Look around your home and chances are you’ll be able to spot plenty of opportunities to keep your family safe. Here are the top home safety items to make sure you have around the home and are in working order.

1) Home Safety – Fire Extinguishers

This home safety staple should be in a few places in your home; in your kitchen, in your garage, and in your laundry room. Having a fire extinguisher on hand isn’t going to do you much good if it’s broken or expired. Have your local fire department check yours. In the midst of a blaze would be the wrong time to discover that it’s not working.

2) Home Safety – Smoke Alarms

You should have working smoke detectors in each bedroom as well as any upstairs hallways and at least a few on the main floor of your home. Replace the batteries every six months or when daylight savings time begins and ends in your area.

3) Home Safety – Basic First Aid Kit

Keep a variety of adhesive bandages along with things you may need for more significant injuries such as gauze, iodine, rubbing alcohol, tape, surgical scissors, and antibiotic ointment. Check the stock and expiration dates of all the items in your first aid kits at least once or twice a year.

4) Home Safety – Emergency Contact List

Have an up-to-date contact list of emergency contacts like grandparents, family members, doctors, poison control, and babysitters in a visible area. Also, make sure to include your health insurance information in the event you’re not able to provide it.

5) Home Safety – Carbon Monoxide Detectors 

 
Carbon monoxide (CO), is the odorless, tasteless, and invisible gas that can be a threat to any home. Unsafe levels of carbon monoxide can emit from furnaces, room heaters, fireplaces, stoves, grills, and even a car left running in the garage. Keep these appliances in good shape and have them inspected regularly and install a CO detector near these appliances and on the main level(s) of your home. If your CO alarm beeps, open all the windows, and if it continues beeping, call your local fire department right away.

6) Home Safety – Night Lights

Night lights aren’t just for kids, but they can help prevent falls in the middle of the night, and battery-powered ones will come in handy as you’re gathering flashlights and candles when the power goes out. 

7) Home Safety – Disaster Kit

  Find a pre-assembled one online or DIY for one that’s perfectly suited to your family and the area that you live in. You’ll be thankful for your disaster kit if you find yourself in a power outage for several hours to several days. Once you assemble your disaster kit, don’t ignore it! Replace expired items and restock any items that you may have grabbed throughout the year. If you’re assembling these items yourself, store them in a waterproof bag or backpack so you can easily grab it in an emergency. 

Some items to keep in your disaster kit (multiply each item by the number of people living in your home):

• Water – 1 gallon per person per day for 3 days
• Food – 3 day supply of non-perishable food
• Flashlights and spare batteries
• Extra phone batteries or solar charger
• Safety matches
• Candles
• Battery-powered radio and a NOAA Weather Radio, and extra batteries for both
• Copies of important documents (electronic copies will be safest)
• Can opener
• Personal hygiene items
• Pet food and extra water for your pet
• Cash

Can you check all these items off your home safety checklist?

Helpful Insights For First Time Home Buyers

           Additional Helpful Advice

Safety Tips When Selling Your Home – Via Bill Gassett

Home Safety Checklist – Via Jeff Nelson

My philosophy is simple: clients come first. I pledge to be in constant communication with my clients, keeping them fully informed throughout the entire buying or selling process. If you’re not left with an amazing experience, I haven’t done my job. Success is not measured through achievements or awards but through the satisfaction and repeat/referral business of my clients. My goal is to be your top realtor choice when it comes to buying or selling real estate. Having spent most of my life in Portland, OR.,  living in Northeast, Southeast, Bethany, Hillsboro, Beaverton, downtown, St. Johns, Clackamas and West Linn, I’m very knowledgeable of the many different neighborhoods our city has to offer.