You would think that once we moved out of the big city and into the ‘burbs, our fears about crime would be diminished. Not so! In fact we probably think about crime more than ever, as break-ins and even armed robbery seems to be something we read about in our local news all of the time. It doesn’t help that the economy is bad and police departments have been cut.

Luckily, this infographic makes us feel a little bit better about where we live. True, our area in New Jersey isn’t the safest state, but at least we’re not… Houston. (Sorry Houston. We think you’re lovely.)

My husband is leading the charge when it comes to teaching us all about safety. He even had a policeman come and give us an inspection to let us know how vulnerable our home was. Here are a few things we learned:

1. Plant bushes (preferably ones with thorns!) close to windows and yard entry points.
2. Make sure you don’t leave things out in the yard during the day — especially ladders! Thieves can use your own equipment to climb into windows.
3. Place “jam” locks on windows, so even when they are open, they are locked.
4. Use timed lights when you are not home.
5. Make sure you arrange for neighbors to collect mail and papers when you are out of town.
6. Consider a home alarm system or a security camera set up.p

For some more great tips on how to protect your home, see this post at Penolope’s Oasis.

This post is sponsored by Home Security Store.