Tip #16:
If you live in a neighborhood that has been plagues with home invasions, it is a good idea to create a safe room inside your home for you and your family. Make the inside of the house as safe as possible, by building a so-called “safe room”. This room ideally should be in the middle of the house, be strongly secured with a metal door, and have a cell phone hidden inside just for emergencies. Then, this room can act as a command center from where you can keep yourself behind a metal deadbolted door, while calling emergency services.
Tip #17:
Engrave your valuables with an engraving tool, putting your name on them. Keep an inventory of your valuables recorded with a video of photographic record and stash it in a safe place. This will be invaluable when dealing with insurance companies as well. If you record it on a video cassette, label it with something innocuous, like “Lawrence Welk Christmas” or something like that. Even if your stuff is stolen, the visual aid of a photo or video can help law enforcement identify it.
Tip #18:
Don’t stash all of your valuables in one place. Pick some of the best hiding places, and spread them out. Good places include: hollow table or chair legs, hollow plastic parts of shelving units, fake electrical receptacles, hollowed out banister spindles, inside the seat or armrest of an old chair, in the duct work, in a suspended ceiling, and any other offbeat unusual place. Be creative!
Tip #19:
This goes with tip # 17: photocopy all the contents of your purse or wallet. Make photocopies of all of your credit cards, front and back, and all of your identification. Then get yourself a rental of a safety deposit box at your local bank.
Tip #20:
Join or start a neighborhood watch program, if this is possible. If you are in an apartment building, then form this sort of thing with the others living on your floor.
