With the holiday season rearing its well-lit head, it’s time for you to think about how you can use home automation to ensure that the next few months are safe and secure for your family. This time of year is all about cheer and goodwill, but there are plenty of people out there that take advantage of people’s good spirits. Are you planning on having items delivered to your home, and displaying a Christmas tree this season?
Here are few things to consider if you are: there are people that follow delivery trucks during the holiday season, then steal packages off of people’s doorsteps; your beautiful Christmas tree is on full display in front of your window with a mound of presents that tempt burglars.
Install Home Security Products
You don’t need to get a single, fancy, expensive unit that needs to be installed and monitored by professionals. Nowadays, you can buy easy-to-install, self-monitored single products that you can then connect using a third party app.
So, you can buy a few Nest outdoor cameras and easily set them up to monitor the perimeter of your house. This camera installs wirelessly with a simple mount, and records day and night. You can receive alerts when things happen, and go back and review the day’s stream to check for suspicious people in the neighborhood.
If you don’t want full on security cameras, consider getting a camera doorbell, like Ring, to record activity on and near your property. Both the Nest and the Ring allow for two-way communication, so you can talk to anyone that is at your door.
You can also get an indoor camera and face it at your tree when you are not home and overnight, just in case there is a break-in,
Any time you can use equipment with motion sensor technology, the better.
Use Automated Lighting
Automated lighting is also great. This is different from motion sensor lighting, because it is built on a schedule that you design yourself, and won’t respond to the environment. This type of lighting is great to warn off thieves because it can give the illusion that you are home. You can schedule your lights to turn on and off in different rooms of the house so that it looks like people are home and walking through the house.
You can also automate your holiday display lighting, so that they don’t stay on all night long, lighting up the property and the presents under the tree.
Get Smart Locks
Smart locks are great for easing anxiety over whether or not the doors are locked, but they are also good for home security for other reasons. If you don’t have home security cameras, a smart lock can alert you when someone accesses your door, and log the encounter. This would give you an exact time of a break-in, if one were to occur.
What home automation products do you use or recommend for holiday season security?
Photo by: Jeremy Levine
