There’s not much that scares me.  I’m not afraid of spiders, snakes, confrontation, traveling, heights (ok, maybe a little).  I’ve survived a bear attack and I’m not afraid of bears.  The one thing that terrifies me is sketchy people.  Now there is some shady stuff going on in my neighborhood and I’ve become a bona fide coward.  I’ll spare you all of the details, mostly because typing them out make me feel a little sick to my stomach, but let’s just say I’m thankful for my pit bull and for my fearless homebody husband who is always on alert and aware of home protection.

Husband and dog aside, I’ve spent a lot of time researching home security tips.  Here is what I’ve learned:

Prevention

There are some really affordable things you can do to make your house less attractive of a target. Signs are a good place to start. You can find them at hardware stores and online. A couple of my favorites are “Beware of Dogs. You Have Been Warned. Not Responsible For Injury or Death” and “Beware of the Dog. The Cat Is Shady as **** Also.” Classy. If those aren’t your speed there are security system signs, just be sure it’s an actual company, and signs alerting people that they’re being recorded.

Additionally, you can make your home less of a target if you trim back shrubbery so that there are less places for jerks to hide, put lights on a timer while you’re out of town, install motion detector outdoor lighting, and don’t be shy about having a dog.

Monitoring

There are plenty of companies who offer monitored home security systems.  They frequently come with installation cost and monthly monitoring fee. Sounds priceless to me, but if that is beyond your means check out DIY systems. Camera technology has improved greatly and for under $300 you can buy a system that monitors your entire house.  There are also alerting systems you can buy and install yourself including door and window sensors.  Unfortunately, there isn’t a company monitoring that type of alarm when it’s triggered, but hopefully the noise alone would be enough to scare off a prowler.

Protection

Personal protection is the next piece of the puzzle. We all know the pros and cons of gun ownership.  I’ll leave that topic alone.  If you’re not interested in owning a gun or you’d like another option there is pepper spray. It can buy you time to get out of your house or keep an intruder at bay until the police arrive.  My husband wouldn’t agree to help me with any live action research, but rumor has it not every spray is created equally.

A neighbor mentioned that he was going to go out and buy a can of bear spray to use as protection.  Makes sense, right? If it can stop a bear it can stop a human. Not so much. Bear spray has the same active ingredient as human pepper spray, but not the same amount. Bear spray is made to scare bears off not incapacitate them.  They also have a stronger sense of smell and sight so they don’t require the stronger level of spray that would be used for a human.  Get the human variety.  There are sprays, gels, and foams, key-chain varieties and law enforcement sized cans. I’d just go ahead and get them all.

Favorite New Tip

Keep your keys next to your bed at night.  We frequently forget about the panic button on our car key fobs. Press it in the middle of the night to alert neighbors and scare potential intruders away.

Click here for a helpful infographic from the Washington Post shows some basics of home burglaries that some of us may not know.

See? Bears aren’t so scary after all.