Gone from home most of the time? It’s always better being safe than sorry. Be sure not to follow these few tips:

• Don’t leave your spare key in traditional places like mailboxes, doormats, under pots, inside the pots. Find another ingenious way in hiding it. Putting it in a zip bag and buried under a spot in your garden is a better deal.
• Don’t set your phone’s ringer volume too high. Prowlers would know when you’re not answering the phone. Better yet, get an answering machine.
• Going out of town? Don’t cancel your mail or newspaper subscription. Have a trusted neighbor pick them up for you. Likewise, untended mail and newspaper on your porch indicate that nobody’s home.
• Don’t leave notes for repair people on the door for everyone to read. They usually give clues when you’re gone, how long and when to expect you back.
• Don’t publicize that you’ll be gone. Keep the information to trusted people.

These tips sound like from someone paranoid but they’re pretty much basic. With all those tricks burglars know nowadays, you just can’t be too prepared.