by creating temporary, secure home access codes for your doors or garage.
- Lastly, if you currently have a security system in your home notify your alarm monitoring company to let them know you’ll be out of town. A couple of items that are helpful to share with them is a phone number where you can reached if they cannot reach you by cell phone as well as the dates you’ll be gone with special instructions should they need to reach you.
Please be safe this holiday season. With these safety tips in mind, you’re tinsel won’t be in a tangle.