Student life can be one big party, and while it can be a big change to get used to initially, it soon turns into an exciting and highly social baptism into adult life. It’s a time of life when priorities get decidedly realigned – often the food budget will be borrowed to fund that night out, so frugal choices become part of daily life, balancing the need to be seen in the right places with the right people, alongside getting by on a tight budget.

In recent times, crime has moved into student halls, and rented digs out in the towns and cities across the UK, and it’s not necessarily the sort of criminals that spring to mind that are behind it. It’s all very well being insured as part of your parent’s home policy (you’ll normally need a self contained, locked unit of accommodation that only you have access to, and not all insurers cover students away from home), but if it’s someone you live with that’s taking your stuff, that will probably be an exception anyway.

One clever solution that’s getting common is to use something that your parents might have put aside in years gone by – the video baby monitor. Some models have the ability to be accessed over wifi – something that was highly criticised in the past due to the security concerns about predators watching other people’s children over the web, but most systems are actually very secure – at least sufficiently so to make those misfits of society look elsewhere. For students, though, these relatively inexpensive devices can be used as a security device, a portable cctv system that can be used to entrap the perpetrator if you suspect someone is snooping around in your room when you’re not around. Of course, many of these suspicions will prove to be untrue, but by recording the footage to a computer, you can quickly scan through the video after the event if you suspect something has gone walkabout without your permission.

Of course, you don’t necessarily need to invest in a new model if you’ve got one kicking around at home, and even if you haven’t you don’t always need the latest and greatest innovations like the Motorola digital video baby monitors. In fact, even some higher quality manufacturers like Motorola have budget options, so you might want to check out a review for a new purchase.

You can also do the usual stuff like making sure your room is locked when you’re not in, but it is good to know once and for all whether or not your house mates are actually responsible or not, as suspicions can make life very difficult very quickly – and those suspicions may prove to be false!