How often do you or a family member accidentally leave the front door open when going out?

[chinupluv]

My son (17yo) does this 3-4 times a year - he will be rushing out somewhere, will pull the door closed behind him, but not check to see if it clicked shut. He did it this morning when he went out for the day, which freaked me out because I would normally have been in the office on a Tuesday. The house would have been empty until at least 5pm, with an open door.

Obviously I'll be speaking to him (again) but I'm wondering if it's a common problem.

Never.

Never

I'd imagine it's not uncommon in children/ teens. As an adult I've maybe done it once every 5 years. Exh would do it (and furiously denied it, it was due to an undiagnosed brain disease.)

In our house, if you're the last to leave, you have to actually lick the door with a key (the take lock means the door is locked, but the mortice lock is used for extra security if the house is empty).

I did a fair bit when the children were little - I was so frazzled through those years! Not recently (now the kids have left home )

I've done it twice in the last 12m when rushing out. DH has done it once and teen DD once. Ive also left the keys in the front door twice in as many years.

Never

I had a flaky housemate who used to do this years ago. We got burgled more than once.

I did forget to lock my front door last week but there's a yale lock door behind it.

Just get a yale.

No one in our house has ever done this. However if this is something that's happening more than as a one-off at your house, I'd wonder if you need a new door or door catch? Maybe something a bit more user friendly? Some doors are a lot easier to click shut than others.

I was at my sister's house yesterday and hurt my fingers because I really had to pull hard on the metal bit around the Yale lock to get it to catch and the metal lip was digging into my fingers. If that was my door, I might not always manage to get it to click when I thought I had.

I’ve done it once, left the door fully wide open all day. My husband has done it once. My mum used to do it a lot when I was a kid.
Kids do it all the time. But luckily only when we’re in the house. They never shut the door properly

Probably about once a year and the door has been wide open all day ! Easily done , luckily we always leave dog in kitchen so she has never gone walk abouts.

Don't remember leaving it actually stood open, but we never lock our front door. Even if we did lock the front door for some reason, the doors round the back are open.

Good for your immune system I guess!

I forget to lock mine a few times a month, but then don't normally lock it at all unless I'm away all day.

Leave it wide open by accident once or twice a year.

Once. Luckily my neighbour noticed then text me to say she had shut it and locked it for me with the spare key she has! Angel

We tend to just lock ours. Sometimes give it a wave or blow it a kiss though

Never. It's handy having a ring doorbell so I can see and hear that it was locked.

Either me or my 14 yr old left the front door open last night coming in at 6pm.

It was ajar this morning and so was the porch door.

Nothing taken - car keys, laptop, phone, feet from the front door.

I can't believe I didn't notice this at any time last night with the cold breeze coming in 😶

Dc have done it when running for the school bus but there's usually someone still here. Might not be noticed for a while but you have to lock ours with a key so whoever is out last does that.

Did once go on holiday and leave the french door wide open for 10 days.

Never, I can't ever imagine not properly shutting and locking the front door!

Quite often.

The postman knocks and tells us that the keys are in the lock (house and car keys) as we've left them there when opening door then closed it without taking them out

I've never left the front door actually standing open but I've got a really bad habit of leaving my keys in it on my way in (usually with the children and distracted) and I do that probably about three times a year.
Our kitchen door is a sliding patio style one and my dad leaves it open all the freaking time and it drives me to distraction because then the cat gets out, can't get back in, and is then traumatised for days afterwards.

I did it at least once when I had a young baby. At the time we had a dog who didn't like being left alone, so leaving the house used to be a total palaver and I often didn't bother because I couldn't face the rigmarole.

I have upstairs neighbours who don't always check that the front door has latched properly - and a couple of times have left it ajar. Now I check every evening. It's a pain, but preferable to being burgled. And yes, I did ask the landlord to remind them, no idea if he did.

Never, but if the back and front doors weren't shut then the burglar alarm wouldn't set properly. There were several times when my mums dementia was getting worse when she left her front and back doors wide open overnight, as well as a large ground floor window at the front of the house. I lived an hours drive away and I was so worried for her safety.

I leave my keys in the door about 3-4 times a year too, I have ADHD. Luckily I live in a flat but I used to do it when I lived on a terraced house opening straight onto the street too!

Actually, I don't think it's happened since I started taking medication.

I figured out that it happens when I take my hand off the key while opening the door, which tends to be when I have my hands full of other, awkward/heavy/urgent things. If I don't take my hand off the key, then I automatically move to immediately hang it on the hook. But if I let go of it for some reason then the door can easily get closed and I don't register that the key is still in it and there is no visual clue from the inside of the door.

What helps: Having a hook which I can reach while I still have one foot over the threshold, because this means even if I have a wriggly toddler/heavy box/etc I can put the obstacle down, unlock the door, remove the key and hang it up immediately before picking the item up again. If I have to take even one step inside the house to reach the key hook, the chances of it being forgotten are much higher.

Having a very bright, eyecatching keyring which stands out against the colour of the door - means I (or DC) am more likely to spot that the key is still in the door before closing it.

He could also try a stretchy clip to clip the key to his jeans and not take it off the clip to open the door. If he tries to close the door or walk away from it he won't be able to. He'll need to take the key out first.

(I just realised this is about actually leaving it open but I'll leave this here just in case!)