You are NOT Welcomed

My home is my solitude. It's our safety zone, our little piece of sanctuary, no matter where we live, it's our protected area. Or is it? With all the craziness in the world, and things taking some deep downward spirals, homes are targets for burglaries now more than ever. Even in rural areas, homes/garages/barns/even your yards are being stolen from.
I have a friend who lives in a fairly well-off suburb and she recently shared that police have been called to several of her neighbors homes lately due to 'the backyard burgler'. This burglar cases homes, once you leave for work, she digs in! She loads up your lawn furniture, pots of plants, garden gnomes and then starts digging up your bushes and perennials. Lawn furniture cushions, and birdhouses/feeders and wind chimes aren't exempt either. Literally, anything that you enjoy and use to decorate your yards with. She was working alone, in her mid 50's, and still hasn't been seen back since she stole from over 13 homes there. Other neighborhoods have reported the same kind of incidents.  Really? Even our garden gnomes? We all know about homes with attached garages, burglars can easily access our homes through our garages, and with the garage door closed, nobody will even notice they're in our homes. So I started thinking of ways to protect our home. Things that would not cost a small fortune. Let's face it, one snip to our electrical supply, and our fancy-dancy alarm systems are useless.

1. Lock All Door & Windows. You’d be amazed how many burglars get into a home through an unlocked door or window. Most thieves are fairly lazy, and much prefer to “enter” rather than “break and enter.” Locking windows and doors applies to second stories too. Despite general laziness, there are some thieves that are surprisingly agile, and very capable of hopping onto your balcony, or otherwise gaining a height advantage to get into your home.
2. Provide Good Lighting Outside Your Home. Motion sensors are a great way to discourage any nocturnal snoopers. You can find them very inexpensively at any home store. If your exterior lights up like Chevy Chase’s house in Christmas Vacation, you’re on the right track here. Use your yard’s natural defenses. Does your house sit at a slightly elevated position from street level? Use that to your advantage. Make sure there’s a clear line of sight from the road. Do you enjoy gardening? Choose thorny rose bushes over broad-leafed hedges that could conceal a burglar. View your home security from the outside in take advantage of the natural features of your yard. 
3. Don’t Flaunt Your Goods. So you just bought a brand new MacBook Pro, or perhaps an original Rembrandt? Congratulations! But don’t leave either of them visible from easily accessible windows. Tempting thieves with your bling is not a good plan.
4. Simulate You Are Home When You’re Not. There are several ways to do this. Maybe the most common is to leave a radio/TV on loudly in the house. Most burglars do not want to interrupt you watching the latest episode of Lost.
5. Don’t Let Your Mail Pile Up If you’re headed out of town, put a vacation hold on your mail for while you’re gone. If you get a paper, cancel it and get an ipad instead. OK, getting an ipad is not a cheap solution, but that was more a suggestion for ushering you out of the archaic printing press era, and into the modern digital media age. You don’t want mail, papers, flyers, etc. piling up on your porch. Have a friend swing by and tidy those items up as they can be a dead give away the home is unoccupied.
6. Ask Your Retired Neighbor To Keep An Eye On Your House While You Are At Work. Bribe them with baked goods if you have to. The vast majority of burglaries happen during the day. Most people assume the opposite. This goes back to the concept that intruders are not really interested in meeting up with you inside your home. They’d rather pillage the place in private, while you’re safely away at work.
7. Don’t Hide Your Key In An Obvious Place. Whatever you do, don’t leave a key under your back door mat. Do you really want to provide an all-access pass to your local hooligans? I actually think it’s a good idea to have a spare key stashed away for emergencies, but only if you’re really good at hiding it, you make sure no one sees you hide it, and you never access the key unless you absolutely have to.
8. Secure Cash, Jewelry And Other Small Valuables As sweet as your 60″ LCD TV is, most burglars would barely glance at it (unless they’ve backed their van up to your garage or back door). Thieves love cash and jewelry. Invest in a good safe and keep your most valuable family heirloom jewels and any cash in there. And if you do use a safe, choose one that securely bolts to the framing of your home. If you just stick a small safe in a drawer, the burglar will simply take the safe with and drill it open after they leave. Oh, and don’t bother hiding stuff in your sock drawer. . . they’ll check there first.
9. Don’t Keep Your Garage Door Opener In Your Car If Your Garage Is Connected To Your House.
10. Be Extremely Wary Of Door To Door Anything. But not so wary that they don’t know you’re home. Posing as a door-to-door salesperson, utility worker or even evangelist is a very popular way for more sophisticated thieves to either gain entry into your home, or at least case it and/or see if it’s occupied. There are all kinds of scams where one person gets into a house to distract the owner, while an accomplice scurries around and snatches valuables. I recommend a no soliciting sign to weed out most door knockers. Know when you’re at risk. Most home invasions are committed by someone you’ve had contact with. It might be a plumber, or it might be your wife’s cousin. Learn to observe people’s behavior in your home. If they wander around a room from one window to the next, or if they seem to always be looking around, it should send up a warning flag. It’s your home. Take the steps necessary to secure it.
11. Secure Your Exterior Doors With Deadbolts. And take advantage of the longer screws provided on good quality bolts. You want at least two of the screws for the receiving box of the deadbolt to go through the door jamb and into the rough framing around the door. Assuming you have fairly solid exterior doors, this will help prevent your door from being kicked in, which is easier than you might think on flimsy door setups.
12. Pretend You Own Cujo & That You Can Afford An Alarm Service. Getting a “beware of vicious dog” sign for your gates (preferably one that looks like a drooling rabid Cujo) can convince some prowlers to look for greener pastures than yours. Bogus alarm signs and decals can also be a nice deterrent if you don’t have the funds for an actual security service. Putting a bumper sticker that says “Gun Control Means Hitting What You Aim At” somewhere conspicuous can also deter more timid and gun-fight-avoidant thieves. You’ve probably been told that you can put an empty dog bowl and leash outside your doorstep to deter criminals. Better yet, put an NRA sticker on the back of your car, or leave a used target from the gun range somewhere in plain sight. Home invaders can easily distract a dog, but they’re usually much less willing to stare down the barrel of a gun.