Making it difficult for burglars to get into you home and the stuff they may want to steal is the best approach to ensuring your home and you do not become a home invasion statistic.

Here are some common sense tips on making your home seem not worth the effort to your average thief.

Use Dowell Rods in Sliding Glass Door Tracks

A well-prepared and knowledgeable burglar has ways of getting around the average sliding glass door. The best way to secure a sliding glass door is to put a dowel rod or something similar on the tracks, and lodge it between the door and the wall. If a burglar manages to unlock the sliding door, they still won’t be able to slide it open if a dowel rod is in the way.

Move Your Alarm Keypad

Because the front and back doors are such common places for a keypad, burglars know exactly where to look. Be mindful of who might be able to view your keypad when you arm or disarm it, and move it somewhere out of sight. Or at least block the keypad when using it. Another option is to have multiple keypads, one by an entrance and one in the master bedroom in case of a suspected break-in when you need to act fast.

Use a Key Lock Box

Everybody knows someone who keeps their spare key in an extremely common place—under the mat, in the mailbox, under a potted plant, or in a fake rock, just to name a few. Don’t be that person. If you want to leave yourself a set of spare keys somewhere, install a key lock box somewhere on your property–the kind realtors use. Backup keys will be just a simple combination away, and only you will have access to them. Just like with your security system keypad, make sure nobody can see you enter the combination.

Don’t Hide Valuables in the Master Bedroom

The master bedroom is one of the first places burglars look after entering a house. Master bedrooms are typically easily to access, which is part of the charm for burglars.

Avoid the more common hiding spots such as in CD or DVD cases, under mattresses, behind pictures, or in lightweight safes that can be easily be carried away.

Get a Decoy Safe

To start with, never store your valuables in a safe that is not high quality and hasn’t been bolted down. But if you really want to foil criminals, from clumsy robbers to Ocean’s-11-caliber operators, buy a small decoy safe to throw burglars off the scent as to where the real goods are. Because burglars want to get in and out as fast as possible, they’ll be much more likely to run off with a decoy safe full of fake valuables and discontinue their search.

As with most survival topics, common sense makes up the majority of the steps you should take.

With home security, making it as difficult as possible for thieves – in a survival situation or everyday life – to get into your home and at your belongings just makes common sense.

To learn other home security tips, please visit the Urban Survival Site.