How to Protect your Vehicles at Home

It’s no secret that Britain is a nation filled with motoring enthusiasts. Unfortunately, car crime is still rife, and many cars get stolen or broken into each month across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

You may live in an area with a reasonably low crime rate. But, that doesn’t mean crime rates won’t rise in the future. You’re obviously reading this article because you care about your cars, and you want to make sure they’re safe and secure while they’re outside your home.

But, what steps can you take to ensure their security? Check out the following suggestions for some inspiration:

Park Your Cars Out Of Sight

The first thing you need to do is find a way of storing your vehicles out of public view. That means parking their cars in two bay oak garages for most people. The thing about parking cars in garages is they aren’t visible to people in the public eye.
Let’s face it: you can’t steal something that isn’t there, so hiding your cars in plain sight is a brilliant way to thwart any potential theft attempts.

Use A Steering Wheel Lock
If you can’t park your cars in a garage, another thing you can do is consider a visual deterrent like a steering wheel lock. They are simple devices that fit through the gaps in steering wheels and get made of solid metal.
What’s more, their design makes it virtually impossible to remove forcibly. An opportunist car thief is unlikely to steal a car if they have to spend a lot of time trying to achieve that goal. They’d rather opt for a vehicle with no steering wheel lock fitted.

Store Your Keys In A Faraday Pouch
Many of today’s modern vehicles feature keyless entry systems. The trouble with such systems is they are incredibly vulnerable, and a pair of car thieves can easily steal such a vehicle in seconds.
If you store your car keys in a Faraday pouch, the signals from the keyfobs will get blocked, meaning car thieves cannot duplicate the signals that would enable them to unlock vehicles and start their engines.

Install CCTV
CCTV is both a visual deterrent and an excellent way to capture any criminal activity, such as attempted thefts of your vehicles. If you invest in a high-quality HD security camera system, you will have visual evidence of people trying to steal your cars.
What’s more, modern CCTV systems allow you to record footage at night thanks to night vision, infrared technology. Today’s CCTV security systems can often get linked to the cloud, meaning you can view footage from anywhere around the world.

Install A Fuel Pump Cut-Off Switch
Lastly, consider installing a hidden fuel pump cut-off switch. It’s a simple security measure that you can fit to any vehicle, and if you hide the switch, no one will know it exists! With the switch enabled, no one will be able to start your vehicle.
Make sure when entrusting someone with your car, give it a refresh or service, for example, that you keep your fuel pump cut-off switch disabled.

Final Thoughts
If you want to ensure people won’t try to steal your vehicles, the above ideas will help you achieve that goal.

As Fresh As A Daisy: The Secrets Of People Who Have Homes That Smell Beautiful

Do you ever walk into somebody’s home and stop in your tracks to think: “this smells beautiful”? If so, you’re not alone. It turns out that making indoor spaces smell as wonderful as a lavender meadow is something that you can achieve yourself. It’s just a matter of know-how. 

Find out what to do below: 

Light A Candle

If you have a lot of stinky smells in your home, light a candle. Candles have a wonderful ability to transform how rooms both feel and smell. 

When choosing a candle, be sure to pick one with essential oils and made of soy wax. This combination offers the ultimate in terms of health, wellbeing and effect. For a relaxing scent, choose either frankincense, lavender or eucalyptus. 

Clean The Carpets

Vacuuming will only remove so much debris from your carpets. If you really want to remove all the odour-causing particles, you’ll need to do some proper carpet cleaning. 

When it comes to cleaning your carpets, you have two options. You can either try doing it yourself with a wet vac, or you can get professionals to do it for you. Once the job is done, you’ll notice just how much fresher and lighter everything smells. For some households, it can make a tremendous difference. 

Deodorise Your Shoes

Stinky shoes left in the hallways can produce bad smells that flow throughout the home. If you have a shoe rack, keep some deoderiser nearby, particularly during the summer when people are sweating more. 

Open The Window

You can also reduce the number of smell particles in your home by opening a window. Just leaving it slightly ajar will allow the air to diffuse, with any bad smells eventually making their way outside. 

Clean Your Sofa Upholstery

Just like carpets, sofas can become a magnet for bad smells. Their fibres trap odour-causing compounds and then release them slowly over time. 

Again, to clean your sofa, you’ll need to hire a professional. They follow a special technique that allows them to essentially dry clean your furniture so that it’s ready again for you to use the next day. They also impregnate it with odour-cancelling particles so that it stays smelling fresher for longer. 

Use Essential Oil On Your Air Conditioning Filter

Essential oils smell great when placed in regular diffusers. But you can also combine them with your air conditioning system. As air circulates, it will pick up scent molecules from the oil and distribute them around your home. 

You don’t need much essential oil to create the desired effect. Just a few drops will suffice. 

Use Vinegar While Cleaning

Plain white vinegar smells quite pungent when you use it, but it is actually one of the best cleaning substances there is for making your home smell great. Its chemical structure allows it to grab onto odour-producing molecules and sweep them away. It is well worth using in both the kitchen and bathroom. Don’t worry: that sour smell will soon evaporate away, leaving everything looking and smelling fresh.