How A Coffee Mug Can Help Protect Your Home Without A Security System

Though they can definitely help to keep your family safe, there are advantages and disadvantages to having a home alarm system. While there are some great DIY home security systems out there, they can get pretty pricey. But there's a very simple hack that you can use both in and away from your home — and all you need is a mug. TikTok user @richardoooo6 demonstrated this smart and thrifty hack in a video on their page.

This security hack is about as easy as it gets, and all it takes is a mug and a door handle. With the mug hanging from the door handle, it will fall to the ground if the handle is turned, and the landing sound will be loud enough to wake most of us from slumber. This idea is great not only for use in your home, but also when you travel as most hotels, hostels, bed and breakfasts, or Airbnbs usually have a mug available for use. And even if there isn't, bringing one from home won't take up a ton of room in your suitcase. While most doors will have a lock, there have been occasions of unexpected break-ins, especially when traveling. Using this mug hack can not only help you sleep better and feel safer, but alert you to any intruders should the worst-case scenario happen. That said, this hack does only work on handled doors, so if you have a doorknob, you will need an alternate solution.

Although this hack is pretty self-explanatory (simply hang your mug by the handle on the handle of the door) there are some things to consider to make sure it works correctly. First of all, make sure that you are placing the mug far back enough that it won't accidentally slip off on its own. You don't want to create an alarm that cries wolf. While it doesn't matter really what type of mug you use, choose one on the heavier side — both to prevent it from breaking when it falls and because the heavier it is, the louder of a sound it will make. If you don't have a mug, you can use anything with a handle really. An ice bucket in a hotel or a reusable water bottle with a handle could also work. 

If you don't have anything applicable, you could balance something on top of the handle so that if it moved during the night, it would slide off and hit the ground. With that said, you should make sure that you or anyone staying with you won't knock it off accidentally. To prevent any accidents, set it up right before bedtime so you won't have anyone coming in or out. If you have a doorknob, this won't work for you. But you can use a ring of jingle bells around the knob. These will make a sound if the door or knob is moved at all — though, it may not be the best choice if you have curious cats or children. If all else fails, opt for a cheap security camera.