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Can you or do you leave your house doors unlocked?

1K views 31 replies 29 participants last post by  Lori Biever-Launder 
#1 ·
and/or open during the day? Can you or do you leave your windows open/unlocked during the summer?

I grew up in NY and was raised to be very lock the door happy. We now live in a very low crime area, but I am still locking the doors. I can't leave doors or windows open or unlocked.

How about you?
 
#2 ·
We leave windows open and frequently the doors go unlocked, unless we will be gone ALL day. When I lived up north from here I left my house unlocked all the time.
 
#4 ·
Doors locked and windows open. I like locking the door when I'm home alone during the day too.
 
#5 ·
Our doors didn't have locks on them. So we never locked them. But recently I did put little hook latches on them so that Tyler can't escape. lol
This is a very small, low crime town... alot of people leave their doors open and unlocked. When you go down the main street all the vehicles have the keys in them and some are left running while people run errands.
 
#6 ·
The only time we keep our doors unlocked is if we are here and working in the yard. If you saw my yard you would realize that is a constant thing!! :D We will keep our windows open and our doors are ALWAYS locked. Once a week you here on the news here about home invasions that happen to people just sitting in there homes. Plus Malcom is so over causious about things so our doors always are locked. Our home is basically like fort knox around here. :D
 
#8 ·
During the day - doors are unlocked and open, windows open.

At night - doors locked and only windows on the second floor are open (unless dh is cold!! :D )

Although on hot summer nights, I have been know to leave the front door open all night while I'm downstairs, but my porch doors are ALWAYS locked.
 
#10 ·
Doors and windows totally unlocked-In fact I don't even know where my keys to my doors are :eek:

The only time I lock my house is when we go on vacation for a week, and its always a hassle finding the keys-I have to start searching a week before we leave!! LOL
 
#11 ·
I don't think I could leave my doors open anywhere?

I might have them open during the day IF I'm in but they are locked when we go out.

I usually leave my back door unlocked but it's not sensible - I just 'forget'.

The one day I did remember I locked myself out of the house LOL.

We had an attempted murder across the street in broad day light a few weeks ago! :eek:

But it wouldn't matter where I lived I would never go out and leave the door unlocked.
 
#12 ·
When the kids were in school, I would leave the front door open for them in case we were not home when they got home. I can leave the windows open during the day and the doors too. At night I lock the doors and leave the windows open. Except when the A/C is on. Then the windows are locked.
 
#13 ·
We leave the windows open if we are home, and awake. But, when we leave, all windows, and door are locked, and our alarm system is turned on.
 
#14 ·
I live in So. California~I NEVER NEVER leave my doors or windows unlocked!!!!!!!!!!! We are in a nice area but you never know!!! During the day and night the doors are always locked, I might have my patio door open if I am in that room. If I go upstairs I shut and lock the patio door! I don't even leave my garage door up while we are home, everything is shut and locked!!!!!
 
#15 ·
I rarely ever lock my back door because the dog is back there. I know someone could get rid of the dog and get in, but she is loud and who would take a chance?. Plus the kids need to get in so we leave it open during the day. I usually lock it at night tho. The front door is always locked tho and we rarely even use it.
 
#17 ·
I don't know where my door keyes are either. We don't even shut the doors very often. Makes me feel closed in. I had probably better stay in the country huh.
 
#18 ·
I just thought of something else-I take my back door completely off in the summer/fall. Because of the way this stupid house is set up, when the door is open, it blocks a high traffic area, so I got so tired of fighting with it, I just took it off, and have been doing it ever since!!
 
#19 ·
My neighbors don't, but I'm a city raised girl and always do....
 
#20 ·
No locked doors here unless we leave on vacation or something. My house key is a skeleton key for pete's sake! If anyone really wanted in- all they have to do is push hard or break out the window which is half the front door!

We do lock our car in the summer- otherwise we get buried in garden produce from maurading neighbors looking to find a home for their zucchini, cucumbers, onions and such ;)
 
#21 ·
Unlocked here...windows allways unlocked...we lock the doors at nite...dh does I forget...
I'm trying to get into the habit of locking the doors when I go to town...but keep forgetting....since the house at the end of the block was broken into (it was empty and for sale)
 
#22 ·
Unlocked (windows and doors) during the day....doors and windows open unless we have to run the air (it has been really humid here lately)....we lock our doors and windows at night....our town is probably a medium crime area....you just never know when someone decides its your house they want in to.... we don't normally lock our cars.... we have dusk to dawn lights up and down the street so its pretty lighted here.....

Where my parents live and where I grew up, they never lock their doors and never had....something I had to get used to doing when I moved here....
 
#23 ·
Welllllll, Ladies! Let's hope no would-be burglers are reading this!!

1 1/2 years ago, I never locked my door when I was home and 50% of the time forgot to lock it when I left. Not any more!

Jan. 18, 2002 someone walked right in and helped themselves to a 27" TV, VCR, 13" TV, a $3,500.oo CD music collection, my jewelry box (only a few good pieces-- but my Gran's SS cachina doll ring was in it) a brand new (3 weeks old) dirt devil vaccuum cleander and a beginners guitar. Thankfully, they didn't have time to grab the computer, nor did they find my dh's gun collection.

All told they got about 5,000.oo in stuff, but more importantly, they stole my feelings of security! I grew up without having to lock doors. Now, they are locked when I'm home alone or gone--most of the time they are locked even with a houseful...unless the kids are out playing.

Our small town is EXTREMELY low crime. I think our break-in was the first in years. We had no renters insurance which meant we were s-o-l...Some of the items can never be replaced....the locket that had my babies pic's in it...gran's ring...etc.

It never hurts to be tooooo careful!
 
#24 ·
I am a total FREAK about locks...

I grew up in a town of 1200 people where everyone literally knew everyone else. We often left the doors unlocked all day long. I think my mom locked them at night, though - she gew up in a busy part of California.

Anyway, there is no real reason - never been robbed - for me to be such a freak. I lock, lock, lock! When I put the baby down for her nap in the downstairs bedroom the first thing I do is close and lock the window and lock the other door in that room (that goes to the hallway).

I have double locks on all my doors - although the high up slide locks were installed to keep my little escapees from escaping and getting hurt.

We have four doors to the outside on the first floor (front, back, and both sides) and I check and double check them every night. The windows get closed and locked every night regardless of how hot it might be outside.

When we are working in the yard, we go out the door that is on the side of the house that the work is being done on and the others stay locked. I never leave a door unlocked unless there is an important reason to.

I never want to come home and find someone in my home and I don't want anyone just walking in when I am here. Very weird (and violent/awful) things happen these days and I have at least 2-3 children here at all times to care for and protect.

I am actually thinking of having a door installed at the top of our stairs so that when we are sleeping there is a locked door between my family and whomever might want to get in. I asked my husband if he thought that was okay expecting him to think I was crazy but, in light recent events, he thinks that if that's what makes me feel safe then its a good idea. :) I was happy to hear that.

Nothing bad has ever happened to me, my family, or anyone I know - I don't know why I am a safety freak, LOL!

Kristin - the lock freak
 
#26 ·
I live in a pretty safe area, but I still lock both the front and back door at all times.

This dumb house only has two screen windows (in our master bedroom), so those are open if we're home, locked when we leave. (When I win the lottery I'm getting screens in all these windows! Then, of course, I'm building a mansion, but at least the new owners will have screens! LOL)

And, in the last three weeks, at night I turn on all my outdoor lights. DH heard that there were break-ins in our town at night in unlit houses. So, I've got the whole place lit up, just to be extra safe.
 
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