Summer Safety Tips: How to Keep Your Home Safe While Traveling

For many, summer is all about heading out the front door and heading off on a great adventure. Worries are put aside, and the occasional stress of home and school life disappears.

But while vacations are supposed to be fun and relaxing, they don’t mean you can forget about home completely. Did you know that more burglaries occur in July and August than in any other time of the year?

Never fear! We’ve collected some great tips from SafeWise.com to help ensure your home is safe this summer- even while you’re not in it!

How to Keep Your Home Safe This Summer

1. Keep the garage secure

In addition to storing a variety of goods burglars want, such as lawn equipment, bikes and other easily pawned items, garages are often easier to access than the rest of a home.

To keep your belongings safe, close and lock the garage door, and carefully secure the door that leads from your garage into your home.

If you’re leaving your cars behind, make sure they are well-secured as well. Even if your vehicle is inside a locked garage, roll up all the windows and make sure all doors are locked. Clean out your car before you leave, too, and make sure there are no valuable items inside, and no money, change or electronics in sight.

2. Consider getting a home security system.

Home security systems can be the best ways to keep your valuables safe while on vacation. Turn on the system and you’ll be notified if anyone enters the home. Systems can also detect broken windows and other forms of forced entry and notify emergency officials automatically.

Home security systems are also important protection against fire and carbon monoxide, an especially important feature if you have pets still at home.

3. Remove window air conditioning units and fans.

No matter how securely a window air conditioning unit is installed in your window, they can still be a point of easy entry for a burglar. Remove all units before leaving for vacation, even those placed in second-story windows.

4. Ask a neighbor to watch your home.

If you’re going to be away for an extended period of time, ask a neighbor or close friend to keep an eye on the house.

Ask the neighbor to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious around the house, and ask them to collect any mail and newspapers delivered to your home each day. A pile of newspapers on the front stoop is an easy way to tell burglars that you’re not home.

Make sure to snip any shrubbery around your front door and turn on a front light before you leave, too- having a front door that is easily visible by neighbors will help deter any unwanted visitors.

5. Be quiet about your plans.

We know, we know- you want to tell the world about your upcoming trip to the Carribbean that you are so excited about. But talking about your trip in public or on social media makes it easier for unwanted visitors to find out you’re leaving.

Pack up the car in the garage if you can, and if you can’t, try not to bring too much attention to the fact that you’re heading out on vacation.

For more tips from SafeWise, read their full article.

And share your best tips for keeping your home safe while traveling this summer!

 

Summer Safety Tips for Families

Whether you’re staying in Boston this summer or headed abroad, summer presents many opportunities for fun and adventure.

Unfortunately, from swimming and boating to hiking and camping, summer can also present a number of safety hazards. To help ensure your family has a safe and happy summer, we’ve collected some safety tips from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

1. Water safety

• Learn how to prevent recreational water illnesses and help protect yourself and your kids.
• Help kids get H2O Smartz about water safety.

Drowning is responsible for more deaths among children ages 1-4 than any other cause except birth defects. To help prevent drowning and similar accidents, be sure to:

• Always supervise children when in or around water. A responsible adult should constantly watch young children.
• Teach kids to swim. Formal swimming lessons can protect young children from drowning.
• Learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Your CPR skills could save someone’s life.
• Install a four-sided fence around home pools.
• When riding in a boat or other water craft, always wear a properly fitted life jacket.

2. Beat the heat.

Heat-related illness occurs when the body’s temperature control system is overloaded. Those at greatest risk for heat-related illness include infants and children up to 4 years of age.

To prevent heat-related illness:

• Never leave infants, children, or pets in a parked car, even if the windows are cracked open.
• Dress infants and children in loose, lightweight, light-colored clothing.
• Schedule outdoor activities carefully, for morning and evening hours.
• Stay cool with cool showers or baths.
• Seek medical care immediate if your child has symptoms of heat-related illness.

And don’t forget to protect against too much sun exposure, too. Even a somewhat cloudy day can expose children to harmful ultraviolet rays.

To protect against sunburn:

• Cover up. Clothing that covers your and your child’s skin helps protect against UV rays.
• Use sunscreen with at least SPF (sun protection factor) 15 and UVA (ultraviolet A) and UVB (ultraviolet B) protection every time you and your child go outside.

3. Protect against insects.

Ticks, mosquitos and other insects are out in full force during the summer, and can carry some nasty diseases, like West Nile virus and Lyme disease.

Protect against insect bites by:

• Using an effective insect repellent while playing outdoors.
• Make your backyard a tick-safe zone.
• Check yourself and your children for ticks. Ticks are easy to remove.

Keep these and other safety tips in mind this holiday weekend and throughout the summer to ensure this remains a summer to remember!

Have some safety tips of your own? Share them in the comment section of this post!