Do you keep your doors locked when in the house?

[kacaju]

Never locked when myself or dh is home. I do make the kids lock the door if they are home alone (16, 14 and 10)
We have two big dogs here and many times a 3rd that dd14 is training for the show ring. I have no problem answering the door if I am home alone. I do so with the dogs at my side and you had better talk loud so I can hear what you have to say over their barking.

 

[mhsjax]

What happens if the person at the door has a gun and knows how to use it. I don't think big dogs can out bark a gun.

And people who live in the country, you don't think criminals go to the country, Remember in SC last year I think, the serial killer, well he wasn't far from the country and the cops where telling everyone to lock their doors. Sometimes people on the run go into very unpopulated areas, I can't believe people are so stupid, (yes I am sorry, it is stupid) to leave your doors unlocked.

Also to the pp that said they left the doors unlocked when they left because it was too much of a pain to lock and unlock them, well imagine how much of a pain it will be if you have to fill out an insurance claim, a police report, and then replace everything that you may loose because you were to lazy to lock your doors.

Rant over. Sorry if I offended anyone.

 

[mikron]

Locked and armed, I mean shoot armed.

 

[lucas]

YES! Of course, I keep the doors locked!

 

[jazzielady]

Nope.

 

[4forMe]

Doors are ALWAYS locked! Same with the car doors which drives DH crazy.

My 10 years of working in the criminal justice system has given me a somewhat skewed view of humanity.

 

[aprilgail2]

Only time they are locked when I am home is at night. Otherwise I would be getting up and down all day long everytime my daughter wanted to come in the house from her friends or being outside playing!!
For those of you with kids (10-15ish) that lock your doors, do you have them carry the key around to let themselves in and out when they come home or do you get up and let them in everytime they go in and out?? It would drive me nuts to go open up the door every time they wanted to grab a soda or use the bathroom!

 

[TheBigBadWolf]

My doors are unlocked when I'm awake and I lock them when we go to bed.

 

[Mad4Mickey]

I will admit to not always locking the back door. I almost always have the front door locked but the garage door I never lock . My DH is a Firefighter and is gone for 24 hours at a time and he really gets mad when he comes through the garage and into the house and it is not locked.

I know these are not good reasons but here they are
#1 I sleep with a Glok 40 within reach when my Grandchild is not over for the night ( something I started as a single mother and just cant break)
#2 we live in a very nice area with private patrol guards
#3 I have a 130lb Rottie with me at all times . I shower he is right outside that shower, I am cooking he is right underfoot.

I need to be better about the garage door though

 

[kirstenb1]

Only time they are locked when I am home is at night. Otherwise I would be getting up and down all day long everytime my daughter wanted to come in the house from her friends or being outside playing!!
For those of you with kids (10-15ish) that lock your doors, do you have them carry the key around to let themselves in and out when they come home or do you get up and let them in everytime they go in and out?? It would drive me nuts to go open up the door every time they wanted to grab a soda or use the bathroom!

If kids are in and out, then I leave them unlocked. You do take a risk everytime the kids are in the yard, but you can't micromanage every potential danger. But if we're all inside, they're locked. Guess I watch too much CSI!!!

 

[PatriciaH]

Yes, I have seen The Strangers and Last House on The Left! I am from NYC too-just habit.

 

[JOCAmom]

Front door is always locked here. The front of our house faces a busy street so the kids don't go out that way. Back door is locked when everyone is in for the night.

 

[Sparx]

I live in a second story apartment with two entrances and yes, both are locked all the time.

My front door that people can enter through has two deadbolts, I keep both locked if I'm inside and one locked if I'm gone. Only one has a key, so you can only lock one from the outside, the other must be locked from the inside. Its hidden and you can't tell its there from the outside.

My sliding glass doors exit to a balcony with a railing that is 10-15 feet off the ground and has no lower support that anyone could climb up. The only way to get onto it would be to walk out my patio doors or to lean a ladder against it. It has a sliding screen door that I lock, and a glass door that I keep locked.

Mostly I keep my doors/windows shut and locked because I have two very very dexterious cats. If I leave a door shut, but not locked, they can open it and waltz right through. I don't want my kitties getting outside (on the patio or through the front door) so I just keep both locked and shut. I feel very safe here, even with my doors unlocked but I just don't see me starting the habit of not locking them any time soon.

 

[peimikes]

We never have our doors locked. Then only stop honest people. If someone is going to try to get in all those glass windows are right there, heck the doors mostly glass.

 

[heatherleigh]

I'm alone with the kids most of the time. I also lived alone for many years, so I am in the habit of locking my door. We, too, are armed, but do not own any dogs. I'm waiting for the kids to get a bit older before getting one.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I have always locked my doors & I also turn our alarm on during the day. When school is in, I am home alone so I do that to be safe. I live in a small town, and my house sits up off of the road, but because of that I worry that no one would really notice anyone up there.

Just a few weeks ago there was an elderly lady home alone during the day. She heard someone trying to get into her house so she called the police. The guy went down to he basement and got in, and came up the stairs, but that door was also locked so he got a chainsaw from her basement and brought it back around to the side door. She was standing there on the phone with 911, and the police were on the way. He saw her & it spooked him so he got into his car and drove away. She was able to get the tag number and make of the car and the police caught him as he was trying to leave her subdivision. After hearing that, I was happy that I am in the habbit of locking MY doors!!

 

[kacaju]

What happens if the person at the door has a gun and knows how to use it. I don't think big dogs can out bark a gun.

Of course not... if a person has a gun and is that crazy..do you really think a locked door will stop them??

 

[Tamarap]

DH is a fanatic about keeping the doors locked at all times. The only time a door is left unlocked is when we open the sliding glass door in the living room. DH also won't leave any windows open during the night. I lock the door when I go out but when I am home I leave it unlocked.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

For those that live in apartments or recently bought a new (previously used) home, have you changed the locks on the doors?

If they are locs that were on the doors when yo u moved in, someone else could have a key to your home.

Just a thought.

When my family moved, we made sure that one of the first things done is getting new deadbolts for the doors. Also, garage door openers should be changed from previous owners.

 

[JVL1018]

Fallen asleep? We've been pulling out of the driveway when I notice that we forgot to close the front door. Wifey's response is, "meh, we'll only be an hour or so...."

We live out in the country.

We're the same way, except we don't live in the country, we live a few minutes outside of NYC.

Any nice weather and my front door is usually not only unlocked but wide open so I get a nice breeze from the front door through the living room and kitchen to the back sliding glass door(also open). Sometimes I will lock the screen door, but usually not.

Today I took the kids out to run errands and when we got back the door was wide open. I was annoyed, not because the door was unlocked, but because I had the a/c on. That actually happends pretty often, my son is the main culprit. *I* always lock the door when we leave.

If the front door is closed, it's usually locked, but I'd say from April-October I have it open at least part of the day.
My back patio doors are almost always unlocked all spring and summer because we're all going in and to the deck or pool or backyard.

That's during the day, at night everything is locked up tight.

My garage door(the regular person sized one, not the big ones) is always closed, but I have a bad habit of leaving the key sitting in the lock. I really try to remember to take that in at night though.

We do have a big dog who will bark her head off if anyone comes near and an alarm that is on every night.