Lights make the difference at night. Turning on a few lights when you go out is not a very meaningful deterrent to crime. No one lives in a dimly lit house and burglars know this. The best bet is to install an automatic timer that turns lights, radios and TVs on and off in a lifelike pattern. Most people use timers for vacations, but it is just as important to set them during your regular nights out.
Vacations take planning, especially when it comes to discouraging a burglar.
The best way to deal with home security in your absence is to make it appear that you re at home. Stop all deliveries and newspapers, ask the Post Office to hold your mail and have a neighbor pick up whatever winds up in your mailbox or on your doorstep. Ask a neighbor to come in and rearrange the drapes and window shades and reschedule the automatic timer. Have the grass cut or snow removed. Snow piled up at your front door or an unkept lawn is an open invitation to a burglar.