As a member of Master Lock’s Live Secure Safety Squad, I have been compensated for my time in writing this post and receive samples for review.
The holidays are a joyous time filled with traditions plus time with loved ones and friends but in order to truly enjoy the season, it’s important to take steps to secure your home whether you’re spending the holidays at home, visiting relatives for the day, or leaving your home for an extended period of time.
Every year our neighborhood suffers a rash of burglaries around the holidays. Neighbors report that their cars have been rifled through in the middle of the night, items go missing from their front porches, and occasionally homes are broken into. Brazen intruders have kicked in doors when homeowners leave for work. Others look for dark homes during the evening hours and take advantage of vacant homes.
These unsettling incidences make homeowners feel violated and renew the desire to protect and secure items in and around homes. Taking measures to protect your belongings as the holidays approach ensures that your belongings will be secured throughout the year.
Give your house that lived in look even when you’re away
Use smart home security systems to your lights on timers, leave some shoes by the back door, and have a neighbor come by to bring in mail and any packages instead of stopping delivery. Thieves often look for patterns and a mail carrier who skips a house is a sure sign that someone is away.
Secure your doors
Using a smart home security system to monitor your home while you’re away is always a good idea but it’s important to take steps to keep intruders out. We’ve installed a longer deadbolt with a thicker strike plate on our front and back doors and added a thicker strike plate to ensure that the deadbolt would remain secure if someone tried to break in with force. If you have a sliding glass door, Master Lock 265DCCSEN Door Security Bar is a low profile and highly effective way to ensure that your door can’t be forced open from the outside.
It fits right into the track of your sliding door but can also be used behind any exterior door to prevent it from being opened from the outside.
Keep high value items out of sight
Take a walk around your house and peek through your windows. What can you see? Don’t tempt thieves by leaving presents and electronics in plain sight where they can see them when first glancing through your windows. In the event that someone does enter your home, you want to make sure that personal documents and high value items are secured. A privacy lock file, like the SentrySafe Privacy Lock File (HD4100), can be used to secure documents and copies of digital files on hard drives during a break-in but also in a fire or flood. Sentry Safe’s Privacy Lock File (HD4100) can survive a fire at 1550 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes and is designed to protect against water submersion in a flood.*
After taking measures to secure your home while you’re away, it’s also important to be mindful of how you’ll keep your belongings safe while traveling.
Secure items in your hotel room
If you’re not sure if your hotel room will have a safe and you feel wary about leaving items behind in your hotel room, get a Master Lock 5900D SafeSpace to secure your stuff. Safe Space is a portable locking safe that’s perfect for travel. It has a locking cable that you can secure around a stationary object and has a padded interior that is perfect for storing cash, credit cards, or passports when traveling. Available for under $30, it’s a wise investment for any family.
Be mindful about wifi while away
The holidays are a great time to unplug but if you do need to be connected while away, be mindful of how you’re connecting. At any time of year, public wifi can be a blessing and a hazard. We love our connectivity but it’s important to remember that unsecured networks can be a phishing ground for digital thieves who are after information that can lead to identity theft, credit card fraud, and drained bank accounts. Using a personal hotspot ensures you have your own private and secure WiFi connection when out of the house but it’s also important to store passwords in a secure place like Master Lock Vault and know not to do any online banking or tasks that can jeopardize your personal information when on public wifi.
For more safety tips, read my past posts:
- 4 DIY Projects to Protect Your Home During the Holidays and Throughout the Year
- 6 Fall Safety Tips for Securing Your Home and Belongings
As a member of Master Lock’s Live Secure Safety Squad, I have been compensated for my time in writing this post and receive samples for review.
*UL Classified to survive in a fire for 1/2 hour in up to 1550°F; ETL verified for water submersion to protect against flood
