Brilliant Tips for a Safe Home
August 3, 2018Thank you First Alert for sponsoring this post. Don’t let the beep steal your sleep.
Of all the roles I play on a daily basis, mother is my most cherished role. One of my top goals as a mom is to keep the kids – and our whole family – safe on a daily basis. Today I’ll be sharing some easy ways that we safeguard our home from various hazards. From using outlet covers to placing First Alert CO Alarms throughout the home, there’s nothing more important to me than keeping my loved ones safe.
1. Ensure your home is equipped with First Alert Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Alarms!
This is an easy step toward a safer home. To make sure that the whole house is protected, we install First Alert Smoke & Carbon Monoxide alarms on every level of the home and in every bedroom. Plus, we also have a fire extinguisher on every level of the home AND in the kitchen & garage. When it comes to home safety, I always try to get the kids involved in the process. I recently received this kit from First Alert with CO & Smoke Alarms and a coloring book (the kids thoroughly enjoyed the activities in the book, by the way).
Tips for a Safe Home
The kids had some questions so I explained to them the basics. What is Carbon Monoxide? Carbon Monoxide is an invisible, odorless and deadly gas. CO alarms detect this poisonous gas and provide early warning. What are the sources of Carbon Monoxide? CO can be produced by any fuel-burning device, such as a furnace, boiler, stove, or cars. My girls are naturally curious and I’m always happy to educate & enlighten them.
Tips for a Safe Home
First Alert has a variety of CO alarms to fit each family’s needs. One of my favorites is the Carbon Monoxide Alarm with 10-Year Battery and Digital Temperature Display. It comes with a battery that lasts for an impressively long time (ten years!) and doesn’t need to be installed anywhere – it can simply be placed on a surface! Talk about convenience!
Tips for a Safe Home
I put one of these alarms on my daughter’s new big-girl desk. She will be starting Kindergarten this year so I know she’ll be spending a lot of time writing & drawing here.
Tips for a Safe Home
Another model that I received is the Carbon Monoxide Plug-In Alarm with Battery Backup. This one is convenient because I can simply plug it into any outlet in the home.
Tips for a Safe Home
Since it’s also equipped with a battery, I know that the alarm will provide continuous monitoring even during blackouts. That offers a peace of mind that I appreciate!
Tips for a Safe Home[/caption]Since I work from home and spend countless hours in my office every day, I added one of these plug-in alarms to the outlet in my office. Easy peasy!
Tips for a Safe Home
Did you know that many states adopted new building codes in 2011? This means that many carbon monoxide alarms, which have a useful life of seven years, are expiring soon! The affected states include California, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma Oregon, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Click here to learn more about current carbon monoxide legislation and get other general home safety tips! Also, be sure to watch this video here to learn more:
By the way, keep in mind that CO alarms have an end of life warning. This warning is designed to let you know that it’s time to replace the alarm. Don’t ignore the warning – stay on top of your alarm maintenance to keep your home safe!
2. Ensure all exterior locks are in working order!
Don’t neglect the outside perimeter of your home. Inspect all exterior doors and windows. Be sure that all doors & windows are locked at night and that all locks are properly fitted. When we first moved into our current home, we realized that one of the the locks on an exterior door was getting loose. We quickly replaced it. Now we routinely inspect all locks.
3. Anchor tall furniture to the wall!
Young kids will sometimes climb on large pieces of furniture. If the furniture is not properly anchored to the wall, the furniture can tip over, posing an extreme hazard to the child. Always use anchors designed to attach furniture to wall studs. We have always anchored bookcases, dressers, carts, TV stands and other large furniture to the wall.
4. Keep medicines & toxic products out of reach!
We store our family’s medicines in a high cabinet… out of reach of the children! For those low cabinets that house toxic chemicals and cleaning products, we use child-proof cabinet locks. Even though our kids are getting a bit older, it’s still important to be cautious. Better safe than sorry!
5. Install window guards & switch to cordless blinds!
To keep kids safe near windows, install metal window guards to prevent an accidental fall through a window. Also, conventional blinds and window coverings with cords pose a strangulation hazard for young kids. Switch to cordless window coverings in every room.
Don’t ignore any CO alarm warnings – pay attention to the warning and keep your family safe! Learn more about current CO regulations here. How do you remember to replace your alarms on a regular basis?
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
These are all great tips to help keep a home safe! Last Christmas, I bought all my grown kids CO Alarms as stocking stuffers. They all have gas fireplaces and I noticed none of them had CO alarms. Now they do!
Thank you for the reminder I need to change out all my smoke detectors. I know they’re older and it is time to do so. I will definitely buy these. I trust this brand very much.
I know I need these for our home as well as Smoke Detectors and now that we may be purchasing our home I plan on purchasing them so I know my family and our pets are safe. As I would hate for something to happen to someone I love.
These are great suggestions. I need to get my smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors updates.
great tips for homeowners and parents. Smoke detectors-absolutely agree! Also, water safety is a big one I am hearing a lot about. Little ones can drown in such a small amount of water-it’s frightening.
I want to get these for our home. Just in case. I always worry about carbon monoxide. I like your other tips as well! I have anchored most furniture.
These are great tips and keeping little ones safe is the name of the game. I have to get a CO monitor it is so important.
It’s so important to have a carbon monoxide detector as it’s such a dangerous gas that’s hard to detect. It’s just as important as a smoke detector.
I learned your number 3 tips the hard way when my son was barely a year old. He tried to climbed on a curio cabinet and it almost fell
So scary! Make sure the furniture is anchored to the wall.
Perfect reminder for all of us to make sure that our homes are safe especially when we have little kids around. I think these pointers are something we should all take note of!
I’m not even sure our home has a carbon monoxide detector. I need to find out asap!
We use First Alert smoke detectors and alarms in our own home. Great tips here for any homeowner and very helpful for parents as well.
Great tips! I need to check my smoke detectors once in a while if they are still working or maybe buy a new one.
Yes, it’s essential to stay on top of it!
Where we live, you have to have two carbon monoxide detectors per floor and smoke detectors at every door. We replaced all of ours last July. Great tips for a safe home
Wow, this is indeed so nice and would be very helpful to have in our own home. I need to check this and see what else to buy. Thanks for the informations!