If you have an alarm system for your home...

[ilfaith]

Spinning off from the home security threads...

If you have a home security system, how often do you set your alarm?

[AJP]

I set it every time I leave the house. Even if we're just doing school drop-off. When the kids are in bed for the night the exterior is armed and when DH and I are in bed for the night exterior and interior motion gets armed.

[kristenk]

I'm an other.

I set the alarm every night before bed. I don't really arm it during the day. I really should be better about doing that.

[MSWR0319]

I'm an other.

I set the alarm every night before bed. I don't really arm it during the day. I really should be better about doing that.

:yeahthat:

When I do set it during the day I forget about it and often end up setting it off when I come home.

[okinawama]

The only time I set ours is at night when we go to bed. I ultimately don't care if any one steals my positions, so I've never really set it when we're out and about during the day, however, reading about the person who walked in on an intruder has made me think about arming the house more frequently.

[georgiegirl]

I set it anytime I leave the house, unless I'm just at the neighbors yard playing. We used to set it only at night, but a few years ago, there were some break-ins, not in our neighborhood, but in other nice neighborhoods, so DH and I decided to set it whenever we left the house.

We also set it before bed, so it's on overnight, but the "stay" mode, without motion sensors.

[ECUPirateMom]

I arm it every single time I leave the house and at night before bed too. Since hubby travels alot I will also set it when the girls and I are home alone.

Sent from my SGH-T989

[Sweetum]

any time I step out - even if for few minutes and every night at bedtime.

[zukeypur]

I'm an "other". I only set mine at night and when there's a known fellon loose in the metroplex. I occasionally set it during the day, but probably less than 10 times per year.

[hillview]

I set our alarm when
- we are traveling
- my parents (who live downstairs in an apartment) are away
- random (maybe 5x a year) when I am feeling uncomfortable

[arivecchi]

We set it every time we leave and every night on stay mode. If you get a discount from your insurance company for having a security system, you need to use it or it could affect coverage.

I sometimes arm it during the day if I'm home alone with the kids even though I live in a super safe area. Just gives me peace of mind.

[Zukini]

:yeahthat: to arivecchi

We set ours every time we leave the house, even if someone else is home. And once we come in, we typically set it to "Instant" immediately or by the time we put the evening lights on. If DH is traveling, I have it set to "Instant" all day and all night (meaning it will go right to blaring alarm with no delay for input of the code, and the security company will call us).

We also leave our porch and garage entry lights on, and gladly, the neighbors on either side of us do so as well every night. The rest of the street doesnt and personally, I see lights as deterrent but that's their choice. We live in a very safe town and nice community but there has been crime (smashed doors with burglary, folks walking into unlocked front doors, SAHM robbed while getting groceries out of their car in middle of the day), so one can never be too cautious.

When I'm home by myself, I make a point to close the garage door before even getting out of my car to go into my home. We always lock the door between garage/laundry room and do not park cars in the driveway with electronic openers sitting in them. I do not respond to the doorbell during the day - UPS guy is so fast I wouldnt make it there anyway, and everyone else is NOT supposed to leave a flier because we have a "no solicitation" sign from the city. Yes, DH and I are pretty crazy about security. We came of age in California and Florida, and watch the news every single day. It keeps us in check.

[egoldber]

We inherited an alarm with our current house, but in 11+ years, we never used it. Our new house we are building comes with one and we are debating about whether or not to keep the service after the initial free 3 months.

[lovin2shop]

I set ours at night only, and also if we are out of town.

[BabbyO]

We don't have an alarm. We have 3 sets of retired neighbors...that is better than an alarm IME. Our next door neighbor gave the insurance adjuster a hard time when we forgot to let him know that they'd be around. Also they've questioned appraisers and contractors if we forget to mention someone will be around the house.

Frankly...it is less of an issue now. DH works from home and I'm home in the evening. Any other time, our neighbors keep an eye on the place for us.