August is here and that means happy holidays for a lot of families, couples and individuals. Holidays and trips abroad are all about recharging the batteries, making a few brilliant memories, broadening the mind and relaxing and they usually do the trick extremely well.
However, some people find that wonderful state of mind attained during a break from work and the daily grind completely shattered when they get home. If they’ve been targeted by burglars while they were away, it doesn’t matter how good the holiday was and how relaxed they were – the chief memory they’ll have of it is coming home to house that’s been broken into, damaged and gutted.
Suffering this sort of thing can do real harm to your peace of mind thereafter and it makes holidays abroad a particular worry. It’s best to protect your home as best you can, not just so that you avoid the hassle of claiming on your insurance and cleaning up the mess, but so that you are able to enjoy going away in the future, without an inner sense of dread about what you may come home to.
So what can you do in order to make sure your home remains safe when you go away for a week or two and can’t defend the place for yourself?
Don’t invite attention
You can start by not signalling your intent. It’s often the case that people target properties by watching out for your usual movements. Although you can’t do too much against the most watchful of predatory burglars you can wriggle free of the gaze of the opportunists.
Leave a couple of lights on while you’re away – not all of them, just enough to suggest that someone might be at home. Choose a lamp that might reasonably be left on all night rather than one that broadcasts your deterrence strategy.
Don’t tempt people
It’s absolutely crucial that you don’t tempt people. Opportunist burglaries do occur when a trespasser has a carrot dangled in front of them. For instance, leaving your car keys or laptop right in front of a downstairs window is asking for trouble. Put everything away before you go on holiday. It’s nice to come home to a clean house, but there’s more to tidying up as part of your preparation.
Invest in technology
The best deterrents are usually technological. Some people use things like CCTV at home and this is great if you have the resources, but you can usually deter people well enough with alarm systems. They’re pretty obvious and when they are tripped they are incredibly loud. Few burglars will run the risk of being caught because they’re just trying to get hold of whatever they can reasonably carry and sell quickly and easily.
Make burglars work for their spoils
It’s a good idea to make your home as hard as possible to break into quietly. Good locks on the doors and windows are security essentials because they generally oblige burglars to put a lot of time and effort into breaking into your property – or make one hell of a racket to do so with a bit of extra haste. The more effort someone has to put into stealing from you, the less likely they are to try it.
