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Home › Articles › Safe Family › Safety Made Simple

Safety Made Simple

Home Security on a Budget

By Tenna Perry

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Secure the Exterior
Other suggestions from Tomeselli to help secure the outside of your home include the following:

  • Use double-keyed deadbolts. If the intruder came in through a window and there are double-keyed deadbolts on all the exit doors, he can only steal what he can get back through the window. This not only slows him down and limits his thievery, it also is more suspicious to neighbors, who might then call the police.
  • Set up outside lights with motion sensors.
  • Buy the door/window signs that say, "This house protected by..." and place them in clear view of both front and back entries to the home.
  • It is also easy for a homeowner to buy keypads and alarm-style horns, then mount them in plain sight, but never actually have them hooked up to an alarm system. Radio Shack is an excellent source for such things.
  • If you get a daily paper, call them and have them put a hold on all deliveries if you are going to be out of town. Ask a neighbor that you trust to pick up the small, community papers that are often delivered free to homes.
  • Join your neighborhood watch and get to know your neighbors. Let them know you will keep a watch on their homes, and they normally will return the favor.

Woman-to-Woman Advice
Bonnie Cao of Portland, Ore., recommends getting to know your neighbors – but for a different reason. "You know that quote about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer?" asks Cao. "My suggestion is like that. Get to know your neighbors, especially the ones that seem least trustworthy. Give them reason to respect you, not hate you. One year we lost nearly $3,000 worth of tools, ladder, air compressor, etc., from the shed, truck and back yard. We suspected the neighbors across the street (mostly the friends of their adult son), but could never prove anything. Interestingly enough, once my husband took the initiative to get acquainted with the old man and his son, we stopped having problems and have not lost anything since. It is kind of like honor among thieves, I guess. They won't steal from a friend. They even keep an eye out for our kids and dogs from time to time."

Margaret Helmstetter of Sierra Vista, Ariz., recommends you keep pepper spray or even aerosol hair spray near entry doors and in various parts of the house. "Just be sure you know how to use it and which direction the spray is pointed," says Helmstetter. "One night my mother didn't put on her glasses but answered the door with the pepper spray in hand. It happened to be a police officer who politely showed her the best way to use the stuff was not pointed directly at her own face."

Heather Truett of Tallassee, Ala., feels a car in the driveway provides her with additional security. "If my husband is going to be out of town, I want to know there is a car parked in our driveway," says Truett. "At one time, his car was the only one we had, so I had a friend park her car in our driveway. That way, it doesn't look 100-percent deserted."

Whatever methods you choose to make your home safer, inside and out, you'll feel more protected and ready for the unexpected.

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