Keeping your home safe and secure from break-ins is important to you and your family's safety. Here are three tips to help you keep your home safe by preventing and deterring burglars from targeting your home.

Tip #1: Install a Home Security System

There are many options for installing home monitoring and alarm systems. You can install a security system on your home's exterior doors and windows, which will go off and alert your security company if anyone enters or breaks through a window. This protects your home around the clock, no matter what you happen to be doing. 

You can also install security cameras around your home's exterior to go along with the alarm and monitor system. This helps you catch anyone who attempts to break into your home. Having a picture of them can help police identify them. A visible security camera installed on your home's exterior, whether it works or not, can deter potential break-ins from occurring.

The security system company monitor your home day and night to alert if and police if someone does or attempts to break into your home. Then, if you are not at home, they can dispatch a security or police officer to check your home if any of the alarms were tripped.

Tip #2: Maintain Your Landscaping

Keeping your yard's landscaping trimmed and well-kept around your home's exterior is helpful in preventing your home being burglarized. Shrubbery, trees, and other large vegetation planed next to your home's exterior can provide a hiding spot for a burglar to crouch while they break into your home.

It is especially important to not plant any vegetation in front of your home's windows, as these can be prime targets for an entryway into your home. Cut down any trees that are growing next to your home which can provide access for second-story windows.

Tip #3: Use Your Home's Lighting

A burglar may choose to break into your home if it looks like an easy target, as they can tell when you are at home and when you are away. If you have a garage, always park your car inside. This will prevent your vehicle from indicating whether or not you are home. Then, if you are going to be gone at night or out of town for several days, you can install a timer to turn your porch light and switch one or two inside lights on and off to make your home look lived in.

You can also purchase a light that flickers and gives the illusion of a television set turned on inside your home, which you can install on a timer to turn on at night in your living room. Then, leave some shoes outside on your porch or patio to look as though you are at home while you are away.

Use these tips to help keep your home safe from a break-in.