Protect your house and your loved ones with these inexpensive, expert-vetted and easy-to-install devices!
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Install a Wide-Angle Door Viewer
Every home should have a means of identifying visitors without having to open the door, and a peephole is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to provide this. However, not just any peephole will do. Many have a limited field of view, and that makes it difficult to determine what’s really happening on the other side of the door.
“Install a wide-angle peephole,” suggests Loo. This is also known as a wide-angle door viewer, and it costs from $20 to $60. Installation is painless, involving little more than drilling a hole and screwing in the device (just as you would install a regular peephole). The benefit is a revealing panoramic view of your porch.
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Secure your Mailbox
Mail theft can lead to identity theft if thieves get hold of bank statements or utility bills. “Locking mailboxes are effective, but I recommend combining them with tamper alerts,” says Gabriele. Anti-tamper alarms cost from $30 to $50 and can sync with your home security system or your mobile device. Not only will you receive notifications if someone is trying to steal your mail, you can also be notified when the mail arrives, which is a bit of extra convenience.
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Buy a Small Safe and Bolt It Down
Safes offer protection for valuables like cash, documents, and jewelry, but portability is a weakness, warns Gabriele. Townsend agrees: “It’s rare to see homeowners secure these safes, and when they don’t, thieves can simply take the safe with them.”
Gabriele recommends purchasing a safe with a digital keypad or biometric lock (you can get a basic one for less than $100), installing it in a concealed location, bolting it to the floor and, if you need extra security, guarding it with a motion sensor ($30) or a security camera ($50).
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Put Alarms on Window and Doors
Stick-on window and door alarms are extremely cheap security upgrades (as I write this, I’m looking at a set of 15 battery alarms for only $20 on Amazon). The alarms sound whenever someone tries to open the door or window from outside, and they get Townsend’s seal of approval. Any ground-level door or window should have one.
“I find these sensors are more effective when connected to a monitored security system,” says Gabriele. “You’ll receive mobile alerts and the monitoring center will dispatch help, even if you’re not home.”
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Secure Double-Hung Windows with Pin Locks
The standard locks supplied with double-hung windows are no match for a burglar with a crow bar, but you can fortify them with inexpensive, easy-to-install pin locks (about $5 each). Drill a hole through the sash and frame to lock the window closed, and a second hole in the frame a few inches up to lock the window partly open for ventilation.
“Good idea,” says Townsend, “but understand that the weak point of a window is usually the window frame itself, not the pin. If your window frames are old, rotted, or made of thin vinyl, a burglar can force the window by breaking the frame.” In other words, your old, deteriorating windows are a security risk, and if you’re serious about safety, you might want to consider replacing them.
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Take Advantage of Motion Detector Lighting
Motion detector lights can deter intruders before they get too close to your home, and at around $25 each, they definitely fall in the category of cheap security upgrades. Hard-wiring the lights into your home’s electrical system provides the most reliable protection, but if that’s too much trouble, you can choose battery-powered fixtures.
Solar fixtures are also available, but go for quality ones, warns Townsend. “I’ve seen cheaper solar power fixtures that don’t work well, especially in cloudy or rainy conditions.”
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Consider a Whole-Home Alarm System
A whole-home alarm system sounds like a more expensive security upgrade than it actually is. Not only is it inexpensive, it can also result in an insurance discount, depending on your home insurer, according to insurance and finance expert Melanie Musson.
If you start with a base station and a couple of entry sensors, Gabriele estimates that you probably won’t need to spend more than $100. From there you can add new equipment as your home expands. “I always recommend subscribing to a professional monitoring plan,” he says, “as it ensures emergency services are dispatched even if you’re unable to respond to mobile alerts. Prices range from $20 to $50 per month.”
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Secure Sliding Doors and Windows with Anti-Jacking Screws
To secure your sliding doors and windows, drive two 3-in. long screws through the top track and into the header above each one. Leave enough clearance to allow the sliding door or window to move, but not enough to allow a burglar to raise it off its track.
This is cheap and easy, and makes it difficult for burglars to lift the door or windows out of their tracks, says Townsend. It’s best combined with door and window sensors ($20) or glass break detectors ($50).
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Reinforce Exterior Doors
Burglars can open most entry doors with a few kicks or body blows. Even with a deadbolt, the blow can shatter the doorjamb and split the door itself. “Upgrade your deadbolt and reinforce doorplates,” advises Loo. “Thicker locks, and stronger screws, directly reduce forced-entry risk.”
This is one of those cheap security upgrades that might not even involve a trip to the hardware store, because you might already have a supply of three-inch screws in your tool cabinet. Simply remove the existing screws from door jambs and strike plates one-by-one and replace them with longer three-inch screws that bite into the framing behind the jamb. If your entry door butts up to a sidelight, and you can’t install long screws, buy and install a 48-in.-long doorjamb reinforcement plate.
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Strengthen Doors with Edge Guards
You can prevent door splitting with a door edge guard. Measure the door thickness and deadbolt lock back set before you head to the home center. Then buy a guard to fit around your door and deadbolt. Installing the guard should take about 15 minutes.
“These do work,” says Townsend. “I just don’t always like the look of them. I personally want something more discreet.” If you agree with Townsend, you can confine the use of edge guards to your less visible back and side doors, which are also the ones that burglars will probably try first.
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Burglar-Proof Your Wooden Garage Entry Door
“Garages are often overlooked by homeowners when deciding where to install home security equipment,” says Gabriele. “Criminals know this. That’s why I consider the garage a priority zone.”
A flimsy old wooden garage entry door has weak center panels that thieves can easily kick in, and adding a dead bolt won’t solve that problem. A down-and-dirty way to beef up the door is to add a 1/2-in. plywood reinforcement panel and then bar it with 2x4s placed in bar-holder brackets.
Townsend comments that this seems like a major inconvenience, and if you agree, you can use sensors instead. “Add entry sensors to the door connecting your home to the garage,” advises Gabriele. “You should also install a security camera overlooking the access points. Another smart tip is to place a sensor on the roller door. You’ll get alerts when the door opens and reminders if it’s left open. This type of setup costs less than $100.”
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Shred Documents Before Trashing Them
You should keep important documents in your safe, but what about the myriad credit card offers, bank statements and bills that come in the mail? Simply throwing them in the trash exposes you to identity theft, and you could find your credit has been ruined the next time you apply for a loan.
Shredders start at $20, but Gabriele recommends spending more for a good one. “In my experience, cross-cut and micro-cut shredders offer the best protection.” It’s also a good idea to upload important documents to an encrypted cloud storage service for extra protection.
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Add Video Surveillance (Real or Fake)
All the experts I interviewed agreed that video surveillance cameras, whether real or fake, deter intruders. If you use real ones, pay attention to the power source. “Hard-wired is the best,” says Townsend, “but they can be expensive. I hate batteries in cameras because charging or replacing is an inconvenience, and I’ve seen tons of cameras that have no power to them. They can still be a deterrent, though.”
If you go the fake route, you can make the illusion more convincing by gluing a coaxial cable to the base of the camera, but you’re probably better off with a battery-powered camera, as long as you remember to change the batteries. “Some of my favorite surveillance cameras are wireless, battery-powered, and cost less than $100,” says Gabriele. “They send alerts when detecting motion and can distinguish between intruders and pets, so you only get alerts worth your time.”
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Make Your Home Look Occupied When You’re Away
The way most homeowners do this is to plug one or more lights into a timer set to turn them on at sunset and off again in the morning. The weakness of this approach is that, to anyone casing your house, the regularity is a sure sign that no one is home.
Programmable wifi-enabled plugs are cheap security upgrades that eliminate this regularity. You can buy four for less than $30 at Amazon (I checked). Plug one of these into any standard outlet and then plug in a light fixture. Because it’s wifi-enabled, it can connect with your digital home assistant to allow you to turn the light on or off remotely using your mobile device. If you don’t want to think about security when you’re on vacation, you can also program the plug to randomly turn the light on and off all by itself.
About the Experts
- Rob Gabriele is the in-house home security and safety expert for SafeHome.org. He holds a Master of Science degree and has conducted over 5,000 hours of home security research.
- Brian Townsend is a retired Supervisory Special Agent and former Resident Agent in Charge with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), dedicating 28 years to law enforcement. He currently operates the website Only 2mg Inc., which is dedicated to solving the fentanyl crisis.
- Daniel Loo has over 20 years of experience in security, intelligence, and risk management. He is the founder of North Star Group, which offers top-tier security consulting, intelligence and data protection solutions.
- Melanie Musson is a published insurance and finance expert affiliated with Clearsurance.com.
- Scott McGillivray is a triple-threat expert in real estate, renovation, and finance with decades of experience in the field. Best known for the award-winning series Income Property, he is the host of At Home With Family Handyman’s Ask… Scott McGillivray.
Source
- Safewise: 10 Surprising Home Burglary Facts and Stats; (2025)
