In this day and age, people are notoriously busy; we’re always multi-tasking, it seems. That’s not always a good thing, though, because multi-tasking also means that you’re not focusing on any particular thing. Case in point: You are going to the shopping mall; they’re having a great sale at your favorite store and you want to be first through the doors. So you park the car and get out, gathering your bag or your kid or your mocha latte, whatever. You slam the door, walk a few steps away and beep your car locked. You also just did something you may not have even realized. You have just issued an invitation.

You see, there were a couple of things you neglected to do. You left the mail that you were going to drop off at the post office right there in the console, and you left the garage door opener clipped to your visor. In your haste to score at the store, you essentially invited a thief to help himself to your household belongs. You’ve given him three things, in fact: 1) Your home address (it’s the return address noted on your envelope, isn’t it?), access to your house (not as good as your front door keys, but it’ll work) and several hours time (you weren’t planning on just buying one thing, were you?).

Never leave anything in your car that indicates where you live - not your mail, not your insurance papers or vehicle identification. A thief may not even have to break into your car to get it if you’ve inadvertently left it in the open, as a quick glance through the window would certainly suffice. Nothing spoils a fun day of shopping like returning home to a burglarized house. Especially if that could have been prevented.