To think I might have been burgled?

[Kittensat36]

Having a bizarre and upsetting 48 hours. Just need to vent really.

Got up yesterday morning and was preparing to leave for work when I realised that my handbag was not in the hall. It normally sits on an ottoman I have, which is about 10 feet in. I know it was there because I remember taking my phone out of it the other night to send a text

Had to have an emergency day off , expecting to find it any minute - my flat is very untidy, but I expected to find it at some point. I even checked the washing machine in case I had taken it into the bathroom and scooped it up with the washing I was about to do.

But how on earth did it happen if I was burgled? The front door was shut, the back door was locked and the only open window opens onto a secure garden (and you would have cross my bed to get in).

I have to say that my bag is not the only thing that has disappeared over the last couple of weeks. My pill container for my meds disappeared from my living room, I thought that the cats might have bapped it somewhere, but they aren't talking. A batch of paperwork is also on the missing list- a receipt for a large purchase I made recently and a prescription for flea meds. All highly useful (not), but a bit odd as laptops were in the same room and were left untouched.

A ring doorbell/cameras would have been useful and I will have to get some. But I have nothing now. I suppose that if they put something through the letter box, they might have been able to get the door open, but isn't that a bit risky in the middle of the night? Wouldn't it have been easier to get in while I am at work?

Thank goodness for my marvellous upstairs neighbour lending me some cash, or I would be really stuck.

Got to go to work to sort out getting a new workphone and getting my locker broken into to retrieve my work kit. Then sorting a new barrel for my front door lock...

Thanks for reading my rant.

Sorry to read your post, I was in similar position a couple of years ago. Came home from day out, front door was a bit stiff to open, thought nothing of it. Wandered into my first floor flat, thought a few things were oddly out of place, then realised some underwear was 'arranged' in my hallway! Got out, phoned the police, who came very quickly, transpired yes, I had been burgled as front door was warped (upvc) and now wouldn't close properly. Ended up staying with friend overnight then getting door fixed next day. Police gave me an alarm to wedge under front door, in case they tried again. I eventually found out they'd taken a pair of sandals and a winter coat, odd mixture but at least it gave me a well needed laugh trying to work out why those items.
Hope I haven't scared you, but please change your locks and look after yourself.

Spend the weekend tidying your flat. Give it a good deep clean and if the handbag doesn’t turn up then change the locks.

If you can, use the weekend to get your flat tidied and if the missing stuff still doesn’t turn up during this process then absolutely invest in some cameras.

I’ve lost all sorts in the house before including a mobile phone that inexplicably went missing as I was getting ready for work one morning. After being unable to find it for a week I bit the bullet and bought a new one. Eight months later I picked up an old trainer that I never wore and the phone fell out!

Im messy and absent minded too i expect its been lost not burgled. I misplaced some things recently including a bank card for an account I don't use much. I was like 99% sure they were in the house, took me over 6 weeks to find them, so i was starting to doubt that recollection when they turned up again in a very random place. I'd tidy and sort the flat out and see if they turn up.

Also the people assuming small value stuff doesn’t get stolen would be surprised how often it does!

Sibling left car unlocked one night and the next morning discovered a 6 pack of Stella, a pack of Capri Suns and £5 in loose change had been taken from it. Car was otherwise in tact!

When you break into your work locker, could your handbag be in there? Sounds more likely that it's there or in your car, than someone letting themselves in.

There are the thieves that use a hook, on a telescoping fishing rod to hook things through letter slot. Handbags by front door are popular items, if it doesn’t fit thru door, then can still get stuff out of bag one they get it near the slit opening. They get keys this way too if left on nearby table.

Why? I mean I've always been told to leave handbag etc by the front door, but can quite understand why people would take personal things upstairs with them. It takes seconds to pick up your handbag and stash it in your cupboard when you go to bed. Just a bit of safeguarding like checking doors and windows are locked/chargers switched off etc. Not sure it implies that poster is neurotic.

I mean, perhaps we should not bother locking our doors at all seeing as the chance of getting burgled is low?

I never liked the new uPVC doors (apparently I am the only person on earth though)

and this isn't even the reason *google "upvc lock bumping"

https://www.handlestore.com/blog/lock-bumping/

What? Do you seriously think this never happens?

Given the most common reasons for car break ins is alcoholics & junkies going after small change that is not surprising at all... wildly different to stealing a 'flea prescription' from someones living room while they are home.

OP said it herself, her house is 'untidy'... she is most likely a butterfly (often vilified as 'untidy' or 'lazy' but it is actually very common, most people with even mild ND are butterflies so millions of people) someone who works of seeing where things are as they say 'when everything is visual nothing is visual anymore'.

You said your house is very untidy, so are you sure its actually gone? Is it possible that it's just under a pile of laundry somewhere?

I (think) I had someone follow me home from shopping; while moving bags from car to kitchen they walked in and grabbed a handbag from the hallway. Was an American friend's bag, she was staying with me - I live(d) at the end of a cul-de-sac that ran off another cul-de-sac, not like it was a busy road. Freaked me out and I'm always aware now. The absolute grief for the American who'd arrived a day before - bank cards, medication ...

"my flat is very untidy"

I think that's what you need to solve, if your flat is so untidy you can't find your handbag and medication, it's a problem that's impacting your life and you need to address it.

Or bumped the lock.

A friend was burgled by a next door neighbour that had a key. I would be taking the key back / changing locks and putting a camera inside. Oh and tidying up 😀

@Turtonator
Yes that's what happened to my mum, someone followed my DAD home from the pub, maybe a little worse for ware! he closed the front door after him but didn't lock it and so shortly afterwards let themselves in and stole her handbag .

It's like a petit opportunistic burglary not a full blown house raid. Very disconcerting

This! My brother in law was broken into a few years ago in theearlyhours of the morning. 2 Audi's on the drive- they were after the keys. By the time my BIL heard them, they had ransacked downstairs, even going through coat pockets in a cupboard at the back of the house. When he confronted them- 2 men with balaclavas on-they were just about to go into his 3 year old daughters bedroom.
The police told him the same thing- don't hide your valuables. If he'd left the keys downstairs they would have been in and out with minimal disturbance.

@Turtonator
Also, I often worry about taking shopping out of my boot snd into the house... it does happen. I worry that someone will pinch something from the boot whilst I'm in the kitchen or something from the hall whilst my door is open!

It is possible to have been broken into without obvious signs of a break in. Happened to us years ago and took us a few days to realise. Something small we couldn't find, then we realised my work laptop, a handbag and something else had been taken. Handbag was found dumped in an alleyway a few doors down. My flatmate had gone for a run and shut the front door behind her (Yale lock) but not double locked it and that's how they got in. There were tiny scratches on the front door that the police pointed out

There is no need to slam a door just pull it shut then give it a shove to make sure it is locked. No wonder the neighbour was hacked off.

Thanks all. After a bit more sleep and sensible comments, it does seem less likely that someone has been in, but not entirely impossible. The why was a puzzle

Had it just been the tablets and paperwork, I would have just chalked it up to me being untidy and it will come out in the wash. But a 10x8 handbag?

Unfortunately, the workphone was flat, so it didn't ring. The cards have been cancelled and my flat is rather tidier than yesterday morning. Will continue the good work over the weekend.

For the lady who mentioned Carbon Monoxide, my detector was bought last year an is in good order.

Thanks all