Would you sleep with your back door open?

Posted by GlitchingGecko@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 40 comments

I live in a small bungalow, on a road that leads to multiple cul-de-sacs and nothing else, predominantly full of older couples. No businesses, schools or even a post-box. Due to the layout, when I'm laying in bed (with the bedroom door open), I can see directly out of the full glass back door, and down the full length of the garden. I've got a flood light attached to a motion sensor, and I also have two dogs (one big and one small who love to bark at things.) We currently sleep with both bedroom windows open (front facing), but would you consider this safe enough to sleep with the back door open as well? I say yes, husband says no.

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40 Comments

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oRagingMonkeyi@reddit

Sounds ideal for crooks

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HelloKittyWake@reddit

I feel like it would negate your home insurance if someone were to “break”/walk in too.

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damarwasahero@reddit

This is the answer.

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BaBaFiCo@reddit

Not sure home insurance covers being murdered, either.

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Worldly_Science239@reddit

it does, it's a "new for old" policy for the survivor

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Good_Loaf@reddit

I have accidentally gone to bed with my back door still open before. But normally I always make sure it’s locked before turning in, you often see doorbell footage of thieves just going street to street trying house and car doors. It’s like the postcode lottery, you never know when it’s gonna be you

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andreeeeeaaaaaaaaa@reddit

Nope, gone are the days of unlocked doors. Too many opportunists checking doors hoping to get lucky

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upturned-bonce@reddit

No, because mosquitoes.

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yourmomsajoke@reddit

I couldn't. I don't even like having my windows open tho, half for privacy sake (I talk loud) half for someone shimmying up a drainpipe and breaking in 😩

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destria@reddit

I wouldn't. Even though I know the odds are super slim, I'd feel like an absolute muppet if something did happen. And if someone got hurt, I couldn't live with the guilt!

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SerendipitousCrow@reddit

I wouldn't feel safe at all but then I live in a rubbish town where more than once I've come home to police on my street

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jimmykicking@reddit

This makes me laugh. I don't have a backdoor and I leave my front door unlocked even when Im out. Never been robbed and nobody has entered my flat. Accept for an angry lover. And I love in central London.

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BaBaFiCo@reddit

Absolutely not.

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Interesting_Buyer943@reddit

85% of house burglars work during the day. Of the 15% that work at night, most aren’t going to enter an occupied home. I’d say it’s pretty low risk, but there’s always a chance.

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mozzamo@reddit

Ooh matron

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mother1of1malinois@reddit

I do sometimes when it’s really hot weather so that the dogs can go outside to cool down if they need to. I can trust my dogs to protect my home, I wouldn’t risk it with an average pet dog though.

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EmFan1999@reddit

No, I don’t even sleep with a window open. I don’t feel safe otherwise is the main reason, but also the noise as I’m a light sleeper

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GodOfDucks@reddit

I do sometimes, on a hot summer evening.

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paranoidhustler@reddit

Do you mean unlocked or open? I couldn’t do either. Seems pointless, whats the reason exactly?

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Adiamphisbithta@reddit

I have done in the past, usually either because the dog's ill and i want to give him the option to go outside if he's sick in the night, (he doesn't like waking me up for that, so i prefer this to having to clean it off the floor) or because I've been out late and want to give the dog the opportunity to wee in the garden in the morning rather than wake me up first thing. Generally i feel safe knowing the dog would 100% have something to say if someone tried to break in. However, i have once or twice had slugs make their way into the house because of it, so wouldn't recommend in most circumstances

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pinkurpledino@reddit

>However, i have once or twice had slugs make their way into the house because of it, so wouldn't recommend in most circumstances They find their way in here with the doors closed so...

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Kanuckinator@reddit

No! The bugs! Think of the bugs!

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Illustrious-Cookie73@reddit

Are you not worried about 4 legged visitors? Foxes, mice, cats, bears, etc?

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JBEqualizer@reddit

The UK hasn't had a native bear population for somewhere between 1500-3000 years.

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GlitchingGecko@reddit (OP)

Not with two dogs. Plus, bears are welcome here. 😅

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MrPissedHimself@reddit

😐

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Kid_Kimura@reddit

Fuck no. Even quiet areas have burglaries, and if your door is wide open you're making yourselves look like an easy target.

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Commodontious@reddit

No I would not. The odds of a break in are slim but even then, if the defense against it is just closing a door, I feel like I could do it. It seems like a very small expense of energy to prevent something terrible happening. Unless I lived, like, on a farm in the middle of nowhere and I didn't live alone, I'd consider it. But not in a populated area. It only takes one opprtunistic smackhead to ruin your life and I could have prevented it so easily.

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coldearsforever@reddit

Ummm, where’s the NSFW tag mate?

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Idlezzz@reddit

I'd prefer someone didn't come through my back door while I'm asleep...

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GlitchingGecko@reddit (OP)

Hey, no kinkshaming...

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Idlezzz@reddit

😏

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Mossley@reddit

I understand that it’s hugely unlikely, millions to one sort of chance, that a burglary would happen in that scenario. However, that wouldn’t matter if it did happen, and the consequences would be devastating. Balancing the risk / reward, I wouldn’t do it.

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Nervous-Toe-6779@reddit

I’d say no I had a similar set up and thought the same then ended up having a break in one night.

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Titch87@reddit

My back garden’s nearly impossible to get in and I wouldn’t do it regardless. Impossible to get any peace of mind knowing the door was open

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GlitchingGecko@reddit (OP)

The last week I've told my husband to leave the back door open when he leaves for work at 7am and it hasn't bothered me in the slightest. Always assumed that the dogs would be enough of a deterrent.

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Titch87@reddit

Logically I think you’ll be fine. I would just get very paranoid being so vulnerable. Good luck on getting to sleep regardless of how you end up trying in this heat

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ExternalReturn4196@reddit

I positively could not relax enough to get to sleep knowing that an outside door was unlocked, _let alone_ wide open.

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_Living_deadgirl_@reddit

I'd say no, i live on a similar street in a bunglow and i have cctv someone still tried to break in, in the early hours recently and i had to scare them off. It doesn't matter what street you live on its always a risk.

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