One of a homeowner's principal defenses in the battle against burglary is illusion.
Creating the illusion of an occupied home goes a long way towards keeping thieves off your lawn and out of your house.
Burglars tend to look for the easy option, so anything you can do to convince them that your house is not worth looking at will help complete your home security plan.
A number of cheap objects exist on the market to aid you in the quest for complete home security.
First, look for home security system decals.
These are available from a number of online home security retailers and from some professional home security companies.
The decals are just stickers that indicate that a home is protected by a professional home security company.
Even if the decals are not backed by a bona fide home alarm system, they will serve as a powerful deterrent.
Think about it from the thief's perspective: Could you afford to take the risk? A home alarm system connected to a 24-hour monitoring service spells big trouble for potential intruders, so the likely answer is no.
Second, look for fake home security cameras.
A camera really raises the stakes for a home burglar, raising the possibility that, even if he makes it in and out safely, he will be caught and identified on video in the future.
If he has to choose between the one house that has, or might have, a camera, and the dozen houses next to it that do not, which do you think he will choose? In general, the bigger the better, but you do not want it to be so big as to look ridiculous.
Place the cameras above doors or high in trees, but well out of reach of those who might be curious and daring enough to take a closer look.
Fake decals, fake cameras, what else can we use? Experts say that it is a good idea when traveling to leave your television on or to put it on an automatic timer to simulate periodic watching and frighten potential intruders.
Some people, however, may be uncomfortable with leaving a television on due to wasteful energy usage or for fear of exhausting the bulb unnecessarily on an expensive television.
Have no fear, however, because in the land of fake decals and fake cameras, there also exist fake televisions.
Low-powered lights can be found that use small computers to generate flickering lights of different colors at random patterns.
The illusion through a window is that of a TV playing.
These lights can be set on timers or attached to one to come on only at certain times of day.
The ingenious devices consume much less power than a television but provide the same powerful deterrent effect.
The important thing to remember when approaching home security is that you do not have to break the bank to make your home safer.
A professional home alarm system can do wonders for your home security, but there are simple, cheap alternatives as well.
Above all, the most important thing you can do for home security is to create an image of an occupied house.
Creating the illusion of an occupied home goes a long way towards keeping thieves off your lawn and out of your house.
Burglars tend to look for the easy option, so anything you can do to convince them that your house is not worth looking at will help complete your home security plan.
A number of cheap objects exist on the market to aid you in the quest for complete home security.
First, look for home security system decals.
These are available from a number of online home security retailers and from some professional home security companies.
The decals are just stickers that indicate that a home is protected by a professional home security company.
Even if the decals are not backed by a bona fide home alarm system, they will serve as a powerful deterrent.
Think about it from the thief's perspective: Could you afford to take the risk? A home alarm system connected to a 24-hour monitoring service spells big trouble for potential intruders, so the likely answer is no.
Second, look for fake home security cameras.
A camera really raises the stakes for a home burglar, raising the possibility that, even if he makes it in and out safely, he will be caught and identified on video in the future.
If he has to choose between the one house that has, or might have, a camera, and the dozen houses next to it that do not, which do you think he will choose? In general, the bigger the better, but you do not want it to be so big as to look ridiculous.
Place the cameras above doors or high in trees, but well out of reach of those who might be curious and daring enough to take a closer look.
Fake decals, fake cameras, what else can we use? Experts say that it is a good idea when traveling to leave your television on or to put it on an automatic timer to simulate periodic watching and frighten potential intruders.
Some people, however, may be uncomfortable with leaving a television on due to wasteful energy usage or for fear of exhausting the bulb unnecessarily on an expensive television.
Have no fear, however, because in the land of fake decals and fake cameras, there also exist fake televisions.
Low-powered lights can be found that use small computers to generate flickering lights of different colors at random patterns.
The illusion through a window is that of a TV playing.
These lights can be set on timers or attached to one to come on only at certain times of day.
The ingenious devices consume much less power than a television but provide the same powerful deterrent effect.
The important thing to remember when approaching home security is that you do not have to break the bank to make your home safer.
A professional home alarm system can do wonders for your home security, but there are simple, cheap alternatives as well.
Above all, the most important thing you can do for home security is to create an image of an occupied house.