Steps

1. Lock your doors. Even if you may have grown up in a place where it was ok to leave your door unlocked, the world is different now.
2. Lock the windows. Ground level windows and sliding doors are easy to open from the outside. A slightly more motivated thief will check.
3. Leave the lights on. When you go out, leave a light on in any room in the house or invest in a light timer to automatically turn on lights at whatever time you want. Let the thief hesitate about breaking in.
4. Don't leave notes on the door. Example: "Hi delivery company, I wont be home all day just leave my packages on the back porch." Not only will a thief look on your porch, he'll also know definitively that you're not home for the day.
5. Report strange things to the police. If you see a strange car driving through the neighborhood several times a day, report it! If someone is sitting in their car parked on your street for a long time, report it! A moving van at your neighbors house with no for sale sign, report it!
6. Install security lighting to your yard. It is harder for a thief to break in if there are lights placed at entry points to your house.
7. Make sure your hedges are trimmed below the level of the window sill.
   

Tips

• When buying any appliance such as a computer or TV, do you just throw the box outside? Anyone can drive by and see a Plasma screen TV box in your garbage and know you have a new TV. Same thing goes for a computer, stereo, video game and any other item that is easily portable and may be expensive. If the average thief sees you have just gotten new stuff why would he go next door to steal?
• Mow the lawn. If a potential thief comes by and sees that the grass is not cut and the newspapers are still on the porch, he sees an opportunity. Nobody's home or nobody cares. This is especially important when selling your house or going on vacation. Pay someone to collect your mail and mow your lawn make your house secure by making it looked lived in. People being home means the thief will move on to easier pickings. Thieves are generally lazy they try to make the easy money in the easy way. Don't give them a break.
  

Warnings

• Simple and effective security is mostly common sense. You would not leave your house with the keys in the door would you? Then why would you leave your keys in your car with the engine running and you inside. Get an extra key for the door or get a remote starter. Don't make it easy for your car to be taken. Keep your wallet in your pocket and some money in your other pocket.