How to Keep Your Home Safe and Secure During the Holidays

How to Keep Your Home Safe and Secure During the Holidays

Keeping your home safe and secure during the holidays is very important. Nobody wants to be the target of harm during the holiday season. Therefore, I have found some good tips to help you and your home stay safe and secure this year.

How to keep safe during the holidays

Light Up – Use manual timers that you can set to turn on and off and periodic times of the day and night. You can also try a remote device that runs off your tablet or smartphone to turn lights on and off.

Out of Town Do’s & Don’t’s – When going out of town, ask a family member, friend or trusted neighbor to get your mail and newspapers daily. And, never post a status update on social media saying you’re going away for the holidays. Post the details after you return.

Reinforce the Doors – When it comes to doors, the lock strike plate is a weak link. You can use a wood doorjamb or upgrade to a heavy duty strike plate with 3 inch screws to keep your doors safe and secure.

Secure the Windows – On your ground floor windows, use sash pins to secure them even more. Or, you can invest in an alarm system.

Live Christmas Trees – Live trees can sometimes cause your allergies to act up. This could be because of mold spores growing on the tree. You can help prevent or stop mold growth on live trees by hosing them down before bringing it in or by spraying them with a mold resistant sealant.

Shoveling Snow – When it snows or ices over, it is important to keep your walkways clears so your guests can make it to and from your door without falling. However, you don’t want to hurt yourself while shoveling snow. Try throwing rock salt out along the walking paths to clear it up for you.

Stringing Up Lights – All around the world thousands of people will be injured stringing up lights in high places. If you must hang your Christmas lights in high areas make sure you have someone with you. Never string lights alone. And, be safe on your ladder. Make sure it is level and secure before climbing up.

A Nice Warm Fire – During the holidays it’s easy to place things near the fireplace that you usually wouldn’t at other times of the year. However, it’s more important than ever to keep everything away from the fireplace that can easily catch fire. Holiday fires happen all the time, don’t be the next victim.

These holiday safety tips are brought to you by: Salma Dhanji, your real estate resource for Parkland FL, Coral Springs FL and surrounding communities.

Originally posted at: http://www.trulia.com/blog/salmadhanjiteam/2013/11/how_to_keep_your_home_safe_and_secure_during_the_holidays