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Written by McCarthy's Team on November 11, 2015

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As winter fast approaches, now is the time to be making sure you’ve done everything you can to keep your home safe and secure. There’s an estimated 20 to 25 per cent increase in burglaries in the winter months compared to the summer. Of course in winter, dark evenings provide cover for those up to no good – so now may be a good time to do an annual security check.

Here at McCarthy’s Storage World, we have state-of-the-art technology to ensure your belongings are kept as safe as possible, from CCTV to unique pin entry codes. But there are simple steps you can take to make sure your home and possessions are also kept as safe as possible.

• Let there be light – if burglars prefer to operate in the dark, make sure your house is always well lit. Install outdoor lights around your home, and movement sensors can be great, so you don’t have to have a permanently floodlit garden.
• Be alarmed – it sounds obvious, but a burglar is unlikely to pick a home which has a working alarm – or to stick around once they discover it does!
• Places to hide – Think about your garden. Burglars like lots of hedges and trees to provide shadows to hide in. Remember to close garden gates if you have them. A prickly tree under a window would also deter most would-be burglars from trying to gain entry there!
• Always lock doors and windows – it can be easy to forget to lock the front door after coming in from a long day at work. But many burglars are just opportunists, nipping in and grabbing what is in easy sight – which might include your handbag, mobile, wallet or car keys. Ideally your doors should have a cylinder lock and a deadlock. Two locks are more likely to deter a thief than one.
• Don’t be on display – once the nights get darker, close curtains and blinds so you’re not showing the world what’s on offer. Don’t leave phones and laptops and tablets in easy view from the windows, and don’t put wrapped presents under the Christmas tree – which might seem tempting to someone wandering past. They’re not to know what’s a pack of talc for your great aunt and what’s an Xbox. Also, when buying new electrical items, make sure you dispose of packaging carefully, so it’s not obvious to any passer by that you’ve just got the latest, cutting edge TV.
• Don’t make it easy – Make sure tools are safely locked away in your shed or garage, so they can’t be used by burglars to break into your home. Make sure your shed and garage are properly secured – you’d be amazed at the value of what’s inside them a lot of the time, yet many people leave them unlocked.
• Just say no – Never let anyone into your home who is unexpected without carefully checking their ID, and even then, if in doubt, tell them you want to double check and can they come back at a more convenient time. Better to be safe than sorry with incidents of fraudsters on the increase.

Always at home – obviously it’s not possible to never leave home – but you want to appear like you don’t! Have your lights on timers, make sure milk and post aren’t piling up and ask a neighbour to keep an eye on things if they can – maybe even drawing some curtains from time to time.