Being able to feel safe in your own home is essential. If you don’t feel safe, you’ll never be able to relax, which can lead to physical and mental health issues. Even if it doesn’t go that far, you’ll still be uncomfortable and unhappy in a place meant to be your sanctuary.
This is why it’s crucial to learn how to feel safer in your own home so that you can truly enjoy being there. It doesn’t take a lot to make a home safe once you start thinking about what you can do, so read on for some great tips to help you get started.
Learn First Aid
It’s not just what you do to your home that will help you feel safer; it’s the knowledge you have as well. The more knowledge you have about how to stay safe and – crucially – what to do if something unexpected and negative happens, the more you’ll be able to go about your business without any concerns.
First aid is a great example of this. Accidents happen around the home all the time, and more people are hurt in their properties than outside of them. If you want to ensure you can stay safe and that your family can stay safe, it’s a good idea to learn first aid on a professional course like those run at Holmes Medical Training. When you have good first aid knowledge, you can bandage wounds, keep injured limbs still, do CPR, and, importantly, stay calm. Even if you are home alone and are hurt, this medical knowledge will help to keep you clear-headed so you can work out what to do. You’ll feel a lot less vulnerable and ready for anything that might occur.
Get An Alarm System
If there is one thing that is guaranteed to make you feel safer in your own home, it’s having an alarm system installed. Today, you can get alarm systems that can do almost anything you want them to; they can be turned on in different rooms at different times, they can offer you a live feed of your home through your mobile devices, they can even allow you to speak to anyone you notice on your property (and some people also use this feature to speak to their pets while they are away).
There are so many different alarm systems available that there is sure to be one that is going to suit your needs and, crucially, your budget. You might initially feel getting an alarm installed was too expensive. However, with a number of different options open to you, you can pay what feels right, and your peace of mind and safety will be kept intact.
Of course, the most important thing to remember when you have an alarm system in your home is to set it, otherwise you may as well not have it at all. Choose an alarm that allows you to set (and re-set) remotely, and you’ll never have to worry about this again.
Get To Know Your Neighbors
Do you know your neighbors? A lot of people don’t. They might recognize them to wave to or say hello to in the street or on the driveway, but they won’t do any more than that – a surprising number of people don’t even know their neighbors’ names.
Yet if you get to know your neighbors better, you’ll automatically feel a lot safer in your own home. You’ll know there are people around you who you can call on for help – perhaps literally – and that added protection can help you feel a lot more comfortable. If all neighbors look out for one another, the entire neighborhood becomes a much safer place to live, so getting to know your neighbors actually benefits everyone at some level.
This can be hard, especially if you have lived somewhere for a while and don’t know how to connect with your neighbors after all this time. One idea you could try is to arrange a barbecue and invite a few of your closest neighbors. Be honest and let them know you feel it’s time to get to know them better, and you might even find you make lifelong friends. At the very least, you’ll know there are people out there you can rely on should you need them, and vice versa.
Don’t Leave A Key Outside
In the past, it was usual for people to leave a key outside their homes, perhaps under a doormat or plant pot. They might even have a key on a piece of string through a mailbox so that it could be pulled up and out and used.
This is a bad idea. It might be convenient, especially if you tend to lose your keys a lot or people need to go inside your home when you’re not there, but potential burglars will also know the best hiding places and easily find your keys. It’s far better to install digital locks instead. Using a fingerprint or passcode, you can lock and unlock the door, and there is no longer any need for keys.