Inexpensive Home Security
With reports that the economic downturn sparked an increase in crime, more and more people are taking steps to make their homes more secure. Although criminals probably won’t target most of us, like Ben Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Costing only about $20 each, motion detectors are easy to install and effectively sense movement or even sounds within 40 feet; some are even designed to ignore pets and other small animals.
Magnetic window and door contacts cost just a few dollars each and are also easy to install. When the magnetic contact is breached, it communicates (often wirelessly) with your security system, setting off the alarm and/or contacting the police.
Interested in a security system? It might be less expensive than you think. For around $120, you can get a basic system that includes a keypad with user codes, a siren, event-initiated paging and even a backup battery. These systems are often immune to pets weighing under 85lbs.
If you’re interested in video surveillance, you can often connect video cameras to the DVR of your personal computer using cables or your existing wireless network. Bullet-style, color and day-and-night infrared cameras with brackets start at about $80 each. Complete, self-contained video-surveillance systems start around $1,500 and usually include a DVR with auto-detecting video signal loss and HDD failure, several cameras with wall mounts, a monitor, software, and cables.
There is also a plethora of secret-agent style gadgets available for around $100, including cameras built into working pens, smoke detectors or peepholes. For under $200, you can even buy a fingerprint/biometric door lock that unlocks when an authorized user places his or her finger on the pad.
How do you keep your home or office secure?