Make your house the one a burglar walks past
Fifteen cheap, plain fixes from police departments and safety groups. Most of them cost less than ten dollars. A few cost nothing.
You don't need a $2,400 alarm contract
When my sister Carol moved into a little house on her own, a company called her the first week. Cameras, sensors, a monitored panel, forty dollars a month for five years. She was ready to sign because she was scared and nobody had shown her another way.
I drove down that weekend instead. We walked the house together and I wrote fifteen things on a yellow legal pad. Most of them cost less than ten dollars. That page is still taped inside her kitchen cabinet.
This book is that list, written out properly.
What's inside
- The three jobs to do this week, for under seven dollars
- All fifteen fixes, each with what to do, what it costs and how long it takes
- What to do if you ever hear someone in the house
- A room-by-room walkthrough and a checklist for before you go away
- A shopping list with real prices
Five printables to tape up around the house
The nightly walk card, the door script for when a stranger knocks, a neighbor list, a going-away checklist and a home inventory sheet. Print them on plain paper. They come with the book.
Where the advice comes from
Every step comes from a source you can read for free: the Seattle, Nashville and Burbank police departments, a UNC Charlotte survey of 422 burglars, and the garage door industry's own safety group. They're all listed at the back of the book, with links. Where a number comes from a study, the book tells you who paid for the study.
Start free: the Nightly Walk Card
Four minutes, every night. The ten things to check before bed, on one page to tape inside a kitchen cabinet. Free, just tell us where to send it.
Questions
What do I get? A 34-page PDF book and a separate PDF of the five printables. You get the download link straight away, and by email.
Can I read it on my phone? Yes. It's a normal PDF, so it opens on a phone, tablet or computer.
Can I print it? Yes. It's US Letter size. On A4 paper, choose "fit to page" when you print.
I rent. Is this for me? Most of it, yes: lights, curtains, the nightly walk, the door script. Ask your landlord before you change locks or drill into a door frame.
Refunds? If the book isn't useful to you, email us within 7 days of buying and we'll refund you.
About Jo
Jo Danner is the presenter of our YouTube channel: an Army veteran who lives in a log cabin in East Tennessee with her husband Dale and an old shepherd called Sarge. Every step in the book comes from the police departments and safety groups listed at the back, so you can check any of it yourself.