Every year millions of homes in the U.S. fall victim to burglars. It’s not exactly an uncommon occurrence, even in the nicest of neighborhoods. However, breaking and entering tends to peak during the holiday season. Between November and December, roughly 400,000 homes are ransacked, each costing an average of $2230 for the homeowner in lost goods and damages.

Making matters worst, there’s often a lack of any substantial evidence for these crimes. Less than 15 percent of home burglaries are ever solved, and there’s a good chance that if your home is broken into, you’ll never get your stuff back. This is especially worrisome for some families, not just because of cost, but for the loss in sentimental items that can’t be replaced with an insurance claim.

Fortunately there are plenty of tools at your disposal for keeping your property safe for the holidays, or any time of the year for that matter. Most of them cost significantly less than an alarm system, and altogether can provide several layers of security to your home. Below are seven awesome tools for keeping your place safe this Christmas.

The Door Club

One of the best things you can do to secure your home, is to create as many barriers for anyone who would attempt to enter. No matter what you install, someone can figure out a way to get past it. However, burglars want to get in and get out as fast as they can. If it takes them too much time to get through the front door, or if it’s too noisy to break through, then they’ll have to look for an easier target.

If you’re looking for the ultimate barrier, then consider the Door Club. It consists of a floor mount, a flat metal pad for the door, and a hefty brass door stop. Once that door stop inserted into the floor mount, no one is getting Mr Beams MB360 Wireles... Best Price: $11.95 ($0.62 / oz) Buy New $12.50 ($0.65 / oz) (as of 11:15 UTC - Details) through your home without a battering ram.

Mr Beams MB360 Wireless LED Spotlight

Light is the enemy of every criminal, and a motion activated light is a great way to keep burglars at bay. When you think about, these lights mainly work on a psychological level. Normally most people are not actually paying attention when one of these go off, but it gives the impression that someone is watching your every move.

If you’re away from home, then having a motion light is a good way to make burglars think twice before paying your home a visit. And if you are home and can see the light from a bedroom or living room, you can rest assured that you’ll always know when someone is approaching your property.

FakeTV FTV-10 Burglar Deterrent

Any criminal who specializes in breaking and entering is somewhat of a coward by nature. While it does take some guts to break into a home, it’s nothing like mugging someone on the street. Most burglaries take place between the hours of 6am and 6pm, which you’ll recognize as the time when most people are at work. For them, the perfect robbery goes without any pesky homeowners attempting to protect what they own. If they had the moxy to face someone, they’d go out and mug someone or rob a bank.

Check Amazon for Pricing. That’s why finding a way to make the burglar think you’re home, is one of the best ways to keep your place from being robbed. I’d highly recommend a fake TV. These devices run on a very small amount of electricity, and are designed to bathe your living room with a random assortment of lights, giving the impression that someone is at home watching tv.

Woods 50007 Indoor Digital Lamp Timer

Much like the fake tv, the lamp timer is another method of eluding burglars when you’re not home. The device is nothing more than an outlet that activates at a predesignated time. Simply plug it into the wall outlet, and then plug your lamp into the timer. You can then adjust what time of night you want the outlet to turn on, which it will repeat every night from then on.

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