Do you leave windows open when you aren't home?

[expectantsteelerfan]

This is really random, but if the weather is supposed to be nice all day and it's good 'windows open' weather, do you leave windows open even if no one is home?  Like would you leave for work for the day and leave your windows open?

This is something I never considered beyond weather, but dh freaked out at me for leaving for a few hours the other day and leaving windows open because it's a security issue.  And then today, we were all going out as a family for about an hour, and he insisted on shutting all the windows before we left.  I was so confused.  And after arguing about it, he ended up agreeing to leave the windows on the 2nd floor open while we were gone but insisted we shut the ones on the first floor.  

I can't believe this is the 1st time this has come up in my marriage and I never realized he felt so strongly about it before and he never realized I didn't think it was an issue and have been leaving windows open while I've been gone without him knowing before.  

So now I'm curious what other people do.  

[mcmel]

Absolutely not, mainly because I have cats and dogs I would worry about.

[gummybear]

Second floor, yes. First floor, never, ever. I am maniacal about closing and locking first floor windows.

[cattledogkisses]

Yes, our windows have little thingies (idk what they’re called) that you can pop out that keep the window from opening more than a few inches, to prevent anyone from breaking in. Our windows are open basically 24/7 during the summer.

[steamboat185]

Second floor yes all the time. First floor sometimes? Never in the front of the house.

[Velar Fricative]

Yes for the second floor. We also usually leave the back window open too, and if we will only be out briefly, we also leave the sliding door to the yard open a bit (it’s next to the back window). But we are in a fully attached house and given what’s behind us there’s really no way anyone can break in from the back.

[ewall]

Our house is built into a hillside with only 2 windows on our 1st floor at ground level. So yes, I will leave the majority of 1st and 2nd floor windows open. Our neighbors leave their ground level windows open all the time.

[livinitup]

We typically leave our windows closed. For a rare day like today, with mild, beautiful weather we may open windows, and it would not bother me to leave them unlocked and open for a few hours when we go out.

Granted, I don’t have much fear that a would-be burglar would see an open window from the street and immediately climb through and rob us. If I thought about it really hard, I could probably work myself into enough anxiety to shut them. But not typically.

[dancingirl21]

No but only because I worry about a freak rainstorm or something. Otherwise the second floor I would be okay with for a few hours. Not the first floor.

[underwaterrhymes]

No, because I have anxiety and however implausible, I’d worry a cat would get out.

[dexteroni]

Upstairs, sometimes, but only if I’m sure it’s not going to rain. First floor, no. Only maybe to walk the dog when our house is within view for most of it.

[Roc A Bee]

No I don’t. Although yesterday I left with the door unlocked and our fence wide open. I try to leave everything closed/locked though.

[momin2013]

2nd floor sure for a few hours (but I wouldn’t do it for a full day while I’m at work).

1st floor nope, not even for a quick trip out.

[plutosmoon]

Yes, I leave windows open. I usually shut them if I'm going away for a trip, if someone wants in they'll get in. I'm not sure the windows on the first floor are big enough for a grown adult to climb through. I'm more likely to have a burglar walk in my front door that doesn't have a real lock and can't be locked from the inside. I have no pets, and rain has never really come in through my open windows, unless it's super stormy.

[kadams767]

Yes, on the first and second floors and, all the time. I’ve never even considered closing them when I leave unless I’m worried about a rainstorm. I do close the first floor windows when I go to bed at night, but it’s mostly because I have to in order to set the alarm.

[gummybear]

The response in here are fascinating to me. As someone with GAD a rainstorm wouldn’t even cross my mind (mainly bc I stalk the weather almost hourly). I often wonder what it must be like to have a typical mind. Unlocked open windows - the possibilities of what could go wrong are endless! It is unfathomable to me what is must be like to not consider the absolute worst case scenario in decisions like these.

I’m not even trying to be funny. I am actually kind of sad.

[jackie011]

Nope, no way. We rarely have the windows open, and when we do I am so paranoid that I’m going to forget to close them. We also have pretty large front-facing windows, so I’m convinced someone is just going to bust through and break in.

[Deleted]

Upstairs yes. In the summer they are open for days on end (CA so no rain in summer). One of my favorite things is sleeping with the windows open.

[madringal]

Yes, often. Upstairs and downstairs.

[fumbalina]

Not on purpose for security reasons. However, the odds of me remembering they are open are low. I often forget that I have not locked the back door.

[toepick]

Yes, I will leave windows open on the first floor in the front of my house. If someone is going to break in they will go around back and just smash the sliding glass door. They aren’t going to climb in a window in broad daylight with lots of people around. I close and lock them at night of course. I also live on a street with nosy neighbors keeping an eye on things and a low crime rate.

[beerlover]

We don't really have windows open frequently but I don't think I've ever really thought about closing them when we leave, unless it was for a vacation or something. Which is funny because I'm anxious about a lot of other things. The mind is weird.

[RoxMonster]

We leave second story windows open all the way and for the first floor, we lock them open just a few inches.

[underwaterrhymes]

Nov 6, 2022 21:12:57 GMT -5 gummybear said:

The response in here are fascinating to me. As someone with GAD a rainstorm wouldn’t even cross my mind (mainly bc I stalk the weather almost hourly). I often wonder what it must be like to have a typical mind. Unlocked open windows - the possibilities of what could go wrong are endless! It is unfathomable to me what is must be like to not consider the absolute worst case scenario in decisions like these.

I’m not even trying to be funny. I am actually kind of sad.

I will read about some freak accident and it will stick in my head as something that could totally happen regularly, so I get this.

[thedutchgirl]

Our house is a single story California-ranch style. We do not leave windows open when we aren’t home. My husband would have a stroke. No need to make it easier for people to break in

[rachers]

No, never. I feel like we live in a somewhat safe area but we still have people who do the car handle checks and a few years ago had a very traumatic experience where someone shot at our house when my Husband ran outside to call them off.

It’s probably very area/regional specific. I love having the windows open but would never leave them like that alone.

[just]

Yes - first floor and second floor. All windows are double hung (so human sized when open) with screens that are easy to take off/slice from either side. On a very busy road about 18ft from the sidewalk with no fence. Big bushes under the front windows.

I'd NEVER have done this in Ireland, but have done so here for 6 years in MA and 6 years prior in WI.

[SusanBAnthony]

Yes, all the time. Which has come in handy when locked out and I climbed in through a window.

I figure it would be just as easy to break a window as climb in through an open window, and I'm not willing to have them closed all the time. I'm sure I would feel differently if I had ever experienced a robbery.

[MixedBerryJam]

Nov 6, 2022 21:12:57 GMT -5 gummybear said:

The response in here are fascinating to me. As someone with GAD a rainstorm wouldn’t even cross my mind (mainly bc I stalk the weather almost hourly). I often wonder what it must be like to have a typical mind. Unlocked open windows - the possibilities of what could go wrong are endless! It is unfathomable to me what is must be like to not consider the absolute worst case scenario in decisions like these.

I’m not even trying to be funny. I am actually kind of sad.

This is exactly me! I have zero compunctions about leaving the windows open when I'm out. But I have other ... situations that are completely out of my control that are paralyzing for me. The best I can think of is traffic. I will give myself a crazy amount of time to get somewhere, just in case there's traffic. I've been able to catch earlier flights than I was ticketed for bc I get too the airport so early. I've been known to lie about departure times just to avoid the "it's too early"  argument when I want to leave for the airport. 

We all have our things; it's just that some of us see our imperfections up close and others' only from a distance. 

[krystee]

Only the second story. We rented a one-story house before we bought this one, and I wouldn’t leave any windows open overnight either. It is one of the reasons my only real requirement for a house was that it had two stories. I LOVE sleeping with the windows open, and it freaked me out to do it when we were on the ground floor.