hence why i said if you CAN , meaning if you can save up more its worth itIm pretty sure the cannon rebel t3i is about $400 over his price range. Honestly in my opinion is if you have a newer smart phone just look into lens options for your phone. You will be able to find cameras in that price range, but screw it. See if you can find a nice lens addition to your camera. If you have an iPhone 4s/5 then check out the olloclip, then buy a sack and have a blast!
There are programs that allow you to access security cams via your phone, I just don't know enough about it to say which ones would be better then the others.how about a camera as a look out so you know who is outside and it can be linked to a phone.
Good deal