Scene 1:
A man driving a decent looking car, cruises slowly along the houses in a quiet suburb, watching each house through his dark sunglasses. He slows down and pulls over right in front of a large double-story house. The car door opens and a well dressed gentleman steps out, still looking at the large house through his sunglasses. He moves to the back of his car and takes out a vehicle jack, wheel nut wrench, sharp knives, some cutters, black gloves, a torch, a thick cloth and a flat spare tyre.
A man driving a decent looking car, cruises slowly along the houses in a quiet suburb, watching each house through his dark sunglasses. He slows down and pulls over right in front of a large double-story house. The car door opens and a well dressed gentleman steps out, still looking at the large house through his sunglasses. He moves to the back of his car and takes out a vehicle jack, wheel nut wrench, sharp knives, some cutters, black gloves, a torch, a thick cloth and a flat spare tyre.
Scene 2:
He walks up to the front door of that house while looking at every direction, for onlookers or passers-by. Puts down his stuff and reaches for the door knob. As he grabbed the door knob he lets out an inaudible scream (due to electric jolts), trips over his own stuff and lands hard on his face. Undeterred, he breaks into the house springing a chain reaction of numerous booby traps and suffering various injuries from it.
The above are scenes taken from movies. To some extent, it can pretty much happen in reality but the second scene (from Home Alone) is a little unrealistic because it exhibits superhuman ingenuity and resourcefulness in holding down the fort (Jonathan Rosenbaum - critic reviewer). Not many are capable of coming up with the cleverly thought and well planned booby traps in order to safeguard one's own house from burglary. Furthermore these booby traps will only render your house to be in shambles judging from the condition of the house at the end of the movie.
Year end is just around the corner, which marks the start of a long awaited holiday season. It is the time schools will close for weeks, hard working people will get their yearly bonuses and many would flock to the airport, train station or bus station to kick off their holidays. Year long planning will finally take off and you're off to some exotic destination, to de-stress. Wouldn't that be truly great if indeed holidays were worrisome free?
In reality, it is far fetched because holiday season is when a lot of thefts and break-ins happen. So safeguarding your house while you are away is crucial. You can accidentally leave one of your child behind, like in Home Alone and hope that he is capable of rigging the house with ingenious booby traps or you can follow these five, certainly more realistic, ways to ensure your house is safe while you are away.
Burglar proofing tips:
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| "We're not home. Burglars, come in!" |
- Create an illusion of someone home.
This tip was inspired by Home Alone but my solution is not as extensive as that from the movie, it is a much simpler and a more achievable solution. Ensure you hold or redirect your snail mails and newspapers to a different address because huge pile of letters on your front doorsteps or envelopes sticking out of your mailbox is an instant tip-off that translates to "we're not home. Burglars come on in!" Invest in a timer that will light up and switch off lights - automatically, in different parts of the house. You can do the same with your radio and TV.
- Shush!
Hold off the urge to share photos of your vacation on social medial, even if you captured a picture of a life mermaid and want to tell the whole world of their existence. This is another tip-off that you're not at home so your bluff is called and you can no longer rely on tip number one.
- Love thy neighbour
Give a set of keys and details of your vacation to your trusted neighbour or a friend so that they can contact you in case of an emergency. You may also get them to move your car, water your plants, feed your fish, clear your stuffed mailbox, switch on and off your lights (if you're a cheapskate to invest in a timer) and make your house inhabitable by the time you get back from your vacation while they dutifully watched over your house! - OK that's a wee bit too much but if your neighbourly bond is strong, go for it!
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| "You don't want to mess with me. Walk away!" |
- Make your house appear impenetrable
Make your house look like a fortress which shouts “You don’t want to mess with me. Walk away!” Ensure shrubs and bushes are well trimmed, and no gardening tools are left in the open because these can be used by an intruder to break into your home. You may want to install lightings or motions detectors outside the house. If your house has an alarm, advertise it but outsmart any potential burglars by sticking on your wall, a poster from a different alarm company. This might confuse the burglar when he is unable to disarm your actual alarm system. Installing fake cameras is another good option.
- Purchase a theft protection policy for your home.
You can take one step further by insuring your home and personal belongings with AIG Malaysia's Theft Protect - a brand new two-in-one theft protection policy for both in and out of home. This way if all others fails, you can rely on your insurance policy to cushion your fall.
Wouldn't this be a much better way to leave your home during this holiday season? A truly stress free break, for you to rejuvenate.
Happy holidays.
Disclaimer: I was not paid by AIG for writing this post
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