After the locked down years of the Covid19 pandemic, most of us are fed up being cooped up at home and are desperate to get away for a holiday.

Whether you’re planning a spring break, summer holiday, autumn city break or a winter ski-ing getaway to beat the winter blues, be sure your house is properly safeguarded while you’re gone or you may come home to a nasty surprise.

While it is impossible to expect our houses to be completely impregnable, there are a few easy measures we can all take to improve security and deter opportunist housebreakers.

Timers may be placed on lights to turn them on and off at normal times, creating the impression that your house is occupied. They are rather inexpensive to get. You may also use these gadgets to emphasise the look of employment on other equipment, such as TVs or radios. Timers are significantly preferable to keeping your lights on all of the time, which would appear weird and be very costly in terms of energy costs.

While you may be afraid that leaving your curtains open overnight may make your home seem vacant, this is much preferable than keeping them closed during the day, since nothing makes a home appear less populated. As previously indicated, using timer lights will help to mitigate some of the risks of unprotected windows after dark.

Your neighbours might be an important part of your home security while you’re gone if you have a strong connection with them. Give them your vacation dates and urge them to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. Also, let them know if anybody else has a key to your house and will be visiting while you’re gone. They might park outside your home if feasible to give the impression that someone is inside.

An unoccupied home with a large stack of mail and newspapers on the threshold, as well as a few uncollected bottles of milk outside, screams “unoccupied home.” To prevent the tell-tale buildup, suspend all mail, subscriptions, and deliveries for the duration of your absence.

While the mere presence of a home alarm linked to your property may deter passing opportunists in certain situations, ensuring that your system is fully operational is the best approach to ensure maximum protection. Before departing, test your alarm and fix any faults you may encounter right away.

It may be tempting to document your journey by taking images of the aircraft or writing exciting status updates, but resist the urge.

Even if you trust the folks who follow you on social media, information shared online is never fully private, and your images might get into the hands of those you don’t want to know about your vacant home.

This doesn’t imply you should hide your laptop beneath the bed or your jewellery in an underwear drawer; these are the first things a thief will look for. To avoid being discovered by thieves aiming for a fast in-and-out job, hide your valuables and emotional objects in hard-to-reach spots, and even leave a small quantity of ‘decoy’ cash in a more conspicuous location to throw them off the scent.

CCTV systems enhance alarm-based home security systems as they not only show you who broke in, but they also work as an effective deterrent if the equipment is visible on the outside of your house. There are a variety of systems available, ranging from analogue to Internet protocol (IP) cameras, depending on your demands.

Here at Ultimate Alarms we firmly believe that a monitored alarm delivers true peace of mind as it means that professional security operators are remotely overseeing and responding to your home’s security system, every day of the year 24/7. This means that, unlike unmonitored systems, your alarm is never just ignored when you are off on holiday. For full protection we at Ultimate Alarms recommend installing a monitored home security system. Call the Ultimate Alarms team for details.