<p>For me I guess it is fear, if it’s a stranger. If someone really wanted to break in they could even if the door is closed, we had to break into our own house two days into owning it because we locked ourselves out and fiance figured it out pretty quick. But I like to think the locked door is at least some kind of a deterrent, and even though it only happens around here once in a blue moon, I don’t want to be the lucky one that has someone force their way in when I come to the door. That happened to me once and now I don’t take chances. We had one summer when I was living at my parents house and I was home alone while they were on vacation, and there was some kind of bizarre crime spree-- something that was unheard of a few years prior but with the economy the neighborhood declined. Someone ran up to our door at night and pounded on it and ran away, there was a story going around that somebody was doing that to check and see if you had a dog before they broke in after you left. We found a muddy hand print on the back door a few weeks later that didn’t belong to any of us. I live in a nice neighborhood now but I just don’t take chances. It can happen to anyone, anywhere.</p>
<p>But part of that is that we live on a small dead end street with extremely anti-social neighbors, and people hardly ever come to the door. 9.5 times out of ten if someone comes to our door it is someone who does not belong there, probably because they are a solicitor but again… I don’t take chances. I see no reason to open the door to a complete stranger when I am home alone… if fiance is home he will usually answer out of curiosity but I don’t do that by myself.</p>
<p>When we were kids we were taught never to admit we were home alone and to always say dad was in the shower, or something, if someone called. I guess I never outgrew that!</p>
<p>^^ Niquii77, I absolutely trusted my own teens and their immediate friendship circles. </p>
<p>But if there’s a party, once that code is out there, it’s out there to friends and unknown friends-of-friends, so that’s too much exposure for me.</p>
<p>My dog is a good deterrent.
People are scared of pit bulls even if they’re the biggest babies in the world. She couldn’t physically bite anyone and do damage because she has a deformed jaw, but they don’t know that. Her bark is a pretty good deterrent </p>
<p>Unfortunately, she lives with my parents so isn’t here all the time. Our fosters usually bark like crazy though.</p>
<p>Our house was a come-as-you-please house. Still is with one of my roommates that works in a bar. He often brings home regulars and lets them sleep it off and then they leave in the morning. It’s no matter to me. Our house is big enough to accommodate people and open to those who need it. I’d rather have someone crashing on my couch than drinking and driving. It was the same in high school. Stray people and animals were always going in and out.</p>
<p>Ok. I just disagree with what you said about hiding the code from your kids. I view it as unnecessary. If your having a party, leave the coded deadbolt unlocked. Simple as that, in my opinion.</p>
<p>I usually answer my door during the day if I am not busy, but never at night if I am alone and not expecting anyone.</p>
<p>When my sons are home, the door usually remains unlocked and their friends just walk in and out without ringing or knocking. When this first started up, it was a bit disconcerting, but they are such a great group of kids that now I appreciate the fact that they feel so comfortable in our home.</p>
<p>^^Niquii77, you are a fast respondant! While I was editing out my most half- baked idea, you picked up on it and replied. So I restored my comments, in fairness to you. </p>
<p>We recently had our 20 year old alarm system upgraded and put the keypad lock on the doors. It sends us a text message when someone does anything with the alarm system. We can also lock and unlock the doors with a phone app.</p>
<p>We generally answer the front door, as it is often a package being delivered, even after dark. If it’s a solicitor or evangelist, they often are very persistent and a quick, “No thanks, not interested,” dispatches them quicker than ignoring them. Our house is very small, so we are usually not far from the front door anyway. In a larger home, I can see it as a bigger issue as to whether to go to the front door. Also, if you live in a high crime area, I can see potential danger in answering the door after dark. Fortunately, neither of those apply to us.</p>
<p>S lives in a secured condo building. He tends to answer the door whenever he’s home; he gets a lot of packages delivered. He figures most of those who would knock or ring his door are already vetted by security and should not pose threats.</p>
<p>You know we were going to get an alarm with ADT, and I wanted all the doors and windows armed, and they basically said I was being crazy and didn’t want to do it so we never got an alarm. They wanted to just use motion sensors for large parts of the house so that, for example, if someone broke into the kitchen window they could get 15 feet into the house before the alarm would sound (because one motion sensor could address the entire living room and the kitchen window instead of having to arm each individually if arranged in this way, and nothing valuable is in the kitchen anyway). My main objective for getting the alarm was to keep people out while I am home alone, the fact that it works when I am not at home was just icing on the cake-- so this did not work for me, and they said when we get our dalmatian the motion sensors won’t be able to be armed anyway because the dog would set them off. Is there really not a practical way to arm your whole house while you are still in it?</p>
<p>Sounds like you got someone who didn’t know what they were talking about…</p>
<p>ADT can arm the windows and doors. The motion detectors work with animals…although if you have a dog the size of a small human…a motion sensor isn’t going to work with that. And alarms can work when you’re home alone…</p>
<p>Security issues aside, the only people who ever ring my doorbell are deliveries - and mostly they ring it and leave the package on the porch - and my parents, who live a mile or so away.</p>
<p>We don’t really get solicitors - they are banned in the entire village and if the police, who are very active, see them walking around they’ll remind them of that. We do have a LDS church just outside town but they come by maybe once a year, if that.</p>
<p>I open the door if my dog is really going nutso.
Last one who dared come to the door was selling windows. But after he heard the dog, he was halfway to the sidewalk by the time we opened the door.
( he sounds very ferocious, and I daresay that if either of us were being attacked, they would be eviscerated shortly, that is his favorite thing next to tug-o- war.)</p>
<p>Emahee, you can definitely have a system if you have pets. We have four dogs and when we’re home and set the alarm, you can choose not to set the motion detectors. When we’re away (with the dogs), we set the entire system so that the motion detectors are also set. All of our doors and windows are equipped with sensors and we also have glass breakage sensors at various points in the house. </p>
<p>We’ve always had an alarm system because my H’s employer required it and paid for it. We have upgraded it through the years to include cameras and a similar system that was mentioned above where we get an email whenever the system is armed, disarmed, etc. This is a great feature for us when we’re south in the winter and it tells us when the security company has been to check the house, put the mail in, etc.</p>
<p>I do not answer my door if I am alone unless I can see that it is someone I know. I have no problem with not answering, even if the person can see that I am home. I don’t owe anyone anything - I can choose not to answer, because it is my house. :)</p>
<p>Emaheevul - I have ADT. I have the lower level windows and doors alarmed, and I have two settings - “stay” (no motion detector inside house) and “away” (motion detector inside house). We don’t usually turn the alarm on til the evening. When we do, we use “stay” if we’re still moving about, and “away” if we’re all down for the night and no one is going to be moving about the lower level.</p>
<p>As for the dog, he sleeps in our room so I can use the “away” function once he’s been out for the night and comes upstairs. And when we leave, the dog is put in our laundry room so I can use the “away” function then too. </p>
<p>I first got an alarm as a young-married with a husband who was gone a lot. I wouldn’t be without one. And I’m not a scaredy-cat kind of person at all.</p>
<p>
[quote[ Our house was a come-as-you-please house. Still is with one of my roommates that works in a bar. He often brings home regulars and lets them sleep it off and then they leave in the morning. It’s no matter to me.
[/quote]
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<p>I guess you’re right it doesn’t matter if you lock your doors; you’re already inviting strange people in. You’re probably more at risk for them to rip you off than someone breaking in.</p>
<p>Re: The unlocked car doors. I don’t have a garage so there’s no garage door remote to worry about. My phone is my GPS and I never leave that in the car. Seriously, all that is in the car is ice scrapers, trash, owners manual and stuff to clean the windows. And maybe more trash. I do look in the car to make sure nobody is in there before I get in. That’s a long time habit. I really don’t want to deal with broken glass in my car so, for me, it’s worth the risk of the ice scrapers being stolen.</p>
<p>My doors are always locked when I’m driving.</p>
<p>It has always been my understanding that the best way to avoid having your car broken into is to buy a very boring car, keep it locked, and leave nothing of value in sight in it. No spare change in a cup holder, no phone charger, no hat, no gym bag, nothing. Seems to me a person would be be better off cleaning out the car and locking the doors than leaving a bunch of stuff in an unlocked car. An unlocked car full of “trash” would seem to be an invitation. But maybe that’s not correct?</p>
<p>They usually say to make your car look as if it has nothing valuable in it. So that would mean cleaning in out, putting away the chargers, garage/gate openers, and such out of plain sight. They also say to leave your car containers (don’t remember what they’re called…ash trays?) open and empty so they see nothing is in there.</p>
<p>I lock my car, in our driveway. ( our garage hasn’t been used for vehicles for years!) When I am doing short errands, my dog is in the car, unless the temps are above 65. </p>
<p>He is much happier in the car, because he knows I always come back to it, he is less sure about the house, & he is anxious when left.
My doors automatically lock when driving more than 10mph.</p>
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