Christmas is a time for getting away for the holidays, visiting friends and enjoying time together with your family. More than any other time of the year, Christmas is the time when your house is most likely to be vacant for extended periods of time. Thieves are well aware of this and this is why keeping your house secure at Christmas time is so important. Fortunately, home security doesn't have to be expensive if you take the right precautions and have the right home security products installed.

There are two aspects to home security:

Make Your Home Look Occupied

Thieves are not going to attempt to break into a home if they suspect that it is occupied or that the owner will be returning shortly. There are some simple steps you can take to make it look like your home is occupied:

• Use an automatic timer and set it to turn your lights on and off at the times they normally would be. A porch light left on all day tells thieves the owners are probably on holidays and if you leave the lights on in the bedrooms all night, that is a sure sign that no one is home.
  
  
• Mow your lawn and tidy up your yard before you go away and if you are going on an extended vacation, hire someone to do periodic garden maintenance for you.
  
  
• When newspapers and mail start to pile up, thieves know that no one is occupying a home. Make arrangements with Australia Post to hold your mail and ask a neighbour to pick up and dispose of any newspapers that are thrown into your yard.
  
  
• A home automation system can make your home appear to be occupied in a number of ways. You can fine tune your automatic lighting, program the system to turn your TV on and off and even have your curtains automatically open and close at predetermined times. If you have a WiFi connection, you can "virtually" occupy your house and remotely command your system to turn music, lights or the TV on and off at random times.

Make Your Home Secure

• If you don't already have them, install high quality door locks on all your doors and windows.
  
  
• Install sensor lights at the sides of the house and anywhere else that is dark at night. These will frighten away thieves and alert your neighbours to their presence.
  
  
• Consider installing a home alarm system.
  
  
• Consider replacing your screens with security screens. These offer extra protection against intruders, but look just like ordinary screens.

A few other things you can do include hanging some old clothes on your clothesline, asking a neighbour to put your bin on the kerb on bin days and return it to its storage area the following day and ask a neighbour to park their car in your driveway occasionally. All of these things make your house look occupied to the casual observer and are things thieves look for when they are looking for homes to break into.

Keeping your home secure at Christmas will ensure that the good time you spend away from home over the Christmas holidays isn't ruined by an unexpected surprise when you return. It will also allow you to enjoy your vacation more, giving you the peace of mind to forget everything and fully enjoy the holiday season.