When You Go Away

[Vagus]

Be it for a night or two, or two or more weeks, do you tweak your curtains?

Our neighbours one side put all their curtains at 'half mast', neighbours the other side do as we do, leave them all open.

We all have lights on timers, and we close and lock all windows.

What do you do, just curious?

[davebro3]

Apart from a couple of overnighters in hospital I haven't spent a night away from home since 2016.

I used to leave curtains half closed & sometimes had lights on timers during the evenings. I think I was a bit paranoid - I have nothing worth stealing! 

[naomi24]

We just put timers on lights and lock up.  In my last house we had locks on all the interior doors and locked each one individually so that if anyone got into one room they were locked in there and couldn't get into the rest of the house.  That was as a result of being burgled.

[barry1010]

We live the house looking as it normally looks in the daytime. We lock all the windows and have lights on timers. It is very difficult for anyone to get to the back of our house and the front windows have vertical blinds so nobody can see much by looking casually at the windows.

Everyone knows when our neighbour is away - the motorhome disappears. 

[douglas9401]

Ah, you live near the Murrells.

[gulliver1]

Think Naomi has the right idea.Like when she recently went away.Don't tell anyone until you return. And then find out no one missed you anyway.

[-SharonA-]

I draw my curtains & put a lamp on timer.

[MargoTester]

Interestingly Naomi after we were burgled I asked the police about locks on interior doors. They said they had seen instances where burglars had smashed the doors down and smeared faeces all over the walls......shudder

[bhg481]

We always draw the curtains; if you have a light on with the curtains open passers-by can see there is no movement in the house. Our timers switch on at dusk and off at bedtime, so come on earlier on dull days but go off at the same time. The absence of our caravan is a bit of a giveaway but a neighbour parks one of their cars on our drive so that compensates somewhat.

[barry1010]

If I kept my curtains closed the neighbours would assume we had a bereavement.

There was a 'where's Naomi's thread so she was missed

[barry1010]

Margo, some burglars will do that whether the interior doors are locked or not.  

[mallyh]

we have really good neighbours who we tell and they keep an eye on things ,daughter comes down and checks no mail is left sticking out of letterbox x

[bhg481]

I'd forgotten about the mail; the neighbour who uses our drive also has a key and she looks after the mail for us and checks that all looks well.

[naomi24]

I got the idea when I read about burglars who broke into a business premises through the roof - only to find themselves trapped in a locked cupboard.

[bhg481]

I can see how locking internal doors in a terraced/semi-detached house could deter burglars from getting from room to room because of the noise disturbing the neighbours but that wouldn't apply to a detached house.

[naomi24]

My house was detached - and completely unoverlooked - but I felt better going away knowing the doors were locked.  Being the victim of burglary and losing items that are irreplaceable is a ghastly excperience  and that's an understatement.  

[jackthehat]

We have a Verisure Alarm system installed.

But prior to that, as we have a cat, we had 'people' calling in morning and evening to a) feed and check on her b) move curtains about and switch lights on and off.

[Vagus]

We all do whatever makes us feel safer leaving our homes.
Doesn't matter what it is as long as you can go away for a long or short break, and feel as relaxed as you can about leaving your home empty. And I can imagine, I think, how that would impact what you do if you've been burgled 😱

In our cul de sac, people seem obsessed with getting their bins emptied, even if they're only away for a week. We used to be away for six weeks and just left the bin (it was only one bin then) till we came home. Everything on it was bagged, the bin didn't explode or stink the place out, it just got emptied at the next collection when we were home, no probs 🤷‍♀️