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Five Cheap And Easy Ways To Increase Your Home’s Security

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If you love your home, and your own personal safety, beefing up your home security is always going to make sense. And though there are certainly many expensive solutions available, most people are surprised to learn just how much can be achieved with a little bit of DIY.

If you want a more secure home, you don’t need to call a security company. And you certainly don’t need to install an expensive surveillance system. All you need is a little bit of time and DIY know how. Here are five tips for turning your home into a fortress without raiding your savings.

Replace Your Locks

Lesson one when it comes to DIY home security is to beef up your locks. This can be done in three steps.

  • Install deadbolts on all of your exterior doors. When shopping for deadbolts, stick to those with three inch screws and strike plates that are at least a quarter of an inch thick.
  • Install pry proof locks on all of your windows. You might be surprised to learn just how easily most windows can be opened, even when locked.
  • Lock your mailbox. Very few homeowners bother to do this and that’s one of the reasons that identity theft is such a big problem. You wouldn’t hand your bank statement to a stranger, don’t leave your mailbox unlocked.

Increase Your Homes Visibility

If you’re home isn’t visible from the road, it’s significantly more likely to be targeted by a burgler. Unfortunately, the more privacy your home has, the easier it is for a burgler to break in unnoticed.

If there are any obstacles between your home and the road, ask yourself how you can get rid of them. Such obstacles are known to make houses an attractive choice for those looking to commit a burglary.

Light Things Up

Though day time burglaries certainly do happen, statistically your home is far more likely to be broken into during the hours of darkness. And one of the easiest ways to protect your home from such break ins is to light it up.

You should aim to install exterior lighting around all of your homes weakest points i.e. its doors and ground floor windows. To avoid ridiculously high energy bills, opt for lights that are controlled by a motion sensor.

Install a Fake Security Camera

Expensive surveillance systems are impressive, but did you know that a wooden box that looks like a camera can be just as effective? Burglars don’t like the look of security cameras and they rarely spend very much time inspecting those that they see.

A fake security camera made of nothing but wood and glass is therefore more than capable of acting  as a serious deterrent to anyone considering breaking into your home.

Install a DIY Alarm System

Finally, getting an alarm system professionally installed can work out pretty expensive but the same cannot be said for alarm systems that you install yourself. DIY alarm systems are widely available, surprisingly cheap and come complete with detailed instructions.

The best DIY alarm systems are typically the wireless variety. Wireless systems are not only easier to install, they are easier to both move around and expand at a later date.

Charles Anderson writes informative articles about creative interiors and unique home interior styles. To know more, visit snowplowstuff.com.

A store my mother in law will love

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I found a store this past weekend that I’ve got to tell my health fanatic mother in law about.

It’s a store called Healthy Planet. I was just talking about it on my other blog. The store has vitamins, bulk foods, organics, and even natural weight loss products – pretty much whatever you want and at good prices.

My mother in law and my husbands Aunt drive in to Toronto from a town about an hour and a half away from here to go to specialty stores like the Big Carrot so I’m sure they’ll love the Healthy Planet.

The location we went to happens to be near my husbands uncles house, so that will be handy for Chris’ mother if they decide to go to the Healthy Planet store as they can visit my husbands uncle afterwords. 😉

What You Need To Know When Purchasing A Futon

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Before you buy a futon mattress, you need to have already identified beforehand the specific type of futon mattress you want and what you need it for exactly. This is because futon mattresses come in specific types for specific needs.


In case you decided to go for a futon, then I suggest you get yourself a thick mattress because you will get the best leverage and comfort. I suggest you don’t skimp when it comes to futons, because you will get more comfortable sleep if you get a good, thick mattress for yourself. In case you are sucker for most comfortable sleeping surface, then your choice has to be the thickesst futon mattress.

It will happen that a visitor wishes to stay for a night or two. The only thing is, you lack beds to find place for them all. A futon mattress is ideal in this case as it can be used both as couch and bed at night. The best thing is that you can turn this bed into a couch and vice versa so you will save space in your home. You won’t get that with discount foam mattresses. It is better to make sure and purchase a quality material futon mattress, because that bed will have to go through a lot of folding and unfolding throughout the years.

To get all the information about futon mattresses like, priciing, availability, type and brand, you can always check online websites and find out anything you want to know. The prices would vary from country to country; sometimes you would be surprised to see there’s a bargain just around your corner. The instructions on how to transact orders are also there.

You have to admit there is a certain pleasure when you are shopping for youself in the local furniture store. And with a good information, you can buy a inexpensive mattress.That is the great place for first hand tips on bedding that you can verify immediately. If you figure out what you need exactly by talking to some people who know something about the product you are after, you will save money and get what you need.

Because of the fact that futon mattresses are very durable and do not wear out with ease, you will be making a smart choice if you invest some money in them now.

Car Hire USA & Canada

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Car Hire Considerations

Choosing which car hire company depends on a lot of factors and often the determining factor is location or opening hours. The next determining factor for many companies is who do you have an account with. The final factor is who has the most suitable cars. With so much competition there may still be several car hire companies ‘still in the frame’ so it comes down to price.

It is pretty important not to just choose the cheapest quote as that could be a false economy. Work out the total cost to see which is the cheapest. Inclusive rates are likely to appear the most expensive but actually work out the cheapest when the rental is concluded. The inclusive rental includes necessary items such as insurance, CDW, mileage, theft protection, location surcharges and tax.. In this example if each km cost 20p and you did not take any other items such as insurance, if you drive more than only 32 kms it is cheaper to have all inclusive!

Booking through a car hire broker is likely to be cheaper on rentals more than a couple of days but the rentals have to be prepaid. Here again there are differences which you may wish to consider for instance Holiday Autos charge 100% cancellation fee whereas cheap-car-rental charge a cancellation charge equal to just one days rental.

Have you considered insurance. It maybe your own insurance will cover driving a hire car but it may only be a limited cover and the car rental company may well require a larger deposit. You should also check the cover provided and consider carefully the options given by the car rental company as an accident, particularly for car hire in USA and car hire in Canada could be very, very costly.

Before driving off make a close inspection of the car to see if it has any scratches or had an accident. The paint work should be checked but also remember to check the interior, the tyres and low down where the car might have hit a kerb. If you spot any defects report them to the check out staff and ensure that they are marked on both your copy and the car hire firms copy of the agreement. If you do not report any damage you are likely to be charged for the damage when you return the car. Something you would wish to avoid.

We hope you enjoy using your rental car!

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