Worry about being burgled?

LegacyUser

Hello everyone.

Does anyone else worry about being burgeled at night? I think about it every night before i go asleep. obviously this prevents me from falling asleep for ages. i keep thinking i hear sounds and have to then get up and check and turn the front lights on for a while. it stops me from going to sleep until late .ie. to keep the lights on until longer. i live with my grand mother so i would be the one that would have to deal with the burglers if anything happened, sometimes i hear there were break ins locally and then my worrying gets worse. it has never happened before, i am a worrier. i have an alarm, but i dont think they are very loud or would it even work? robbers have ways of breaking in while also avoiding them going off...? i have heard of houses being broken into even with alarms.... i dont want to worry my grand mother so i dont want to mention keeping lights on during the night and i am afraid to leave her alone in the house at night as i am afraid of her being burgeled and once or twice she has forgotten to lock the door or close a window when im not there.. so this also prevents me from living my life if i want to stay away for a night..any one any suggestions to stop me from worrying? or is this something we all live with?

Thanks ;0

Lollipops23

if finance permits,get a burglar alarm. i used to worry if i had to spend the night alone, and would lock my bedroom door(not a good idea really,if there's a fire you're screwed).

just make the house as secure as poss; get a chain/deadbolt for the front door, make sure no valuables are left in sight(like leaving your wallet on the kitchen table etc). taking simple precautions could deter opportunists.

Fiend-Foe

If you like dogs you should think about getting one.

They really earn their keep, and will bark and let you know/deter anybody if they come near the house.

It would also make a great companion for you and your grandmother. They really are great company!!

EDIT: I used to work with alarms. Usually anytime they don't work it is down to user error and their just not being used properly.

Also make sure it is monitored, a system with noone watching it is just a bell. CCTV options would also be a great visible deterent and have gotten a lot cheaper in recent years.

I still think a dog would be your best bet, it would be good company for your grandmother when your not there and you don't have to worry about your grandmother not being able to figure out how to set the dog at night!

Max_Damage

Buy a gun.

Failing that, keep a hammer / golf stick under the bed. The bastards won't know what hit them.

seaner

I shared a house with my older brother. So there was him, me, my partner and his partner in the house most nights. We had our other brother stay with us for a week about 2 years back and he had along with him his wife and their 3 month old daughter. We all went to bed one night and woke up the next morning to find we had been burgled.

We actually had an alarm...but never switched it on at night (stupid, I know) but I guess we didnt think for a second with so many people in the house that NONE of us wouldn't hear anything.

Anyway they got away with 2 flatscreen tellys, laptops, digital camera's amoungst other stuff. While I was grateful that we were all safe and no one had been injured...after a while we all became so angry. Angry at the thought of all our posessions just being taken from us. Angry that we'd been so stupid NOT to turn on the alarm at night and most of all angry with the Gards, who basically told us they knew who'd done it, but couldnt do anything.

Anyway moral of the story is now we ALWAYS turn the alarm on at night. If any of the downstairs windows / doors are opened, or broken it will sound. Since then its gone off maybe once or twice since we were first burgled and I'm convinced this is why we haven't been burgled since.

PS, we had a dog...turns out the burglars had been scoping out the house, knew we had a dog and brought along a nice big bone to keep her busy while they did their job.

I strongly recommend a house alarm that you can turn on to night setting. During the day we switch it on when we're not at home and if it goes off it sends a text to the 4 of us. Safety is a big issue for me, knowing that I'll be woken if someone attempts to break in at night is a big weight off my mind. Plus I sleep with a baseball bat beside my bed now.

Hazys

Dont worry about it too much as you can lower your risk of getting burgled, although you cant eliminate it completely.

The best way to lower your risk is to make your house appear the hardest to burgle in your estate. A burglar will always pick the easiest option on the street.

If your not sure about your alarm, test it. Make sure if you have any signs for the security company or that the alarm are visible on the street and not blocked by trees or bushes. Dont make you house overly attractive to burglers i.e. dont leave the curtins open in the front room at night if you are watching your expensive TV, etc

House insurance is relatively cheap but from what you are saying its more the personal safety of you and your grandmother that you are worried about.

Failing all that you could always rig your house like Maculley Culkin did in Home Alone.

Xiney

Max Damage infracted for encouraging violence.

Please have a read of the charter, as continued posts contravening it will earn you a ban.

Ta

Xiney

jimmycrackcorm

Yes - I worry too. I always have the alarm on. It went off during the day recently mysteriously and then I discovered a neighbour had been burgled that night (didn't have alarm on). I always keep windows locked and we keep the dog in downstairs at night. The dog barks if she hears anyone outside such as the muppets who deliver those clothes collection stickers in the middle of the night.

affroman69

as i keep german shepherds its great for the area i live in . . bring one in at night and let the other roam the back garden . . if anybody tries anything they will be met with a ferocious bite. . . there placid and dont keep me awake but if some1 tries jumping the back wall or anything they really give them a fright . . alarms also have contacts on windows/ doors so once a contact is broken ( sensors broken) the alarm will go off but this does not put your burglars off . .



GET A GERMAN SHEPHERD

legend365

Or get a small dog.

They HATE everybody


...except their owners of course.

Small frame, big attitude.

Reesy

Maybe you could ask the Guards to check the house out security-wise?

We got the local cops' crime prevention officer' to come round the house & check out the security when we lived in the UK about 15 years ago - he told us the weak points & what to do about them - the fixes were cheap as I recall, & put my mind at rest.

Even if it's not a standard service, there is no harm in asking your local cop shop.

My name is URL

OP, I don't think your issue is solely a fear of been burgaled.

Do you have any worries or anxieties about other things?

LegacyUser

Thanks everyone for suggestions......:)

Irishcrx

Again I would agree with most above, get a dog, one of the best guard dogs and loyal companians would be the German Sheperd, I have two dogs at home a Whippet/Collie cross and a Husky and they make me feel safe at night and when i'm away with my girlfriend in the house.

For example just last night I was in the kitchen about 9PM, when I had one dog run to the back door and bark and hit the door in a panic and I heard my Husky barking down the back of the garden...came out to find two scumbags on my wall extremely concerned about where to go without loosing there legs...lol what a guard team they are one to warn me and one ready to act.

fionnmar

I also worry about it but i found that worrying about it was having a more detrimental effect than (god forbid) if and when it happens. I was losing sleep, when I did sleep it was light...I was so aware of it. I have an alarm, am sensible, if it happens I will deal with it, in the meantime I will try and have a good nights sleep. In short, I suppose I am learning to deal with my anxiety about it.

Overheal

A firearm is still an illegal option in Ireland. Unfortunately. Keeping an improvised weapon (golf club) is useful. Again, only act in Self Defense. Know your rights and limitations.

As for the insecurity, it happens. We have a new home, it has perfectly good deadbolts and doors and windows. And I sleep like a baby. But when my Dad went away for 2 weeks and it was just me, **** it if I didnt get out of bed twice each night just to reassure myself I locked everything up. It may just be a matter of building confidence. As others have said though, a dog would be a good choice - it helps ease the stress that feeling like you are solely in charge of the home's safety brings.

Manic Moran

If you like dogs you should think about getting one.

They really earn their keep, and will bark and let you know/deter anybody if they come near the house.

Depends on the dog. I've got a greyhound, the thing is more likely to lick an intruder to death than bark at him, let alone growl and bite.

Max_Damage wrote: »

Buy a gun.

Assuming the OP is in Ireland, it would be illegal for the OP to retain a firearm for home defence. (Of course, I'm not in Ireland, so I have a gun for the purpose!)

Failing that, keep a hammer / golf stick under the bed. The bastards won't know what hit them.

There are those who do so, and as far as I know this is not illegal, even in Ireland. If it gives you peace of mind and allows you to sleep better, then go with it.

Frankly, I think it all comes down to what gives you peace of mind. If it's a dog, bars on the windows, an alarm, or a golf club, and it works, it's not stupid. Just bear in mind, the dog's a bit of effort. You need to take care of the thing, not just buy it!

NTM

Overheal

Manic Moran wrote: »

Depends on the dog. I've got a greyhound, the thing is more likely to lick an intruder to death than bark at him, let alone growl and bite.

Silly Manic: Greyhounds are for Flight, not Fight :pac:

There are plenty of small-to-large security viable breeds out there. Any short amount of googling would probably pull up an exhaustive list.

Look I don't post in here a lot but I have to now.

The person is a worrier and is worrying about nothing. There is nothing to worry about. If you keep worrying about things unneccessarily then you're probably going to just make yourself ill in the long run. All you can do is ensure your house is protected like every other house and that's all you need to think about.

I strongly recommend you get this book and read it: it could just change the way you are because there is nothing wrong with you - except the fact that you worry when there is no reason to. http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Thinking-Big-David-Schwartz/dp/0671646788

Off you go, read that. You need to just realise what you are doing; wasting time worrying. There is a stat going around and it's like 3 out of 4 people in hospital have pretty much put themself there from worrry and being so negative and pessamistic, stop worrying about nothing because this is what you're doing.

JMcCR

Personally I blame a certain fixed phone line provider for a lot of peoples burglary fears. How many times a day do you hear those ads saying your at risk and trying to frighten you into buying their phone watch product.

In my opinion there would be a good case against them for selling/playing on peoples fears and anxieties. :mad::mad:

JMcCR

JMcCR wrote: »

Personally I blame a certain fixed phone line provider for a lot of peoples burglary fears. How many times a day do you hear those ads saying your at risk and trying to frighten you into buying their phone watch product.

In my opinion there would be a good case against them for selling/playing on peoples fears and anxieties. :mad::mad:

That is the biggest load of boloney I have ever read and there would be NO case against them - thrown straight out of court and that's if you can find a lawyer "****ed" in the head enough to go through with it. All that ad does is identify a need and offer a solution. Burglary is real - but worrying about things that MAY happen is quite simply a total waste of thinking power and people who have that problem need to sort it out because it's NOT a problem. I really would have thought the recession and the negativity in the world today would make people think "My problems are not that bad" but obviously not, it's pathetic.

Cianos

OP, the chances of you being robbed are really very slim. And most burglars just want to get in, take what they can and leave without any trouble. If they wake you then they risk having the guards called - especially now that everyone has mobile phones, so even if you were robbed your life would rarely be in danger.

I can understand the fear of having your home, the place you are supposed to feel secure, being compromised, but rationally I don't think you have anything to worry about.

SarahSassy

OP, I find when my OH is away that if I watch programmes like CSI etc before going to bed that I am very nervous then about burglary. Dont watch scary programmes and get a full house alarm and make sure you use it.