Living on your own is one of life’s greatest adventures. Living with other people can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a lot of stress. You might not want to go your whole life always living alone (or you might!) but living on your own for a spell can be incredibly liberating. However, living by yourself can sometimes be worrying and feel less safe – this might be purely in your mind, but having the reassurance that you are safe at home on your own is necessary to fully enjoy yourself. So, what are some of the best safety tips for living on your own?
Prepare Your Home
When you move in, you should consider what you can do to stay safe. Make sure the peephole is clear and works, use a professional locksmith to replace all the locks,ensure you have chain bolts on your doors, and find safe places for mail. If there are bushes near your doors, then consider reducing their size so that it would be impossible for someone to hide and jump you. You should also consider getting some kind of security camera, whether a full CCTV set up or a smart doorbell – this can give you peace of mind to check out unusual sounds without having to leave your home.
Communication
Know what you should say, what not to say, and who you should talk to. When living alone, having lines of communication around you can be helpful, but you need to remember not to overshare. So,get to know your neighbors on a nodding basis at least – they will be able to alert authorities of any suspiciousbehavior around your place and are more likely to notice it if they ‘know’ you. They are also more likely to contact someone for medical help or try to contact you if they haven’t seen you for a while. You might not be friendly enough to let them know when you’re on holiday or give a spare key, but it’s helpful to let someone you trust know.
Don’t share any travel plans widely – this means only show social media once you are home, and of course, never (absolutely never!) share your address or other trackable/personal information on social media. Criminals can hunt for keywords in social media posts and will quickly see which homes are vacant, always keep your settings private.
Disguise The Fact That You Live Alone
If you feel particularly vulnerable, then try to hide the fact that you live alone. If you have tradespeople coming into your home and you’re nervous, either invite a friend round or set up more staging inside – you could even spray some cologne around if you really wanted to. Getting tradespeople you trust and having a friend over is the best solution, though.
Dogs are a great deterrent (as are geese!), and the breed doesn’t matter – it’s the noise they’ll create to ward off an intruder. If you don’t want a dog, you can pretend that you have one to deter any opportunists looking to break in. Remember to leave dog toys in the garden, a leash by the door, and have automatic bark sensors outside to put criminals off.
