20 Home Security Tips for Women

Your home should be a place of safety. Are there different precautions you should take if you are a woman living alone? Security Essentials provides 20 Security Tips Especially for Women.

Were you aware that over 51% of females are living alone in the United States? If you live alone, either permanently, or because your partner is temporarily out of town, you need to take precautions to ensure your safety. Security Essentials, a home and business alarm company in Lexington, provides the following security tips for women that find themselves living alone.

Choose a Neighborhood with a Low Crime Rate

Research the crime statistics of a potential neighborhood before buying or renting. These statistics are readily available. Why move into a neighborhood with a high crime rate?

Get a Home Security System

Dr. Joseph Kuhns from the University of North Carolina in Charlotte conducted a survey of 422 inmates across the three states of Kentucky, Ohio, and North Carolina. 83% of the offenders indicated that they looked for the presence of an alarm system as they reconnoitered a potential burglary site. 60% indicated that the presence of an alarm would cause them to seek another target. It is easy to see that installing a monitored security system will reduce your chance of being a victim of home theft and provide you with added peace of mind.

Get to know your Neighbors and familiarize yourself with neighborhood patterns.

It never hurts to have someone else that will look out for you but don’t give away too much personal information until you feel you can trust them. Watch patterns of activity in your neighborhood when you are at home, that way you will recognize something that seems out of place.

Make sure your windows and doors shut properly and have working locks or deadbolts.

If the door doesn’t shut properly, it doesn’t lock properly either. If you don’t have deadbolts, have one installed on each door.

Keep Your Doors Locked

You should lock your doors and keep them locked, even when you are at home. If you have a sliding glass door to a patio or verandah, place a broom or mop handle in the sliding track so it can’t be opened from outside. If you only have one door, consider adding a storm door that can also be locked.

Re-Key all locks when you move into a new home or apartment.

You don’t know if the previous resident(s) still have keys to your home. You don’t know if they have shared the key with someone else. It’s always a good idea to make sure that your locks belong to you, and you alone, not to the previous 5 residents. Install a chain lock in addition to the bolt lock for added security.

Don’t open your door to strangers.

If you don’t have a peep hole, have one installed.

Keep Your curtains and Shades Drawn.

A burglar doesn’t need to know you live alone. Closed draperies or shades also prevent a peeping tom from seeing valuables that you have left in open sight.

Keep outside lights working properly and hedges trimmed.

If you live in a single-family home, have outdoor accent lighting installed or consider motion sensing floodlights. In an apartment building, report any non-functioning lights to your landlord. This also applies to any basement laundry facilities. If the hedges around your home have become overgrown, they become great hiding places for burglars.

Don’t advertise the fact that you work outside the home or are traveling.

Put timers on lights so that they go on at regular intervals when you are away. Have a friend or neighbor care for your home while you are away, including picking up newspapers and collecting your mail. A full mailbox is a great indicator to a burglar that the home is unoccupied.

Get a dog.

Not only is a dog a great companion, a barking dog is a great deterrent to a burglar and can be a great heads-up that something is wrong.

Report any suspicious activity.

Become familiar enough with your neighborhood that you recognize when something is off kilter. If something doesn’t look right, call the police.

Learn self-defense techniques

Knowing how to protect yourself will empower you psychologically and physically.

Make sure that you have smoke and CO2 detectors and that they are working properly.

Over one third of fire deaths occur in homes without smoke detectors, and a quarter in homes where smoke alarms were present and non-functioning.

Be careful about posting personal information on social media.

You don’t need to advertise that you live alone or that you are working a particularly long shift today. Don’t advertise new purchases that might interest a burglar.

Mailbox Safety

If you put your name on your mailbox, first initial and last name only. Don’t advertise that you are a woman.

Have Friends or Family Members that you check with regularly.

Make sure there is someone that you communicate with daily, so that if you miss a call, they can alert authorities that something might be wrong.

Use your Car Alarm as a back-up Security System

If your car alarm can be set off from within your home. Keep your keys by your bed. If you think you hear an intruder, setting off your car alarm might scare the intruder off.

Vary Your Routine

If a potential burglar or intruder is watching you, following the same routine every day puts you at risk. Come home at lunchtime occasionally, and vary the time you leave for, and return from, work.

Have Pepper Spray on Hand

Pepper spray is not a security system but if kept near to hand may protect you from an intruder.

The security experts at Security Essentials of Lexington care about your safety. Call today to schedule a free consultation. You’ll be glad you did and will sleep easier at night.