There’s nothing I love more than working from home. It gives me the freedom to {mostly} work when I want and stay home with my son. But I have to admit, I’m sometimes leery of staying home alone while my husband is at work. We live in a great neighborhood, but we get a lot of solicitors and the neighborhood can be pretty quiet (Thankfully we have nosy neighbors that are retired!).
While home during the day, there are a few things that I always do.
– Keep my dog out at all times! Our dog will bark to alert us of anyone that steps on our property, whether she is outside or inside. I make sure to keep her around us at all times.
– Lock all doors and windows. This may seem like a no-brainer, but I make sure that all doors and windows are locked, even when I’m home.
– Don’t answer the door. We have a No Soliciting sign on our front door, since last summer was particularly bad. We were getting 4-5 solicitors a week knocking on our door for one thing or the other! When I was working, on a conference call or tending to my son, the last thing I wanted to do was answer the door and listen to some spiel.
– Don’t answer the door for even utility workers – call and confirm! I know most people will answer the door if they see someone from their cable company or phone company knocking on the door, I know I would! Last summer I had someone from our cable company knock on the door and I answered {while on the phone – a lot of times when I answer the door, I call my Mom up real quick so I have someone on the other line}. He proceeded to tell me that we were late on our bill and he was there to disconnect our service. The problem was, I had just paid. I told him we had just paid and I had a confirmation number and he left. I called our cable company who confirmed they had our payment but had also not sent someone out to our house. So I’m left to wonder if he was hoping I’d give him some money or if he was checking out our house – so scary! So no more answering the door for anyone!
My husband and I frequently talk about getting a home security system so we have been looking into that, especially with two new babies coming! There are many houses in my neighborhood that have an alarm system and I know it would definitely give me a piece of mind!
With kids, my husband and I love the idea of the Lorax Security system! It’s a simple yet advanced wireless remote surveillance solution that allows users to remotely monitor their home or business through a secure, password protected connection that requires no networking knowledge. Simply connect the ip camera into a router, run the installation CD and you’re on your way to see, hear and protect what matters to you most! You can view it on your PC, Mac or a compatible smartphone.
We love that the camera provides a clear picture whether it’s light or day out, has a motion detector and the ability to record. My husband loves the fact that there is an app so we could observe our home, right on our iPhones!
Check out this hilarious video below where you’ll Meet the Johnsons and their adorable daughter. You’ll see firsthand why a security system like this would work for your household!
What are some of your tips for staying safe while working from home? Do you have a security system installed?
Disclosure: I received compensation for this post but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Like you we have talked about getting a security system. It is just a cost we can’t afford. We are very good about keeping our doors locked at all times. We also are lucky because most of the neighbors around us are great about keeping an eye on each others home. The key is keeping your home secure and not answering the door to strangers.
We do have a security system, but we rarely arm it. The true reason we have it is because even unarmed, it has a door alert (helpful with three kids who can reach and use the locks) and the smoke detector being directly connected to our provider. When we’re going to be gone ALL DAY or if we’re going on vacation we arm it. I’d arm it more but be have to very barky dogs that will alert us immediately if someone walks too close. The one time we were broken into, they came through a window we thought was locked but wasn’t. All the windows on the first floor our house have a double lock system where you have to do some weird contortion dance to open the windows. Except this one set that had been replaced about 6 months before we bought the place by the neighbor’s insurance company (after the neighbor set fire to the wooden fence and cracked all the windows.) Well the insurance company cheaped out and bought the cheaper windows without the built in contortion dance/can’t open from outside feature, so our alarm would have done us 0 good. Now we have the dogs.
I don’t want video cameras like that in our home, I don’t want my kids to have a feeling that they can be watched at any time in their home. It’s just not something we’re comfortable with for us.
Thankfully, the police chief of our neighboring large metropolitan area lives across the road from us and we have nosy elderly neighbors so we haven’t gotten a security system yet but I would definitely consider it!
Great device! With two small children with me at home while I work it’s almost impossible not to stop 100 times to check on them as I work. Making my to-do list very long!
Important tips! 🙂
I would love one of these to see what really goes on. Of course it’s usually just my dogs home alone but still!
I wish we had a home security system! Our dogs work pretty well though – they even bark at us when we come home 😛
I think home security is very important. I love the new technology!
Home security is so important! Thanks for the great post!
We have a video monitoring system but I’d love a full security system. We hope to install one soon. I believe the peace of mind it would offer would truly be worth the cost.
that is a cool device. i am afraid what i will find out if i do put it in though.
Thats a neat device!
That is so neat that you can view your monitor from anywhere!
We, too, always keep our doors locked. You just never know and it’s better to be safe than sorry!
yes if nothing else we install security cameras for a good piece of mind but lately being able to view remotely is our strongest sale and I pay $80 a month for a sprint smart phone just to show potential customers how the surveillance cameras look remotely, the bad thing is that I don’t even know the phone number so I know it is a straight business expense