It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

11.12.08 ………and isn’t it just a fabulous time of the year! Christmas decorations everywhere, Houses lit up with beautiful Christmas lights, Christmas parties with colleagues and friends, holidays getting closer and children waking up every morning counting down the sleeps to Santa Clause’s visit. It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!! On the flip side of this exciting time approximately one in five households in Australia is a victim of household crime. This means that a large number of homes are continually making themselves easy targets for thieves. It is important for both home owners and renters to ensure their homes are secure, in order to prevent post-holiday heartache. • Having beautiful foliage around your home goes a long way in presentation, but unfortunately provides a safe haven for thieves, a good idea to combat this problem is the installation of sensor lights which are activated by motion and usually scare away most would-be robbers. • If you are going on holidays take some time before you leave to create a ‘lived-in’ effect for your home whilst you are away. There are many products on the market that operate on timers, activating interior lights as well as other appliances, helping to create the desired effect. • Naturally alarms are an effective deterrent which can also stop thieves in their tracks. Work together with neighbours, always advise them when you are going away, give them a contact number and ask them if they would collect your mail or any papers that may be delivered while you are absent. This will keep your home looking lived-in. • If you’re going on holiday, remember to cancel deliveries, do not leave spare keys outside, and give them to a neighbour. Make sure that your garbage bins are put away and not left out. Be sure to lock all windows and doors. • Identify all valuable items by writing a list with the description and serial numbers of each item. Maybe use a ultra-violet pen and write your driver’s license number on TV’s, VCR’s and Stereos. Wishing you and your family a happy and safe Christmas. Until next week…Jocelyn Frost