Best Home Safety Tips for the Single Mom Living Alone

Being a single mom is a tough job. Instead of having a partner to help you along the way, you are now responsible for the safety of you and your children. Even though over 7,919,035 property crime offenses in 2016, overall crime rates have slightly decreased. This is reassuring as a single mom living alone in a new home. I have been researching ways to secure my home to protect me and my children. Let’s take a look at the best home safety tips for the single mom living alone.

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Are you a single mom living alone and worried about your safety? Technology available on the market today makes it easier to protect our homes without needing an expensive alarm company monitoring your home. Alarm companies are great but as a single mom, this may not be in your budget. It definitely isn’t in my budget and I know that finding the best home safety equipment is a must.

Since I can’t afford an alarm company to monitor my home, I wanted to share with you some of the alternative options that I have found to help secure your home if you are a single mom living alone. Being a single m om can increase your odds of becoming a target but you can take steps to prevent that for the safety of you and your children. Continue reading to learn more about the best home safety tips for single mamas.

Change the Locks

Always change the locks whenever you move to a new home, even if your renting ask the landlord to change them for you before you move in. You don’t know if the previous owner still has extra keys floating around that weren’t turned over to the landlord.

If you can’t afford a locksmith, go to Walmart or Target and purchase new locks. Change out at least deadbolts locks if you have a very limited budget. Swapping the lock system is easy to do yourself and is one of the best home safety tips that I recommend.

Consider a P.O. Box

Living alone makes you vulnerable and to prevent others from discovering that you are a single mama living alone. I suggest getting a P.O. Box that can also sign for your packages as well and be able to send you alerts if you have mail in your box. This service will prevent you from wasting a trip to the P.O. Box if you don’t have any mail. Instead of giving out your home address to everyone, simply give other’s your P.O. Box.

Install a Security System

Long gone are the days where you have to spend thousands of dollars or be stuck in long-term contracts for installing a security system in your home. The home security market has grown rapidly in the last several years and now you can pick up a home security system (aff link) that you can easily install yourself.

Also, most of the home security systems on the market can even connect to an app on your cell phone so that you get alerts whether you are home or away. You can instantly log-in the app to determine what is going on within your home. If there is an intruder, you can call 911 without them even knowing that you were alerted of their presence.

Use Home Automation Tools

During the winter if you are a working single mama living alone, chances are by the time you get home from work and picking up the kids from daycare it is already dark outside. Coming home to a dark house can leave you vulnerable as a single mom living alone.

Install home lights that you can turn on with the click of a button using an app or programming it using Google Home or Alexa. You can alternate turning on various lights in your home and outside so that your neighbors think you are always home. You can do this even if you work at home.

Don’t forget to turn put automated lights in your outdoor light fixtures too. This gives you the ability to leave the light on when it is dark outside when you live or turn it on when you not home. People are less likely to mess with your property if the outside of your home is well-lit or when it looks like someone is home. You can also install motion sensor lights outside too.

Invest in a Doorbell with a Camera

Ring doorbell is the most popular options but honestly, as a single mom living alone it is a bit out of my budget. I plan on purchasing a Viewzone Video Doorbell camera (aff link) for $59.99 it comes with rechargeable batteries and a unit so that you can hear the doorbell inside. If you are a single mom living alone, having a video doorbell allows you to view and talk to people without opening the door to find out who it is. This video doorbell even allows up to 4 family members, especially if you have a teenager who stays at home alone after school, to connect to the app so that everyone can use it too. This is another one of the best home safety tips that you can do to protect your home from intruders.

Lock Down Your Social Media Accounts

As an influencer, it is a bit harder to lock down all of my social media accounts. I do keep my personal social media accounts locked down and keep too much personal information off my blog social media accounts. Keeping your account details private, especially your relationship status, can help keep others from finding out that you are a single mama living alone.

Never Advertise Your Plans on Social Media

Also, never advertise that you are a single mom or what your daily plans are including vacation plans. Potential intruders tend to target victims who share too many details and post vacation notices online. As a single woman living alone, you want to protect your home and if possible find a close friend or family member to house sit for you, especially if you don’t have a home security system or an automated home.

Install Window, Sliding Glass Door, and Exterior Doors

Intruders often enter your home using a window, sliding glass door, or breaking down the door. Protect yourself as a single mom living alone and install window locks on all your window. Window locks are installed on the inside and prevent the window from being opened beyond a certain point. Don’t forget to install a locking device on your sliding glass door. A sliding glass door is an easy target for an experienced intruder. Check out these common sliding glass door weaknesses and learn how to protect yourself as a single mom with kids.

Most exterior doors can be easily be kicked open but you can protect yourself as a single mom living alone by adding a lock and door reinforcement kit. Also, many experts also recommend removing the original screws in the lock plates and installing longer screws. Both of these options are easy to add to your home and will help protect you from an intruder. We also suggest adding these Nightlock Security Lock Door Barricade (aff link) to keep you and your children safe while you are sleeping.

Give a Key to a Trusted Friend or Neighbor

Do you have kids who ride the bus home and stay at home for a few hours before you get home? Things happen and kids sometimes leave their key at home or accidentally miss place it. Having a trusted friend or neighbor with a key to your home can be convenient in case they need in the house and you are unable to sneak away from work. I’m not a fan of giving non-family members a key to my home but as a single mommy living alone with my kids, I would find a trusted neighbor for my child to go to if this happens.

Vary Your Routine

Do you follow the same routine on a daily basis without realizing it? As a single mom living alone, it is important to vary your routine and take different routes and times that you come home. This will help prevent someone from learning your routine and catching you when you are vulnerable.

Being a single parent is a tough job but as a mom, you will do anything it takes to protect your kids. I know that I do! The best way to protect yourself, as a single mommy living alone with your kids, is to improve the security in your home. Technology has made it possible for anyone to improve their home security at a fraction of the cost. As a single mama living alone, I know that I can’t afford expensive equipment or monthly service fees and I will be implementing these suggestions once I move to my new home.

Do you have any more home safety tips for single moms living alone?