4 Cheap Home Security Tips

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4 Cheap Home Security Tips

Submitted by: Ray @ Tip Hero 08/19/2009 3:31 PM

When the economy tanks, there is typically an uptick in home break-ins. Here are four cheap home security tips:

1) This first tip came to us from a Tip Hero reader (note that this tip works well if you park your car close to your home). When you go to bed, take your car keys with you and place them on your night stand or some other place near your bed. If you hear intruders in/around your home, hit the panic button on your car keys. The sound of the car alarm might scare them off.

2) A cheap home security tactic my family uses is the use of motion security lights at key spots around the outside of our home. While cats and other animals can often set these lights off, we figure that an intruder would likely go elsewhere instead of having to deal with the added risk of motion lights exposing them. You can find these lights for under $40 at home improvement stores.

3) Landscaping is another key factor in minimizing your home intrusion risk. Make sure no big shrubs or bushes shelter key access points to your home from view. We also put down gravel near the side door into our garage.

4) We put wind chimes over doors to the outside. When they are opened, they make a ruckus of a noise. We hope this noise will scare off intruders.

None of these tips are going to keep determined intruders away from your home. The goal here is to simply increase the intruders' hassle factor and detection risk, making them less likely to move forward with a break-in.

Do you have any cheap home security tips? If so, please share them with other Tip Hero readers by posting a comment below. And thanks for being a Tip Hero!

Homepage photo credit: KaCey97007

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Comments:

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My basement can be accessed by both an exterior door and an interior door. I installed a heavy-duty deadbolt on both doors; basements represent a sizable percentage of ways burglars enter a home.

Posted by Allison on August 20, 2009 3:14 PM

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Having prickly shrubbery outside of windows is often a deterrent for intruders. Even if cacti or holly bushes are not appropriate for your clime, there are a wide variety of plants in every climate that are thorny.A

Posted by Alexandra on August 20, 2009 3:21 PM

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We were broken into several yrs ago and the policemen gave us some other tips.Buy a Beware of Dog sign and put one near each door.Dogs are the best deterrent, but not everyone is a dog lover.
Take the 1" screws out of the deadbolt jam and replace them with 2" or larger to go into the 2X4 frame to prevent door kickers. That is usually the weakest part of a door and it takes very little force to break otherwise.
A door reinforcement (Metal) goes around the knob and signals to a thief that the door is stronger than most.
Nailing down unused windows also prevents someone from opening them and getting in. I've done that to many of my ground floor windows.
Many burglars carry various garage door openers to try.We put 3 large nails into the overhead beam on the inside that we bent and can twist down to prevent the door from opening while in place.If they can drive into the garage, they usually have easy access to the rest of the house and will just load up and drive away- that's what happened to us.

Posted by Sharon D. on August 20, 2009 3:33 PM

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We drilled holes into the window frames about 6-7 inches above bottom window. We keep long pins in them most of the time. (The pins are probably meant for door hinges) This allows the windows to open a little if we want a breeze at night--but not enough that someone could get in. They also pull out quite easily if we want to open the windows all the way.

Posted by anonymous on August 20, 2009 6:38 PM

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On my screen/storm doors...I leave the top glass in place and move it down to a lower level, high above the screen door latch and low towards the bottom. This way if a person tries to open my screen door, which I keep locked, they either have to reach over the top of the storm door window or reach in from the bottom. Either way it isn't easy to open the screen door and then they have to open the door going into the house. Just a suggestion.

Posted by anonymous on August 20, 2009 8:48 PM

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Keep a big ornery dog and don't let people see him

Posted by anonymous on August 20, 2009 8:57 PM

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Big ornery dogs are great but so are yappy little housedogs...the ankle biting variety.

Posted by anonymous on August 20, 2009 10:50 PM

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Get to know your neighbors and watch out for one another.

Posted by anonymous on August 20, 2009 10:53 PM

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In case they do get in, have a can of wasp and hornet spray on hand. 15 ft can cause a lot of damage to eyes if that is your only weapon.

Posted by anonymous on August 20, 2009 11:17 PM

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I rehinged all my outside doors so they swing outward, so no one can kick the door in.

Posted by anonymous on August 21, 2009 10:08 AM

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Heloise had a suggestion in today's paper - don't leave your garage door opener in a car that is parked in the driveway, not the garage. The thief breaks the car window to get the opener and now has access to your garage and house

Posted by anonymous on August 21, 2009 8:59 PM

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Our hardware store sells small metal screw in pieces that we can put in the groove of our slide open windows. It allows us to open the windows some for air, but not enough to allow anyone to get through our windows. It is low-tech, very effective and blessedly cheap!

Posted by Lisa on August 22, 2009 3:08 PM

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Regarding outward swinging doors: Make sure you use the kind of hinges in which the pin cannot be removed while the door is closed. Otherwise the intruder can just take the door off its hinges and forget about kicking it in.

Posted by anonymous on August 23, 2009 2:16 AM

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I wish this website allowed pictures - I'd like to see what those long pins for the windows look like. I went to my hardware store they tried to get me to buy long nails...
I have a kitchen window that I always worry about since it's double hung. If I put a pin in there then I could leave that window cracked when I'm not home.

Posted by s on August 25, 2009 5:13 PM

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If you have a picture you would like to share with us, please email the picture to feedback (at) tiphero (dot) com. Thanks!

Posted by Tip Hero Editor on August 27, 2009 4:01 AM

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The pins are 3 1/2 inches, brass colored, hinge pins. (They are for door hinges)

Posted by anonymous on August 27, 2009 6:52 AM

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We have sticks in all our windows on the first floor. We also have a stick so that the sliding glass door can't be opened from the outside without breaking the windows.

Posted by Jen on August 27, 2009 3:10 PM

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Kind of funny, but my female friend who lives alone leaves a very large pair of men's shoes outside by her front door. Can't hurt!

Posted by anonymous on August 27, 2009 10:02 PM

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We keep a few lights on timers, especially when we are away. We also leave NPR (public/talk radio) on so it sounds like there are people inside talking. It's definitely not burglar-proof but it's something!

Posted by anonymous on August 28, 2009 9:24 AM

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Vacation tips:

Make sure you have timers on lamps in several rooms.

Unplug your garage door opener and lock the garage door. So, even if someone might have an opener that works on your garage, it won't open the door.

If you're going to be away for a while, ask a friend or neighbor to park their car in your driveway. It looks like someone is home.

Posted by anonymous on September 23, 2009 1:23 PM

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have someone case your home talk to the local prosucuting attornies office about crime prevention they have some neat tricks like keeping mans boots and a big dog dish outside the front door if you're a female who lives alone have a man friend record your voicemail message etc.

Posted by anonymous on October 09, 2009 9:58 PM

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