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My husband is in IT and once or twice a month he works a midnight - 6am shift so that they can run updates while the hospital isn't busy. He also goes out of town for conferences 1-2 times per year. We live in a Baltimore suburb, it's a nice-ish townhouse neighborhood mostly full of young couples like ourselves. Our next door neighbor is a police officer and we have lots of friends in the neighborhood. I feel pretty safe there but twice I've left my car unlocked and things have been taken during the night (iPod, GPS, etc). We've had the house for 3 years but we had roommates up until a month ago when we got married.
Last night my husband worked one of those night shifts and I was home alone for the first time (since the roomie moved out). I was fine while I was awake, but when I tried to go to sleep I got really freaked out. The cats were making noise downstairs and we had just finished watching an episode of Law and Order SVU, so I was a little on edge. I locked the bedroom door and turned on the TV so that I wouldn't be freaked out by the noises. Now I'm thinking about getting an alarm system. Am I being too paranoid? I know I watch WAY too many crime shows on TV and I think that makes me extra paranoid!!
I go through fazes. My bf and I don't live together yet and I've lived alone for about 18 months in two different places. The first one had an alarm system and I loved it because it chirped whenever a door or window was opened. Also, it was a newer build with no basement or attic.
For the past year I've lived in a SUPER old duplex (like 100+ years) with an attic and a basement and no alarm. Most of the time I'm fine but I'll admit I do get freaked out sometimes. Particularly bc old houses make a lot of random noises (like one time my attic door opened itself I'm thinking because my attic is not insulated and there was a draft or something?). More than once I have made my bf do a full house sweep when we get back from a trip to make sure there are no murderers hiding :)
We plan to buy a newer house next year and I cannot WAIT. I definitely want to get an alarm, it just makes me feel more safe.
BUAH HA HA. btw, i think the poll should include people in homes....apartments don't really have "alarm systems" nor are they really necessary since you have people livign attached to you.
I am extra paranoid. And I will give you my costs, too, ladies. I paid $800 for a full-on Home Brinks Security System. Maybe $900....every single window in my house is wired for glass break and/or contact disruption.
I pay $31.99 a month to be tied into the police station. If/when my alarm goes off, they immediately call my home and check with me. If i don't answer, they send the cops out. They show up in 2 minutes flat.
I get very "on edge" all the time. I live alone. I see the way men leer at me sometimes. It makes me uncomfortable. I don't want to be a victim. I watch lots of Law & Order, and I know those cases are rare, but I never want to be one. Not to mention, the security system makes my house insurance go down. It essentially pays itself off in a couple of years. I feel safe.
My neighborhood is full of people in their 50's with grandchildren over all the time and a few police officers, too. I live on a coldesac, not even a main street. I do live in a very nice neighborhood, though, and I knwo that thugs can go "trolling" for houses and I don't want to deal with coming home to a broken-in home, my cats gone missing (my cats are worth some money by the way...and i'd be devastated if someone stole one of them) or worse yet, dead, and anything i cherished missing or even trashed b/c they didn't find what they wanted.
Ok that was long. Long story short, totally worth my sanity. I am protected 110% and can't imagine it any other way.
I feel totally safe in my house! I spend most evenings alone as FI and I work opposite shifts!
I never really feel unsafe and have never even considered getting an alarm!
Omg .. don't watch the crime shows when you're home alone! Lol. =) It wouldn't hurt to have an alarm. I've always had an alarm.
We live in the cool, younger part of town but on the outskirts, and so it's a mix of young people and GHETTO people and old hippies. My next door neighbor is a pot dealer (well, per my old hippie neighbor who gossips- but she's weird and sketchy and has SKETCHY visitors so I'd believe it) and so I'd prefer an alarm... just trying to afford it!!!
Oh the things we do to live in a fun part of town...
I live in an apartment building so an alarm really isn't a choice. We live on the third floor of walk-up (meaning no elevator) so I figure if there was some sort of burglar, they wouldn't run up three flights of stairs to get to me.
I get nervous about a few things though. We don't have a doorman, so sometimes I get worried about someone following me into the building. However, we have a 24 deli downstairs so I like to think there wouldn't be creepers lurking around.
Also, I live in an old tenement type building, so I get worried about leaving the window open to the fire escape because the fire escapes are connected somewhat. When I'm home alone, I don't answer the buzzer unless I'm expecting someone, and I always keep the chain on when I get delivery (there have been a rash of "push-in" robberies in my neighborhood.
I live in a condo building downtown Chicago in a very safe neighborhood. When my husband is gone (about 4 weeks in July/August and 10 weekends August-December) I am very vigilant about locking the door at all times and being very aware of who is around when I take the dog out. If I am coming home late, I ask the cab driver to make sure I get in safely and give him a good tip. You never know what can happen but I always try to be as little a target as possible!
haha I should mention that I'm a total crime show junky. I have seen almost every episode of Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, CSI, CSI:NY, Criminal Minds (I could go on but I'm starting to sound like a total loser haha). I half expect to see a dead body every time I open a closed door. But I can't help it... they're so good!
I think if an alarm will make you feel safer, it's a good idea and an investment in peace of mind.
Personally, I feel relatively safe at my house. I'm more concerned about break-in's when I'm not there than when I am.
If something does happen at night and I think there's an intruder, I have an 'exit' plan. Also, just a tip, but if you dial 911 from a land line (not a cell phone), it's quicker for them to trace to your location.
I've been told that I will worry a lot less when I have a very large dog at home, lol. This is what my MIL says...and she has a big rottweiler. She says the dog hears EVERYTHING.
I love crime shows. Such a mind-screwing addiction =].
Our dogs are our security system. :) Seriously, they bark at everything. For a while we lived out in the woods, and I felt uncomfortable alone by myself in that house. Now we live in a really established neighborhood, though, and I feel very safe by myself. I would like to get an alarm now, but it's because we don't have a doggie door. I'd like to know that the fire department would be notified immediately and my dogs will be rescued in the case of a fire. We're in a high-fire danger zone, so this is a very real threat for us.
I think if you feel afraid while your Fi is gone, you should at least do some research on what systems are available and how much they cost. It can't hurt to find out what's available for you in your area.
I don't always feel safe in my house but I have a comfort built up with my dogs always being with me. One of them is exceptionally alert and I know if I needed to be aware of something happening, she would alert me right away. Other than that, I always keep a cell phone by my bed at night whether DH is home with me or not.
oh and I love crime dramas too but make it a point to not watch them when the hubby is away :)
Thanks for the details ejs! I think I would feel safer in an apartment, but of course, the girl on the SVU I had just watched lived in an apartment and it didn't help her!
@mshymanroth, I didn't watch the episode alone, hubby and I watched it together before he went to work, which I admit was still not a great idea!!
I failed to mention that my FIL had extra stickers from the alarm company they use and he put them on our ground level windows and doors as a deterant.
Oh, and I did get hubby to walk around the house with me before he left for work. I wanted to check all the windows and doors and closets. He made fun of me the whole time!
I think I'll be looking into getting an alarm system.
I would love an alarm, but we live in an apartment. For now, though, my shih tzu is my security system. No one can even go up the stairs to our building without him letting me know. His bark also sounds like he is bigger and scarier than he is, so that also makes me feel a little better!
@corgitales - Yup, I watch all of those shows, and more! I also watch some of the reality ones which I think are worse b/c they are true. It's a horrible addiction :)
@Oracle - Yea, I have an exit plan too. We have Vonage so they don't automatically know our address but I listed it on the website for emergency calls.
Oh, I've also been known to sleep with my pepper spray under my pillow and a knife in the drawer of my night stand (not on the nightstand b/c the the psycho-killer would see it before I even wake up). I'm convinced that one of these days I will spray myself with my own pepper spray (which is why I won't buy a gun!).
Oh, I know, daisybride! But they don't have them for alarm systems--those "push ins" are becoming worse now. I can't imagine being trapped in my own home with a predator. How terrifying!
I have a few friends who put the stickers out as a fake-out =].
If you're like me at all, I don't sleep well if i don't feel safe. It took me a few months to get used to my new place, and I always slept better in my apartment when my roommate was home (who always was up til like 3am LOL). Peace of mind is a good thing to consider.
Also...i'm kinda weird like this, but if something is nagging at me (like the alarm system is to you), I always try to heed that. I feel like God is trying to send me a message or something and I better listen up, maybe i'm being warned or something. I have a few friends who lived in shadier neighborhoods and while they didn't get an alarm, they certainly got a gun! Ha!
Just tell your husband your home insurance (and ring insurance, and item insurance) will go down because your home is considered "safer".
OH also, i'm tied into the fire company, too, so if i have a fire they are alerted immediately, versus my smoke detectors just going off and somebody having to notify the fire department. I really like that aspect, too--i have some older appliances that could go on the fritz, you never know
Sorry i'm one of those really annoying safety advocates. I don't have a husband or dog to protect me, so i do what i can for myself =]
When I lived alone in my house in town I had an alarm system. It gave me so much peace of mind. Now, the house we live in is in the county and we barely lock all the doors at night - freaky right? However, when he's gone, I do make a point to make sure all the doors are locked and I set the alarm. I feel better when it's on. Plus it gets REALLY dark and lonely out there.
I certainly feel safe home alone. No way would I get an alarm system. I think a lot of our fear about crime doesn't actually have to do with factual crime rates -- which have plummeted over the past 20 years, not risen (other than in pockets where, like cystal meth has run wild). I think our cultural fear and our cultural obsession with "safety" has to do with TV and mass-media.... and consumerism.
I just don't want to participate in the paranoia and cultural irrationality, as I see it. (I live about two hours' drive from NYC, and literally there has NEVER been a stranger-murder in my town. There have been ZERO stranger child abductions. It just doesn't happen as often as TV would make us believe it does. Did people 20 years ago lock themselves in at night and have alarms, etc? No. So why now, when crime rates are down?) If things suddenly took a turn for the worse, and instead of crime rates continuing to do down the started to go up again, and things got so horribly bad, crime-wise, that I needed an alarm -- like, if people are breaking in on my street, or people were being raped by strangers in their homes-- I'd move. I'd never want to live a life where I felt I needed to set alarms and use floodlights, or whatever.
Note: I used to live in NYC, and obviously then I locked my doors and windows.
PS: Sorry if my answer is annoying to anyone! I know I'm not in the majority here.
Well FI has a job where he has to work the night shift and it's just me and my boyz home. Naturally I'm suppose to be brave for them but I'll admit, I do get scared sometimes even though "our neighborhood is safe" or so I've been told. I think the thing that freaks me out the most is that our neighbor(lives literally right across the fence from us)was robbed 3 times in like 3 months or so. They did catch the boys but still...Sometimes I swear I have OCD cause I check the door at least 3 times before I go to sleep!!!
O and I live in a apartment(literally only 10 apartments in our complex) so the alarm system is not an option
my FI had an alarm system installed a couple of weeks ago, before I moved in with him because he knows how I am (HAHA) AND he thought it was wise since his condo is on the ground floor.
When FI is out of town for work, I have a few funny rituals to make me feel safe. We live in a safe neighborhood–not rich, but really close to non-shady restaurants and bars that are open late and tons of really close neighbors. Anyway, if I come home late by myself, I always have to go around to all the closets and "hiding spaces" (preferably with some sort of weapon) just to check. Once I've done that and the doors are locked, I feel pretty safe! I'll still sleep with a flashlight, phone, pepper spray, and optional switchblade by my bed if he's not home! I think it's more about laying every little worry to rest and feeling comfy than actually being concerned for my safety.
I've lived alone for almost 5 years... never had an alarm system (actually have one noe but never paid the deposit for it to work) and have always felt safe.
One night this summer when I was visiting my FI, he went to play poker... and I heard a noise come from the basement. All his neighbors know I'm home alone (they're nosey & they know our schedule) so I ran and locked the door from the upstairs to the basement.
The next thing I know I hear a MASSIVE bang on the door IN the basement and someone screamed "Get yo' ass out here boy" I FLIPPED OUT. Grabbed a bat, ran into the bedroom & started frantically calling my FI... long story short, it turned out to be one of his friends, who funny enough is a cop.
I didn't feel safe for the remainder of the trip though, I was so scared. My FI is on call every few weeks, so I demanded he gets a security system when I move in.
My FI's job is like a daily episode of one of those crime shows. I hear first hand the crap that goes on in his city... people aren't right & our concerns, as women, are valid.
*edit* Also my home was broken into about 5 years ago while I was upstairs sleeping. They only took my stuff from the living room (laptop, tv, dvds, etc)... you don't completely get over that. It's such an uneasy feeling. I moved right away, but I'm always looking out the window & I wake up a few times a night if I hear the slightest noise.
I live in a small town and usually sleep with the door, not only unlocked, but open at night. When I used to have a scooter, sometimes I would leave my keys in the ignition because I forgot them. When the husband isn't home at night I take the big step of actually closing the door, but I generally don't have trouble sleeping.
I don't think I would last in a big city o.O I have bad habits.
I don't think it's that people are giving in to "Hysteria" necessarily...it's a fact of life that peoples' homes DO get broken in to. My grandma woke up in her bed with a man standing over her. Tell me how that happened? I always had an alarm system before i started watching crime shows. I think they make you realize that crazy things do happen in the world, no matter where you live. I joke that i'm paranoid, but realistically, i'm just trying to not be too naive in that I am 100% safe and that nothing will ever ever happen to me. For the $400 a year in fees and whatever i spent on installation, it seems like a small price to pay
I think if you just don't feel safe (or are paranoid or whatever) it doesn't hurt to protect yourself. Peace of mind is an important thing and it's naive to think that something *can't* happen, whether or not it's unlikely to. I also don't go running at 10pm at night because I *could* be abducted...likely? No. My mom calls it tempting fate, haha.
A woman was murdered a mile from my home in one of those "stranger murders" and it is so creepy! Even if it happens to almost no one and is practically unheard of, who wants to be that one in a thousand, right? There are lots of instances where I know people who have had their homes broken in and I think "boy i wish you'd invested in an alarm system now!" and even if you live in a nice neighborhood, it can happen and sometimes those nice neighborhoods are even more targeted! For some reason, lawn care items, like mowers and trimmers and stuff, seem to be the "most stolen" items, though.
I don't really feel safe and we don't have an alarm system. I've found the things that really freak me out and try to avoid those! For instance, I love Criminal Minds and all those crime shows but get really freaked out. I won't even watch America's Most Wanted because I'm afraid the 'wanted' will come after me...like he's peaking through the windows! Luckily there hasn't been any reason to watch it anymore!
I also do better in the summer; the days are longer!
A security system will definitely be what I want when we get a house one of these days.
I have in the same house for 14 years without a problem...it is in a suburb that was rated the safest in our area and all of neighbors are very close. However, just this June, I woke up one morning to find my DESKTOP computer gone. Turns out someone broke into my FH's car that was parked in the driveway, got the garage door opener, slipped in, took the computer and slipped out. We still haven't found the computer, but I was much more concered with the fact of someone being in my house while I am sleeping! We now have an alarm system and take extra precaution. A neighbor up the street said that night they heard a garage door open at 2am...yep that must have been the crook breaking into our house!
No alarm, but after I'm done spending money on the wedding I will be getting a gun. My dad already has one picked out for me haha. This comes from a night in our very first apt. - FI was at work that nite. We were on the 3rd floor of a house that had been converted into apts. We had a side door into the kitchen that opened up to a rickety staircase that went down the side of the house and ended at the back of the house. If you weren't familiar with the house, you would NEVER even know that door was there, much less in the dark.
Well I was home alone and someone knocked on that door. I was flipping out. Convinced myself I was imagining it, or that maybe it was someone knocking on our regular door and the sound was just getting thrown. Waited a minute, and there was another knock, this time it was way loud and for sure. I grabbed a butcher knife and was creeping around the apt. Went downstairs to my other neighbor's and told them and they came up and looked out that door. Nothing there. They left and then I looked out a big picture window we had, and saw a guy walking from the bottom of that staircase, walked across the parking lot behind our house and into the darkness. So now I know someone was really up there, I am losing it. Blow FI up at work til he answers.... It ended up being one of my downstairs neighbor's friends ahahahaha...had never been to his house before and since he was walking from a few streets over behind us, he came to that staircase first and just figured that was it.
I know this is way long, but bottom line is I had that butcher knife, and I don't ever want to have to get close enough to the bad guy to be able to use that. So I vote gun. Maybe I'll register for that. 
I don't have an alarm system- per se. I have a dog- and she barks when she hears someone at the door. Most of the time it's our upstairs neighbors.
But even when she's not around and I'm by myself, I'm not afraid.
quidom29: Oh the garage door thing is something I never thought of until my parents got mad at me for leaving the opener in my car one night (my car, when I was living with them in highschool, was on the driveway instead of in the garage). I asked them why they cared, I locked my car! "Because someone can break into your car, take the opener, get in the house and steal things or worse!"
I was like, "Who thinks of that?!" But apparently it does happen! That sucks, and I am the same as you, it would creep me out to know someone had been in the house while I was sleeping!!
WE don't have an alarm system. I have never had one and neither has my FH. We both grew up way out in the country, like 20 miles from town and at least a mile from our neighbors. Now that we live in town it really doesn't bother me not that have one. We will lock our doors and such, but we also live by the saying that "locks only keep honest people honest." I feel that way with alarms as well. While they make people feel more sucure (and that is GREAT) and some people are detured by them, if someone really wants in the alam will not stop them. I know it is more for the ability to have it call the athorities, and I am not here to take that feeling of security away from anyone, but currently we are not in a place that we feel we need an alam syste. If I were living someone that I felt I needed one then I would most likly move. I know that stuff happens, but I don't think I could live somewhere that I did not feel safe in my own home.
Not a newlywed, but I do have an alarm system. I have lived in this house by myself for the past 3 years. FI travels for work, so he's only really home on the weekends. My alarm beeps each time a door is opened, which I love (so I know if anyone comes in unannounced). I also set me alarm at night and when I leave. That being said, I don't feel unsafe, I just like to have the alarm to make me feel extra safe.
I live in apt building so don't really need an alarm but I absolutely will get the best one possible if I ever leave the city and move into a house. I am a big scaredy-cat in a house - although I prowl the city at all hours without a care in the world :)
I grew up in a relatively nice neighborhood and we were buglarized twice - once someone came into our house while we were sleeping. I woke up at 7 years old to police in my living room and our screen window cut open. My mom says it was the only time I said I wanted something a friend had - an alarm system!! I get so freaked out being in a house with a yard that I need an alarm system - and in high school when I was home alone I would routinely set it off to scare off all the burglars prowling about :) (always shut if off before it went to the police though)!.
Given we lived in a nice neighborhood, it can happen anywhere. Low crime rates don't mean NO crime rates. I am clearly more scared than the average person, but crime is a reality no matter where you live.
We have three big mean looking dogs who are very protective. If anyone were to break into the house while I was alone, there is no doubt in my mind that the dogs would do everything they could to keep me safe... don't get me wrong, they're very nice to strangers, but if they feel like someone is up to no good they will alert me. I lived by myself for awhile with only my cats and I was always paranoid... and I too watched the crime shows before going to bed... bad idea. I feel so much safer now that I have a pack of hounds watching my back.
Also my husband is a total firearm afficianado and used to teach martial arts and women's self defense classes in the marines. He has taught me a lot of things I can do to defend myself even if it means having to pick up a gun... It's crazy because I've always been more the hippie/pacifist type, never even thought about firearms or any of that stuff, but here I am, and I'm glad I now have a few tricks up my sleeve.
I live in the middle of nowhere - for real. The nearest neighbor is over 1/2 mile away. Before hubby moved in, it took a bit to get used to being all by myself. But I got used to it. Then again, I always have a loaded shot gun on hand but that's more for coyotes trying to eat my cats.
When I lived alone there were only one or two times that I didn't feel safe. I live in Long Beach and at the time I wasn't in the best part of Long Beach. I was on the phone with my fiance and happened to be in my kitchen and I swear to everything that I heard gun shots...I immediately fell the floor and covered my head. Then the building next door had a drug dealer and there was another one down the street. I had a few locks on the front door, a baseball bat.
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