Best Household Items For Your Protection!

Picture this: you’re in your home, minding your own business. You’re in your bed, in your kitchen or simply walking along from one room to another. All of the sudden you realize you’re being the victim of property trespassing and you’re face to face with the perpetrator. You are defenseless and you feel it! But how defenseless are you really? Not as much as you might think. As long as you are not at gun point or already subdued, you can fight back with pretty much everything you can find. And there are plenty of things that can pack quit a punch around a regular household. Even though the adrenalin flows, try and keep your cool and think quickly. If you react fast enough in grabbing the most appropriate thing and using it at full capacity, you can take out pretty much anyone that means you harm. Many household items and appliances are excellent improvised weapons, especially if you target the most sensitive body parts, like the groin, the eyes or the neck. Even if you own a gun, most that it might not be in handy, so consider your possibilities.

Let’s have a look at the items that will save you skin in case of a self-defense scenario:

Beatsticks

As long as it’s stick-shaped and hard enough, it can hurt. Many items lying around the house are more than perfect for such an occasion. If you happen to have a broom nearby or a mop, the tail is hard enough to be used as a weapon, and can be very affective for blows on the head, on the groin or even on the hands (providing the attacker is carrying a weapon and you’re looking to disarm him). A baseball bat would be preferable, as its thickness makes it very unlikely to break, in case you miss you swing and hit it against a tough surface. If you’re being attacked in the hallway, you can always grab a walking cane or an umbrella, which can be very versatile: you can open it for protection (if the assailant is throwing stuff at you) and you can even use it to pierce flesh (if it’s pointy at the end). The best tool for such an occasion though would have to be the vacuum cleaner wand, and the reasons are obvious: it’s a metal bar that will never break, it’s not very heavy and everybody has one.

Sharp and pointy

It’s impossible not to find something that fits the description in every single room of a regular household! If you find yourself in the kitchen, plenty of kitchen knives (even butcher knives and hatchets for those serious meat eaters) are either lying around or orderly stored in shelves. You can use them as throwing weapons, if the attacker is out of reach and you intend on keeping things that way. But they also work perfectly as close range weapons, when the attacker gets close enough to get cut. Forks and corks work just as well for stabbing, especially in soft zones, like the neck or the eyes. Bottles are excellent cutting tools, if you grab them by the neck and smack them against a hard surface. You’ll be left with a very dangerous improvised knife that can cut a surface as big as the bottle diameter. Don’t try a similar approach with coffee mugs or glasses, as you might end up hurting yourself instead; simply use them as throwing weapons.

For slashing and cutting, sometimes, you need not look any further then your own pockets. A ballpoint pen, a pencil or even regular keys can be more than enough to inflict massive amounts of pain on whomever means you harm. They can easily pierce skin and inflict irrecoverable damage to the eyes. Neither would work well a throwing weapon though, because of their reduced weight. So keep them for close-quarter combat.

Rags

Believe it or not, a simple scarf or a long and sturdy enough piece of cloth can prove fatal if used correctly. The military are training for self defense with scarves, as they can prove very efficient in a close combat scenario. If you manage to get around your attackers neck, the scarf instantly becomes a garrote, which can easily cut blood circulation or the airflow through the neck. This will immediately weaken your adversary, but applied pressure for longer than necessary can even cause death. Blankets or drapes can be used as a means of distraction. Simply throw it at perpetrator. This will temporary blind him and obstruct vision. It will buy you more than enough time to react and to subdue him, either by locking his arms and legs or by delivering hard enough blows. If might also offer the possibility to escape in some cases. And if avoiding confrontation becomes an option, that’s what you should do.

Eyesores

The eyes are the main source of input, especially in a situation based on direct confrontation. Luckily they are very sensitive and it doesn’t take much to affect eyesight. Once this happens, it’s very unlikely that your adversary will put a good fight. Not only is the process very painful, but the eyes swell and water instantly, greatly reducing visibility. A regular spray (be it deodorant, window cleaner or inhaler) will provoke instant eye damage and excruciating pain. Squeezing orange or lemon juice in the eyes works just as fine, especially if you happen to find yourself in the kitchen, making orange juice or lemonade at the time of the attack. Salt, pepper, vinegar or even plant dirt (if you have plants in handy) are also very efficient and common to almost every household.

Shields

You will not always find yourself in the attacking position, but most likely will find yourself reduced to defending yourself. Whether it’s attacks at point-blank or you’re having stuff thrown your way, there are plenty of things you can grab in order to not get hit. Moving out of harm’s way would be ideal, but if this is not an option, you can simply grab large enough objects to deflect the attacks. Against a knife attack you can easily use your laptop, tablet, a suitcase or even a regular pot lid. The latter works perfectly as a shield, because its handle makes it easy to pick up and use, leaving you with a free hand, which you can use to grab a weapon yourself.

In some situations defending yourself with regular household items might even be preferable to using of fire arms. Not only might a gun be in handy, but you can go around many legal issues concerning self defense, as everyday items are not legally considered to be weapons. So decorate your house in such a way that every room has at least one item that might save your skin in case you’re being attacked in your own home.

by Alec Deacon