Another Christmas is upon us and if you are like me, the bank account is smaller this year than ever before. The prices for gifts and an ever increasing family size of grandkids tend to turn my Christmas smile into a Grinch face. As I struggle to prepare for Santa I cannot imagine the horrible thoughts of losing those hard to pay for presents to a worthless thief. The thought of a broken door that gives way to a ravished Christmas nativity of presents lost is unimaginable. This loss of Christmas does happen and it happens more than we would like to admit.
Here are a few tips to help prevent break-ins before and shortly after Christmas.
1.) Lock your doors and windows.
As strange as it may seem, we think we lock our doors and windows but often we forget or think that another member of the family did it. Thieves only need a few minutes to be in and out. Even if you lock the door, thieves can easily break in by simply kicking the front door open. You will be very surprised how easily a door will just kick open. Home improvement stores have shelves full of very expensive and extremely hard locks and door knobs. That is good if the thief is trying to melt or attack the lock, but they are simply kicking the door open. That means they are not attacking the lock, they are attacking the soft wood that the dead bolt goes into. Spend some money to fortify the door itself and most importantly the wood frame the lock goes into.
2.) Get an alarm system.
Get an alarm system to help secure your home. If you can’t afford one, fake it by printing a sign off the internet and posting it in the window or on the lawn. The presence of a sign that announces that the property is being protected by an alarm company is a great deterrent. The benefits of a working alarm system is an audible alarm and the call to authorities. True enough the thieves could still steal the goods and run, but why take the chance on a house that has an alarm when so many don’t? Thieves work smart, not hard.
3.) Don’t put presents under the tree.
Putting real presents under the tree and displaying it to the publics view could invite a Grinch. As people walk or drive past your residence the Christmas tree bulging with presents could be more than an incentive. A quick fix is to not display them or if you do, put fake presents under the tree and keep real presents tucked away in the attic or a hard to get to place.
4.) No media Christmas.
What is a no media Christmas? That means don’t tell your Christmas business on an open media type forum like Facebook. Telling that you will be out of town is never a good idea any time of the year. Posting your gifts and selfies with those gifts could invite after Christmas drama in the form of a burglary report. Ask your friends to join in on keeping that kind of information off the web. If I wanted to know your business, I would watch your friend’s and family’s social media sites.
5.) Be a good garbage person.
Be a good garbage person and don’t leave boxes from those gifts just sitting out by the road. It is so easy to just ride around after Christmas and see mounds of garbage piled to the max on garbage cans. The attention getter is the name brand boxes that are painfully obvious: SONY.
Be careful, be aware and prepare to have a Wonderful and Safe Christmas!
RZ
