Home & Texture wants you to know that the secret to creating your safe haven is much more attainable than you might think! This article is proudly sponsored by Volvo Cars.

Home safety is an incredibly important part of being a homeowner. This is because the home is not only a physical structure, but a place of refuge to find comfort, relaxation, and a sense of belonging. Because of this, homeowners should ensure that their homes are safe and secure for themselves and their loved ones.

How Investing in Home Safety Is Beneficial

Home safety should be a top priority for a number of reasons. First, it helps prevent accidents and injuries. By addressing dangerous hazards, such as broken stairs or exposed wires, homeowners can help ensure that their family members are safe from harm.

Next, installing smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and childproofing measures, for example, can go a long way in preventing unfortunate events. And taking care of electrical systems, gas appliances, and home structures can minimize mishaps resulting from faulty equipment or structural issues.

Unfortunately, home safety also includes protecting the home against other people as well. Homeowners are vulnerable to multiple crimes including burglary, home invasion, and vandalism. Burglaries happen when criminals break into the home to steal valuables. Home invasions, on the other hand, involve violent entry into homes that are currently occupied, which can be very scary and dangerous. And vandalism, which can include things like graffiti or damaging property, can also make a home feel less safe.

These criminal offenses not only invade personal privacy, causing emotional distress, but can result in financial losses as well. So to minimize the risk of such crimes, homeowners should create a strategy of preventive measures.

How To Create a Safer Home Environment Without an Alarm System

When you prioritize home safety, you can safeguard against accidents and criminal activities. This can provide peace of mind and allow you to better enjoy the home life with your loved ones. Here are some things you can do to create a safer home environment:

Utilize Neighborhood Watch

Consider starting a neighborhood watch program. If a program already exists, consider joining it.

It is important to connect with your neighbors to improve home safety. Neighborhood watch programs promote vigilance among locals. By keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity, neighbors can effectively prevent criminal activities from occurring. Neighbors can also band together to speak with local law enforcement or city officials to express their concerns.

Having a neighborhood watch program not only prevents crime but also strengthens the community bond by encouraging residents to actively contribute to the safety of the community as a whole.

Reinforce Entry Points

In order to promote home safety, ensure that your entry points — i.e. doors and windows — are secured. For example, installing solid-core doors can provide better protection from forced entry. And taking care to strengthen door frames with metal plates or bars is helpful for making them more durable, which can reduce the risk of a break-in. You should also consider opting for deadbolt locks, which provide more security compared to regular locks.

Window security film is useful for increasing the security of your home. Window security film is a thick laminate that is applied to glass windows and doors, preventing them from being smashed or broken. As a result, it can prevent home invasions and enhance privacy.

Consider Lighting

Making sure that your exterior is well-lit is a highly effective way to deter criminals and enhance home safety. For example, you can install motion-sensor lights near entrances, pathways, and dark corners to immediately shine a light on areas when someone approaches. This sudden spotlight surprises potential intruders because it draws attention to their presence, discouraging them from committing a home invasion.

Other common entry points that criminals target are the garage and backyard, so be sure to cover your bases there as well. With ample lighting, homeowners create better visibility and make it harder for wrongdoers to go unnoticed.

Hide Your Valuables

Store your valuables such as jewelry and confidential documents in a secure, locked safe. Safes not only protect your belongings from getting lost but they also add another layer of security against theft. This is because many safes are not easy to open without the correct key or combination.

Another way to deter burglars is by having a designated hiding spot to store your belongings. When valuables are less visible and accessible, burglars are less likely to target the home as they would not spend extensive time searching for them. For this reason, homeowners should decide on a secure location away from windows and doors where burglars can’t see them.

Maintain Landscaping

Keeping your landscaping cut low is very important for home safety. When shrubs and trees start to overgrow, they can provide hiding spots for intruders. This compromises the security of your property, leaving you and your loved ones more vulnerable.

To protect your home, make sure to regularly trim bushes and trees, especially if they are near windows and entryways. This helps to eliminate hiding places, making it harder for intruders to approach your home undetected.

Maintaining the landscaping around windows and entry points also improves visibility. It allows residents and neighbors to easily spot any suspicious activity. Plus, when your home and landscaping are maintained, it signals to intruders that the home is not only taken care of but fully occupied.

Incorporate Technology

Adding Apple AirTags to your home security plan can provide extra protection for your valuables. Apple AirTags are small, Bluetooth-enabled devices that can be easily attached to your belongings, including purses, key chains, laptops, or even cars. With the Find My network, AirTags enable users to track their belongings through their Apple devices.

AirTags can be extremely helpful in cases where valuables are lost or stolen. Homeowners can easily locate their belongings or alert authorities to their whereabouts. And by setting notifications to sounds when your valuables move away from their designated location, AirTags also act as an early warning system to prevent incidents from happening in the first place.