Securing Your Home over the Festive Season

With so many of us now enjoying travel over the festive season, it’s often not until we see our beautiful home in the rear vision mirror that we worry if we’ve done enough to make sure it’s all still there when we get home!  In order to protect your home, valuables and pets during short or long trips away, here’s a quick list of suggestions you might consider:- 

• Invest in ‘smart’ devices such as light bulbs or a timer switch on a radio, that can be controlled via your smart phone so that your home doesn’t sit dark & silent 
• Keep your social media accounts private so would-be thieves can’t see you enjoying the pool in your luxury Fijian resort! 
• Ask friends, neighbours, relatives to drop-by randomly, parking in the driveway if possible 
• Have someone collect your post regularly so you don’t have days’ old piles of mail in your letterbox giving the game away!  

• If you’re away for longer than a week or so, consider having your post temporarily redirected so as not to have parcels or large amounts of mail building up 

• Have a neighbour put your bins in & out rather than putting them out days in advance & advertising the fact no one is home 
• Continue your regular yard/pool maintenance whilst you’re away so the home looks cared for, it also offers another pair of eyes to spot anything suspicious 
• Ensure your electricity box is secure/padlocked 
• Let your neighbours know you’re heading out of town as they’re more likely to pay attention to strange vehicles or visitors, although you might also need to let them know which friends are stopping by so they don’t call the authorities on an innocent helper! 
• Never hide a key outside your home – with no one home to interrupt, thieves would be happy to spend time looking for your secret hidey spot 
• Don’t power your outdoor lights with a cable via a window – this could prevent the window from being securely shut 
• Consider investing in a visible home security system – they’re not as expensive as they once were, in fact a simple doorbell camera will help deter unwanted visitors & can be accessed remotely from wherever you happen to be 
• If you have a pet, rather than dropping them for a doggy holiday at a kennel, consider having someone pet-sit.  This is a double layer of protection as your home won’t be vacant, and a barking dog is the number one deterrent for thieves.  It also means your beloved pet get’s a little extra attention while you’re away.