Is your house always locked?

[momtoboys]

A previous thread got me thinking. Our house doors are never locked during the day because of the steady stream of comings and goings and no one being able to keep a key. We do lock them at night when we are in bed but will frequently leave them unlocked until a child gets home after we have gone down.

Is this unreasonable? Are your doors always locked?

I leave the front screen door locked so the pets can look out but people can't just wander in.
Everything locked at night.

We’re locked 99% of the time….. we live on a busy road, in a city and have young kids. So it’s to keep them safe, and to keep others out.

No. When we are up and first person has left for the day the house is unlocked as long as someone is in. We live in a sleepy village where we all know each other so not worried during the day.

No, not always. I've gone on holiday or out for the night and accidentally left it unlocked, quite a few times. In the heatwave, I was leaving the door open at night to get some cooler air in.

I tend to lock it when I'm in, but that's mostly so I know where the key is.

I sometimes forget to lock my car as well.

We don't lock ours but that'll probably change as youngest gets mobile. People tend to just knock and walk in but we're remote enough to not have visitors without warning. Back doors are never locked. I dont even know where the key is for the kitchen one. I dont always lock up when i go out either but the sheep haven't figured out to work a handle so we're pretty safe and any opportunistic thief would be sorely disappointed if they happened upon us. Sunday we went out and I remembered to lock the door and left the blooming key in it 🙄drives DH mad because he used to live in a high crime area in a town.

Lock all my doors and only have windows open if I’m home and awake. A mix between autistic kids who may do a runner/try and climb out and a relatively bad area - it literally varies from street to street how bad it can be. I’m quite paranoid about my lock checks at night, but quite honestly as much as I love my car it wouldn’t be first pick to be robbed on my street. I’ve seen someone stop over in a brand new Tesla a few times and feel much more confident that my 10 year old Korean car would be of far less interest 🤣

No, we don’t lock the door during the day if we’re home. Also in a sleepy village.

Years ago we lived somewhere very remote where we’d leave doors open for days at a time and often had sheep wander into the kitchen 🤣

Yes always locked, don't trust people and area I live in the crime has increased in the last few years. I also have young children to protect.

Yes. We have a youth crime wave, thanks to our soft government (not UK).

Even our screen doors are key locked, keys removed as they will cut / burn through the screen and reach through to open. They mostly just want your car keys to steal & joyride. Our window screens are now the fixed kind. Some people have cameras (although this doesn't deter them at all).

Finally some steps are being taken so it seems to be improving. Although I do have friends who don't bother locking. But if they get burgled it'll be a huge, surprised drama.

Good grief. Always lock my doors. Not desparate to have anyone just walk into my house and take my stuff. Can't understand why you wouldn't.

Yes, because my dog has figured out if he pushes his paws down on the handle, he can open the door and get outside. Not because i am worried about someone breaking in, if they want to get in then they will. If I am at home then the back door is always left open.

Front is always locked. I've had someone try to crowbar the door open in the middle of the day before. We're pretty rural and quiet but ten minutes away is an estate with regular reports of crime. Back door is unlocked when we're in the kitchen or garden so the kids can wander in and out bit once everyone's in its then locked.

It is so interesting to me how the answers vary from unlocked all the time to very close supervision. I think having two big dogs makes me a little complacent.

I always lock them, DH less likely to. It's an ingrained habit for me, so much so I have locked him out when he's been in the garden many times

They never used to be until a strange neighbour came round the other day high on something accusing me of killing cats in the area.
Now they are locked at all times. Sad really because I live in a nice area but she has shaken me up.

That would shake me up too!

Yes!

No-one needs to break in if you leave your door unlocked! They can just walltz straight on in!

Front external door locked and bolted day and night, interior porch and garage doors unlocked daytime and locked night. Side door yale locked during the day, doyble lick and bolt at night. External patio foor to conservatory double locked during day, reinforced with a pole at night, internal patio door single locked during day and yriple locked at night.
We live in a very low crime area objectively, but I worry because an intruder could break into any of the doors and not be visible from either the street or other houses.
Reading this thread, and also writing this down makes me realise that I am probably a bit over Cautious. I am ND and doing all of the locks in a set order is a ritual that makes me feel safe. If the combination of locked and unlocked doors is not correct, it makes me more anxious than it probably should. .

If someone is going to enter your home,they will find a way. Regardless of if you have your doors locked. People will smash doors or force them if they are locked and they want to open them. Back door is always open if i am at home, as wolf dog wonders in and out of the back garden -7 foot fences all round so no one able to climb over them- and there is about 3 foot of brambles on the other side of the fence. If someone is stupid enough to go through those brambles then more fool them. If I go out I do always lock the back door. Back gate is always locked as well

Unlocked all day if one of us is at home. In the summer likely not just unlocked but actually open, too.

We live rurally.

If someone is going to enter your home,they will find a way. Regardless of if you have your doors locked. People will smash doors or force them if they are locked and they want to open them.

Not as a rule.
Very few burglars would want to draw attention to themselves like that.
Why would they go to the trouble of smashing down a door, with all the noise that makes, when two others further down the street are just open for them to walk straight in ? People regularly post on local social media people trying front doors to walk right in and take stuff. I don't understand why anyone would leave themselves so vulnerable.

Nope. We have an open house policy. All sort of strangers and waifs end up at my house😂

Rarely. The front door is locked at night, the back door is occasionally when I remember. Never during the day really.

I thought yale locks were just on old wooden doors? I don't think I've seen a modern composite/upvc door with a yale lock?