15 Cheap & Easy Methods to Protect Your Home

Going on vacation is great, but there is always the nagging worry that burglars will take advantage of the fact the house or apartment are empty to rob you of all your possessions. However, security systems can be very costly and still won't provide you with a 100% guarantee. So what can you do to minimize the chances of your house getting broken into on the cheap? Here's how:

1. Mount some fake surveillance cameras to deter break-ins. You can also add some stickers "This house is under 24/7 surveillance". They may not believe you, but most robbers won't take the risk.

2. Don't forget to remove flyers from your doorstep or mail box. Flyer accumulation is a big neon sign saying: "These people haven't been home."

3. Make your car easily recognizable. Bumper stickers, little signs and messiness may deter a car thief, as they prefer non-descriptive cars that can't easily be identified.

4. Make sure you landscaping is neat and taken care of.  The more you invest in your landscaping, the more you should keep it going, as an abandoned garden is just as much a call to burglars as an accumulation of flyers is.

5. Invest in light timers for your indoor and outdoor lighting. Control the way your house looks when you're not there by tricking burglars to thinking there's someone home.

6. Wave goodbye to your imaginary pal when leaving Burglars may watch a house and wait for the resident to leave. Waving to someone inside the house may cause them to think there's still someone inside, and therefore they can't break in.

7. Don't leave ladders and other helpful items in your backyard. Burglars don't bring their own ladder, so don't just hand them a tool to climb in and rob you.

8. Make sure that your alarm can't be seen through a mirror or a window If your alarm is in front of a mirror, a thief may be able to see if it is armed by peering through a window.

9. Do not publish the fact that you're going on vacation on social networks. While it may be nice to announce to all your friends and family that you are going away on facebook, be careful to expose such details, as you never know who might be checking.

10. Buy fake alarm system decals and hang them in a noticeable place. Security systems are costly and mostly work as deterrents. You can deter just as easily with some fake decals that you post on your house.

11. Reinforce your door jambs if you have weak door frames. Keep your doors from getting kicked in with this very easy fix, which takes under an hour to install.

12. Ask the post office to hold your mail.  Ask your local post office to hold your mail for you, or have someone pick it up almost every day - you don't want to pronounce your house as empty.

13. Use a wooden dowel or metal bar for sliding doors and windows so they can’t be pried open.

14. Invest in double glazed or toughened glass windows.Double-glazed windows as well as toughened glass are harder to smash through.

15. Build a secret hiding place for your valuables.  Stay a step ahead of the robbers by making sure that your most valuable posessions are hidden away from anyone who doesn't know how to find them.