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You have been out with your family for a vacation abroad and you thoroughly enjoyed yourself on the trip. It was one of the best family trips you have ever had.
You are already missing all the fun you have had during the vacation and you suddenly realize that your house seems unorganized. It doesn’t seem anywhere close to how you left it while leaving for the trip.
It appears like somebody has broken into your house and stole most of your precious pieces of jewelry, electronics, cash, etc. As soon as you realize this, the happiness on your face suddenly turns into sorrow. The glee from the trip instantly changes into glum.
Such instances happen very often in households across the city. There is no certain way to completely prevent it but you can adopt following measures to lower the risk of your house being targeted by burglars or having any sort of infiltration.
1) Make it look occupied
Burglars always target the houses that seem unoccupied for quite a few days so that they don’t get caught during the theft. They ensure the in-occupancy of a house by noticing things like trash in the trash box, newspaper at your door, milk at your doormat, etc.
A stack of newspapers at your door directly indicates that there is no one in the house. This gives bad guys a clue about how long the house has been left vacant for.
Similarly, trash in trash box and milk at your doormat give them intimation about the in-occupancy of the house. Bad guys take advantage of the situation and try their level best to break into your house and steal your valuables.
You must take these things into consideration when you leave your house for a trip abroad. Best practice to avoid burglars getting notice of the in-occupancy of your house is by canceling the newspaper and milk delivery for the days you are out.
In addition to this, you must ensure that you leave your trash box partially filled so that it doesn’t attract burglars’ attention.
2) Be a good neighbor
The best way to keep your house safe while you are on a vacation is to have good neighbors. To have good neighbors you have to be a good one at first.
Having good neighbors decreases the chances of your house getting hit by burglars by almost 100 percent. This is one of the biggest perks of having good neighbors.
Before leaving your house, you may ask your neighbors to keep an eye on your house for any sort of infiltration activity. You can also ask them for the flavor of collecting the newspaper or emails in case you can’t cancel them.
3) Do not publicize your trip
People nowadays have a habit of putting everything on social media. They never even think of the problems they could get into because of this.
These people can’t resist putting their entire itinerary on social media and that’s where they make a huge mistake. This attracts the attention of all the burglars in the city to their houses.
Burglars keep a track on your social media. So once you put anything about your trip on social media, they get to know about it.
They exactly know if there is anyone left in the house or not. They also know about the number of days you are out for. This gives them very easy access to your house.
So it is always advised not to make your trips public on social media. You may tell your close ones about the trip but publicizing it on social media is highly risky.
4) Ensure the safety
You must ensure the safety of the valuables. Keep them out of sight and never leave them at a place where they are clearly visible through the window.
Put small sized things like jewelry, cash in lockers and ensure that you have properly locked it. If you want to conceal any precious thing, avoid putting it at obvious hiding places like a shoe rack, kitchen, etc.
Burglars are smart enough for these tricks. Try putting layers of cover over your valuables and put them at places that are not easily accessible to everyone.
Best practice is to hand over your cash or jewelry to any trustworthy friend or relative and take it back once you return. This won’t leave a chance of those things being stolen.
5) Check the insurance
If you have your valuables covered under any insurance policy, ensure that the policy is valid till the time you come back. If the insurance is about to expire, make sure that you renew the insurance before you start your journey.
Check carefully all the terms of the policy and notify the insurer about the home-sitter if asked for in the policy. Check if there are any instances where the insurance doesn’t stand valid and make sure you prevent such instances if there is any.
