Who locks up !

toffee

toffee

Senior Member
Location
uk
who locks up of a night in your abode ' I lock most nights as hubbs goes a bed before me ' front door I lock around 7oclock
evening ' make sure all small windows are closed at 5 - who's the jailer in yours lol...………………🤔
 

Our house and out buildings are locked some of the time. I've lived here since I was born, 85 years ago and we've never had a break-in, or robbery nor have our neighbors. We live on the outskirts of a large city, in a residential area, facing a main road out of the city.

Could something happen? Of course and the house being struck by lightning is also a possibility. We do lock up when all of us are away at the same time. We've also traveled up and down the east coast from Maine to Florida without being armed. Some folks can't leave their home ( or stay in it) without a weapon within reach.

I can't believe that so many people, in situations similar to mine, live in a constant state of fear, for themselves, their family members, and their property. So far, no one in our family, spread out over 3 states has been accosted either? Maybe we're "The Chosen Ones". LOL
 
I live in the sticks. The only action around here is when the deer go into heat in October. I got hauled out of my home several times by ambulance. You like to think the crews are well trained. Ya know, they perform open heart surgery with a pen, like they do on TV. Well, these are volunteers, who take it upon themselves to provide a service , which wouldn't exist, if they didn't give up their time. If the doors are locked, they may no be able to get to save me. Again, these are volunteers, giving up their time. They may not be aware of fancy ways of keeping keys outside. So, none of my doors and windows are locked. I'm much more likely to need hospitalization than someone breaking in. I was on the floor, unable to move, thankfully the doors weren't locked. At first, I was rather afraid to leave my doors unlocked. But it occurred to me that, really, what are my chances of someone crashing down the door to rob me.
 
I lock the patio gate and the doors at night. The front door is locked 95% of the time as we only open the door to get the mail.

We live on the outer edge of the urban core. Plenty of homeless people, helicopters flying about at times. Light rail station a few minutes from our door and a bus stop just outside the complex. We do live in a semi-gated townhouse community. (there are still a few ways to just walk in the complex)

During the crash of 2008 there were a few break-ins here. 2008 to 2013. Mostly people who left their doors unlocked. As the economy got better the break-ins stopped.
 
There are 3 doors in my house that lead outside. Relatives use the back and side doors so they are left unlocked during the day but side door is locked after dinner. The back is left unlocked until bedtime. The front door opens to the fenced yard for the dogs but once it's dark the door is kept locked unless the dogs are let out. I have several acres with my brick house in the front, a double wide trailer where my niece, her family and dogs live on the left side of the house and my other niece, her family and dog live in a single wide in the back. Due to work schedules, we have someone who comes home after midnight and a brother in law and son in law who go to work early (3:00 - 6:00 am). It's hard to tell if someone is home or which home is/is not occupied. I also have several solar motion detector lights throughout the property. The dog alarms do pretty good at night too. There are several houses on the street where drug users live and hardly a week goes by that the police aren't in the neighborhood which is also a good deterrent.
 
The steps we take for our personal safety are often a result of things that happened in our past - good or bad. People who are fortunate enough to have never been victimized are usually the ones who don't lock doors & windows.
I never thought about it until a 2:00am break-in several years ago. I just went to bed with the TV still on, he opened a sliding-glass door & I heard a grinding sound which later turned out to be a knife cutting the screen. When I armed myself & walked into the hallway, he ran out as soon as he saw me (or...saw the gun & flashlight pointed at him). On the way out, he bumped into the glass door, shattering it. He must have cut an artery because he left so much blood on the ground, when the police arrived, they assumed I shot him.
One thing I thought about often: There were 4 cars in the driveway & he could see the TV on & a few lights on. So, he KNEW there were people in the house & I can assume he was prepared to deal with them....or, perhaps he wanted people in the house because he wanted to hurt people. A typical burglar prefers no one to be home.
Well, more-secure doors, better locks, & a more-powerful flashlight came soon after, plus an alarm. And, I also sleep with my bedroom door locked. And NO windows or doors open.
Go ahead & call me paranoid....doesn't bother me a bit....in fact it amuses me - as much as those who say "No one needs to own a gun."

ETA: Since I hear "We live in a nice area, so we're not too concerned," I'll add something about where I live. (I usually don't because some people misinterpret it as bragging).
I'm fortunate enough to live in a "nice" area. Many of my neighbors are big celebrities. After a home-invasion robbery next door in which an elderly couple were beaten & hospitalized, the occupants moved out & the owner of the home (who is owner of an NBA team) sold the house for 5.8 million.
 
Last edited:
win231 said:
People who are fortunate enough to have never been victimized are usually the ones who don't lock doors & windows.
*****
Go ahead & call me paranoid....doesn't bother me a bit....in fact it amuses me - as much as those who say "No one needs to own a gun."
Click to expand...

One can never assume anything about anybody; what they have been through or why they do what they do.
 
I feel very secure in my little neighborhood. I have a dead bolt on back door that stays locked unless door is propped open and thumb lock on living room slider that I sometimes forget to push. I'll sleep with windows open as soon as weather allows.
 
The front door stays locked all day, if it's open we still have a security screen/glass door that stays locked.

full

I lock up the back at night when I let the dog back in from his last potty break in the yard. Win231, we can sleep with windows open, I've even done it when my husband was out of town, we have security bars on them too, so they can be wide open. We always have a gun at the ready in case there's ever an intruder like you experienced, but thankfully in over 40 years, nothing bad has happened where we needed to use it for protection.
 
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