Carefree Winter Holidays: A Home Security Checklist

For plenty of Americans, vacation time is saved up not for the sunny months, but for the winter holidays. After all, with families tending to try to go that extra mile during the holiday season, getting together is a whole lot easier. And this means evenings of delicious dinners, delightful conversation, and the chance to relax next to the fireplace while catching up on how everyone's been doing, preferably in a home that isn't yours. After all, family get-togethers are quite enjoyable, but usually are better if you're not the person in charge of hosting everyone.

Unfortunately, winter holidays don't mean that everyone is taking time off. For those who make a living robbing others, the winter holidays are a great time to work overtime, as many people spend time traveling and there are often more expensive items tucked away in the house, waiting to be given away as gifts. When it comes to home security, focusing on better methods for protecting a home during the holiday season is an absolute must. For anyone who doesn't already have a home alarm system installed but who plans on going away for a long weekend or a week, it's absolutely essential to take additional steps to protect your home. After all, there's nothing worse than a weekend with the family for the holidays that ends with the realization that someone has managed to successfully rob your home.

The first item on any increased safety checklist is the need to keep things looking busy, even if you're not going to be home for a couple of days. This can be accomplished by making sure that a car is left parked in the driveway, since it gives the impression that there is actually someone home. If your holiday vacation requires automobile-related transport, then the same sense of having people at home can be accomplished through other means.

Whether you decide to invest in a timer for interior and exterior lights or just remember to cancel newspaper and mail delivery until your return, there are plenty of other small steps. For those canceling newspaper and mail delivery, it makes more sense to have everything held a couple of extra days later than your return. This way, if there are any travel changes, there isn't going to be a pile on the front stoop that jeopardizes your home security if any clever crooks happen to be around.

For those households where there are no timers for interior and exterior lights, it's important to not leave too many different lamps and switches turned on. An overabundance of light day in and day out while you're on the road signals to potential robbers that there is no one home. And for robbers, the number one reason that a house is chosen over a different residence is the stability that comes with knowing that the occupants won't be home for a couple of days. Be sure to leave more obscure lamps turned on, rather than lighting the whole house up, and you'll be just fine.