Mornings are busy and it’s easy to feel rushed, especially if you’re running a few minutes behind. That’s why it’s important to practice several basic home safety checks every day before you leave to help prevent fires, break-ins and wasted electricity.
As the new year arrives and people consider building new habits, I suggest trying these security steps every day before you head out the door. After a month or two, you’ll start doing them automatically, keeping your home much safer from common risks that forgetfulness can bring.
1. Unplugging heaters
If the morning is chilly, it’s common to run a space heater in the coldest rooms for extra heat. Or you may have a heater plugged in from the night before. Unplug — or at least completely shut down — any heating devices before you leave home. If you want to guarantee protection, try a smart radiant heater like this with a low fire risk that you can turn off from anywhere with the app.
Even if it isn’t currently on, an active space heater in an empty house can be a significant fire hazard. This is also good advice for any device you have that heats up. That includes electric blankets and an electric kettles for boiling water.
Read more: 9 Places to Never Put a Space Heater
2. Locking the side doors
Locking the front door every morning can be a pain, but it’s an easy habit to form, especially if you use automatic smart lock settings. But remembering to lock other doors, like sliding doors or garage doors, is trickier. Thieves always look for an easy way in, so it’s common for them to quickly check every door in a home.
You could choose an affordable lever smart lock upgrade for your side doors so you don’t need to worry about forgetting them again. Or create a routine — perhaps with the help of voice assistant reminders — to make a pass around the house to check each door before you leave.
3. Turning down the thermostat
Leaving the thermostat too high is a costly mistake, but it’s easy to forget about heating levels when you’re in a hurry. When possible, use thermostat scheduling features to automatically ease off heating/cooling in the morning when everyone leaves the house. If you’re still setting thermostat changes manually, it’s probably time for a change: Today’s smart thermostats can adjust themselves or be controlled remotely, so you never have to worry.
Set temperatures for about 7 to 10 degrees more or less than you would if people were home. Take into account the comfort of pets and plants that are staying behind. And remember to update your morning schedules seasonally, depending on weather trends in your area.
Read more: The Best Smart Thermostats
4. Closing windows
If you opened any windows to take advantage of the cool night air, remember to close them in the morning. Burglars often watch for open windows, a potential quick entry into a home. Plus, as the day warms up, open windows could mess with your heating or cooling and cost extra money.
5. Checking the kitchen and laundry
In the morning rush to grab breakfast and remember packed lunches, people can leave refrigerator doors ajar, which is a big energy drain and could endanger more sensitive foods inside. Also, if you’re strained for time, you may’ve forgotten your meal in the fridge, so it’s always a smart idea to give the ice box a quick check.
Additionally, after breakfast, someone may’ve left the oven, toaster or air fryer on, which is another fire risk. If there’s not much coffee left in the coffeemaker, it’s a good idea to shut it down so the coffee doesn’t get burnt. Do a general check of your kitchen appliances to make sure they’re safely turned off. More-advanced appliances often have auto-shutoffs, which switch off the power after a set amount of time.
For other appliances, you may want to make sure they’re turned on and timers are set depending on your plans later in the day. That could include laundry you want to start at a certain time, dishwashers that support timers to get dishes clean and ready at the right time and crockpots you may want to set for long-term cooking.
6. Closing the garage door
Though closing the garage door is usually a reflex, that also means it’s hard to notice when you forget. An open garage is one of the most inviting signs for burglars and also welcomes in dust, animals and other problems. One of the easiest ways to take care of garage doors is using a smart garage door controller with automatic settings and reminders. A number of smart home cameras can also be set up in the garage to give you customized alerts if the door is left open.
If you’re worried about someone forcing even a closed garage door open, you can look for features that auto-lock a garage door when it closes and other neat safety tricks.
7. Arming the security system
If you use a home security system, you should arm it as you head out the door. That’s not always easy to remember, especially if “heading out the door” involves multiple trips or herding kids.
Our favorite solution is using a phone or fob with geofencing or similar features that will automatically arm/disarm the system when you move a certain distance away. Most modern security systems have that capability. You can also set security systems to automatically arm at certain times, but that’s a riskier option on late mornings.
While you’re building these important morning habits, you may want to check out our stories on the best ways to deter thieves and the common home security mistakes people make. If you have other questions, visit our home security cheat sheet to find all our top guides.
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