Home Security While Traveling

Going on vacation soon? Summer is the prime time to get out and treat yourself to a holiday, but July and August are also when the majority of residential break-ins happen. So you might be wondering what you can do to better fortify your home that doesn’t involve boobie traps or a kid named Kevin McCallister. Luckily for you, we’ve done some research and here’s what we’ve found.

You’ve probably heard time and time again not to broadcast your vacations on social media until you’re home, and that is wise counsel. If you have a public social media account like Instagram or Twitter, announcing publicly that you’ll soon be going on vacation is as good as an invitation for robbery. It’s best not to broadcast your vacation until you’re back. When you are, it should be safe to pepper your social media accounts with your pictures from Fiji.

If you have a home security system, it’s best to test it to make sure it’s still running properly before you leave. Some systems feature WiFi enabled arm/disarm features so you can arm your system from anywhere in the world. In these same systems, there are usually ways to access surveillance footage from your security cameras from your phone. Double-check these functions to be sure they’re working before you leave.

There’s a right and wrong way to go about this.

The wrong way to go about this is to keep your lights on all the time. This will ramp up your electrical bill, and lights on at 3:00 in the morning looks suspicious anyway. Also, turning your blinds shut when you normally keep them open is a bad sign as well.

The right way is to make your home look as though you never left. Through your home security system or other applications, you can regulate your home to turn lights on and off at particular intervals. And whether or not you keep your blinds open or closed, keep it consistent with how you usually are at home. It’s also not a bad idea to halt your mail or pay someone to take care of the yard while you’re gone.

Reliable neighbors can be invaluable. Talk to those in your neighborhood and ask them to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious wandering around your property. Some neighborhoods will have a neighborhood watch program, so it would be wise to do some research and find if you belong to one of them. If you have a neighbor that you’re close friends with, leave them a key to your home. They or a house sitter can check up on things while you’re gone.

It also doesn’t hurt to alert police and let them know that you’ll be gone, but only worry about this if you’ll be gone for over a week or two. This is particularly effective if you live in a small town. Occasionally, police officers can patrol by your house to check up on things depending on how big of a town you live in. Protecting thousands of dollars in electronics and jewelry is worth one phone call to the police station.

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