Sometimes a consequence of leaving a garage door open is that unwanted animules find a cozy spot and take up residence. Be on the lookout for signs of that.

The last thing I do before going to bed is to walk around to check that locking doors are locked and for the door to the garage, I open it and make sure the roll-up door is down. So, no, checking that everything is secure for the night includes a look at the garage's exterior door.

Elmer, thanks for putting that in my brain, unwanted creatures. Olychick, thanks for the laugh. I'm a little worried about myself. There have been times when I had been working outside and I can't remember if I closed it or not and will open the kitchen door leading into the garage to double check. I didn't do that last night.

Yes, I've done that before.

What's worse is when DH leaves his keys hanging in the door lock... It's not a one-off, either - he's done it on multiple occasions.

Oh, I've left my garage door open several times in the last couple of years (3 or 4, at least), but not with the light on. It usually happens when I'm bringing in several loads of something from the car, and after the last load I forget to go out and close it again. As Elmer said, I'm more concerned with mice rather than thieves getting in, but fortunately it's always happened in mild weather, when they're probably just as happy outdoors.

I've left my garage door open all night in L.A., shortly after we moved to Westchester, and nothing was stolen. We had expensive mountain bikes hung from the rafters, but I do keep those locked even when inside the garage.

I left mine open all night not too long ago. Luckily, there were no consequences. In my old neighborhood, a neighbor would have called me to tell me, but I don't know my neighbors in this neighborhood very well yet.

Yes, yes and yes. As have others in my family. While vacationing in Costa Rica, our neighbor mentioned ours was open one night. Our DD was in the house.

We now have My Q. We can remotely open and close the garage from anywhere as well as receive alerts when it goes up or down. We have a little gadget in our bedroom that when light green it means the door is closed.

I love it. How many times do you circle back because you think you didn't close the garage?

Just pull over, check app and close it!

There is usually software buildt into the door opener that you can program to close automatically if the door is left open at a certain time.

The one time we left the garage door open, a raccoon got into the trash can and had a party.

We learned to check the garage door as part of our ”evening checks” when our son was little and would, at some point during a ride in the car or looking for something he’d left in the car, would turn on the dome light, and by morning the battery would be dead. So we check! Except that one time, but we had overnight guests so our routine was a little off.

I remember many years ago, and I mean like 40, Oprah had a show on home security, and the guest said to close the garage door, lock the car doors. and lock the door into the house. All of the above. We do, it’s part of our ”evening checks”.

eld, we have the same thing. It tells you if your garage door is open, how long it has been open, and what time it was opened and closed throughout the day. We really like it.

Our house security system also tells us what doors are open or closed. You can change the settings for what you want when arming it. However, we seldom arm the alarm at night when we go to bed.

eta I once left the deep freeze door open all night. I have no idea why. 🤔

" it's always happened in mild weather, when they're probably just as happy outdoors "

That hasn't been the experience in my neighborhood where the weather is mild nearly every day of the year (compared to many other places). Neither for me nor for my neighbors and interlopers are often rather large rats. Or, sometimes, snakes.

Since we started being careful about checking at night and not leaving the doors open during the day. the problem has ended. Everywhere is different.

We keep gardening tools and supplies in our garage. In the spring, we have to be mindful to keep our garage doors closed during the day when we're working outside because wrens and sparrows are fast to build nests on top of the ceiling mounted door opening mechanisms. The first year this happened, we realized it too late and didn't have the heart to destroy the nests and had quite a mess to clean from the tops of our cars once the birds were gone.

DH has left car door to garage open overnight a couple of times in the last 10 years which is especially bad because the garage opens right into my office and that door into house is only occasionally locked overnight. Our bedroom is clear at the opposite end of the house.

He grills often - meat. chicken, fish, our vegetables.....

After dinner he will go out, put the cooled grill back into the garage, lock up. Usually carefully but he's not perfect 😁

I'm old enough to remember never locking the house, leaving the car keys in the ignition so I'd always know where they were. I realize we can't do that now.

We'd gone someplace in the afternoon in the truck one day, come home and opened the garage with the auto garage door opener, I'd started into the house...when I could hear DH yelling in a panicked voice 'Don't Go In'!!!!

Earlier I'd gone out the front door, left it open, screen only closed not locked, gotten distracted by something and then impromptu, we left for some reason..... I'd never thought of the front door again. He saw it was open, thought we might have been broken into and someone possibly inside, did not want me to surprise them....

No harm done other than I'd scared him and his yelling had scared me.

I've never found a critter other than an occasional spider in our garage and the door to DH side is mostly open in the daytime when he's home. We have his and her car doors. My side is always closed, and its quite neat in there. His side more messy and any neighbor driving by can see right inside.

Every time I come in the garage, I close the big door, unless I'm unloading stuff from the car, and then I close it when I'm done. I stay in that habit. Hubs on the other hand, doesn't bother. And unfortunately, he doesn't check before he goes to bed. But *I* do.

In the 17 years we've lived here, we've there have been three times that someone has (all caught on camera) 1) tried to get into our garage 2) a kid (with a pretty full looking back pack) riding his bike up into the drive way at 2 am checking the cars. 3) had a porch pirate come to the front door, steal some garden decor, walk down the sidewalk towards the driveway, and then steal stuff off the porch of the barn (right across from the garage) Sheriff caught him, turns out he was convicted felon with outstanding warrants.

In addition to the 2 legged varmints, we've had an occasional mouse, found 2 snake skins and one evening as I stepped out into the garage to retrieve something from my car, almost stepped smack dab in the middle of a King Snake. (not venomous) Scared me 1/2 to death.

THAT incident, it FINALLY convinced the hubs to close the door!!!

Im careful about locking up at night. i guess the worst ive done is leave the door to thescreened porch into the house wide open all night. Anyone could have walked in but no one did.

My brother left the garage door open when he lived in La Jolla. He was almost totally cleaned out . Bikes, surf boards, kite boards, tools, anything that could be carried away. Cars were still there. He said it felt like a punch to the gut when he discovered it in the morning. I dont know how he did that except he’d been out having a good time and wasnt careful when he got home.

It happens quite often actually. This winter a neighbor called, She had knee surgery, couldn't remember if her garage door was closed. She couldn't get down the stairs to check. Needed some extra eyes on the situation. I also think it most common nothing happens. Crimes of opportunity are fewer than a planned fleecing of a neighborhood.

mxk2, I've left the keys in my door once. I usually come through the garage if I'm going away from my house. Rarey does someone pick me up and I go through my front door, so I guess it possibly could happen more often if I left through the door.

Eld, lol, I've done that quite a bit when heading off to work a few years ago. It's never been open when I went to check on it but I for the life of me couldn't remember closing it as I left. Doubt creeps in and have to drive back around and make sure.

dedtired, that's awful about your brother.

@porkchop_z5b_MI I recently replaced my locks with pushbutton, combo keyless locks. I didn't get the fanciest ones, but they make them which will automatically lock after a certain period of time. No keys left in the door, no unlocked doors. I don't need mine to auto lock because I am compulsive about locking the doors when I go in and out. Used to drive my late husband batty when we'd be outside and I'd come in for something and lock the door behind me. Completely on auto pilot.

That wouldn't happen here since our garage is a two-story carriage house at the end of our property on the alley. And it doesn't have automatic doors but large barn doors that have to be manually closed. Hard to forget that...But years ago, we were going to the grocery store. Husband went out the side door(we actually "live" at the side entrance and never use the front door) not hearing me say I was going out the porch door for something I forgot out there. When we returned, our side door was wide open with two cats sitting on the sill and everything was visible because there is no storm door on the 200-year-old door. I was freaked out mainly because of the indoor cats who never ever were allowed out. I forget how many I had then...three or four and I had to do a head count and they all stayed in.

My neighborhood is very safe. I have no garage and never lock my car. But there are lots of deer and one night I forgot to close the gate to the vegetable garden. A miracle--all was fine the next morning, but I check it now.

I also put a pushbutton lock on my front door, but mine is a smart lock so I can check it on my phone. I can also lock and unlock it from my phone, if I need to. I got it originally when I was getting some construction done, so I could give an access code to a contractor that I could change later when work was done. It still works with a key, though, just in case it breaks down and a code won't work.

Hope all that electronics doesn't fail ya. The horror stories I've heard keep me out of that game.

Once - 18 years ago. Since then I open the door to the garage every night before going upstairs and check the door.

My son does this as well and says all is fine. Yeah right - until I check after him and find the garage lights on...grrrrr!

" Hope all that electronics doesn't fail ya. The horror stories I've heard keep me out of that game. "

Yeah, but it's not my only door to the house, and I decided that being able to open the door from my phone would also be helpful living alone, in case I became unable to get to the door. I figure the pros outweigh the cons.

I'm old enough to remember never locking the house, leaving the car keys in the ignition so I'd always know where they were. I realize we can't do that now.

some can still do this, i'm one. for the most part, i keep my garage door open. the only times i close it is when heavy rain/snow is predicted and in the spring when the barn swallows are nesting. my van has a push button start, i have 2 fobs (one i keep in the van, the other in my purse).

i don't even know where my house keys are. in 27 years living out in the middle of nowhere, i haven't locked my doors even one time. i live on 20 acres with a very long private lane that dead-ends at my place. my house isn't visible from the road.

i also have a dog door that's never locked and that any average sized person can easily crawl through. i suppose i'm a home invader's dream but with 2 very protective great danes that sound an alarm when a leaf blows by, i feel perfectly safe. i also have several security cameras. i put a few outside and have 4 inside. those are all for the purpose of seeing what the dogs are up to on the rare occasions when i'm away from home.

i'm always tickled when the occasional visitor locks their vehicle when they get here.

It happens. Rarely. Usually not forgetfulness but ratyer something moving in the way and triggering the door to go up after I’ve walked or driven aeay. I’m more concerned about showing off my clutter than worrying about theft or animals.

How 'cautious' (paranoid?) are you? Have you programmed the built-in garage door remote in your vehicle? If you have a clip-on remote, do you take it with you when you valet your car or leave it at a parking garage?

“How 'cautious' (paranoid?) are you?”

My last house didn’t gave a working front door lock until my neighbor got broken into. This house (same general area) does have working locks, but I don't think I have a key to the front door. So if we lock up leaving the house we have to go through the garage which is not our general route. We do that if we're gone overnight, sometimes in the evening when going out to dinner, but rarely throughout the day when going out shopping, etc. We do try to remember to lock up at night when we go to bed, but no guarantees.

This behavior is just habit, not becaise we feel like we're in an exceptionally safe area. My cars have been hit a few times so I do lock them at night.

Garage door openers are built into the cars. My truck doesn't need a key to open the garage, my wife's car does.

Not my garage door but my front door. I woke up and came out of my bedroom and it was open. Steps away from my bedroom too. But luckily no one decided to join me. I do have a storm door, front and back. I have also left my keys in the back door a few time. It even makes the door hard to close but I managed it.

I never take my garage door opener with me when I leave my car somewhere, but there's nothing in my car with my address in it anyway.

I almost forgot it when I left my car at the body shop a few days ago and got a rental. Not that I think anyone from the body shop would drive 30 miles away just to get in my garage that has a rental car in it, but it would have been difficult for me until I get my car back (or buy a new car if they decide to write it off). I emptied my car of everything else - thinking I won't get it back - but somehow I forgot my door opener and didn't remember until the body shop reminded me to check.

" eta I once left the deep freeze door open all night. I have no idea why "

That can also be an expensive mistake. They do sell inexpensive freezer door alarms that will sound if it's open longer than [however long you set it for]. They're probably less than $20 or $25.

We once had a house/dog sitter from the city. When we came home, we saw that she'd 'accidentally' left the security lights on. Well, no. Our neighbor said she'd had them on day and night the whole month. I guess it was a clue that we had been unable to get into the house using the garage remote when we returned because she'd fastened the bolts holding the doors down -- and double locked the garage/house door. Just lucky I had our never-before-used entry door keys in my purse. I'd taken them in the remote possibility that the electricity had gone out. I hadn't even known we HAD garage door bolts.

This is not to say our area is actually in some safe bubble. The police say we're the 'Christmas shopping mall' for city thieves because we're so careless.

We were burgled one evening when DH walked the dog, leaving one garage door open and the garage/house door unlocked. I was in the noisy jet tub while the burglar took all my good jewelry from my closet, steps from the bathroom. We didn't discover anything was missing until the next evening. He/she left nothing out of place.

My parents once went on vacation and left the door from the carport into the house standing open. No storm door, so the house was literally open. I went by several days after they left and discovered it. I peeked in, and it didn't look like anything was amiss. I got the neighbor and he went through the house with a weapon. Everything was fine. Apparently they both thought the other had closed it, and they were in a rush to the airport.

That's scary Chisue!

Every night just before bed, before I lock the door into my house from the garage, I open that door to make sure we haven’t 1) forgotten to close the rollup garage door or 2) left a light on in the garage. It’s a part of my routine.

We’re guilty of leaving our garage door open too often. Not sure how much it factors in, but our garage door faces the backyard and can’t be seen from the front. We also have an electronic gate to the back that’s always closed, but it could be climbed. As mentioned by others, critters are likely more of problem. Still, this reminds me we need to be more careful with the garage.

Kathsgrdn -- Only scary if a weapon had been involved (by him or by me) or if the person intended harm.

Leaving the garage door open at night is pretty common at my house. But, I have a ~1000 ft. drive and the house is in the middle of the woods and can't been seen from the road.

I've had numerous snakes, groundhogs, possums, racoons, skinks, and mice come in over the 24 years we have lived here. Had to chase possums out with a hose sprayer a few times because they were playing possum and wouldn't leave. Seems they don't like to bathe!

LoneJack, my husband used to keep work boots in the garage years ago. One morning he pulled one on thinking there must be something like a tennis ball in the toe of the boot. Nope, a small possum was curled up and all cozy inside.🥴

Toronto Vet, my sister did that with her freezer door once. They were living in US Forest Service housing, freezer was in the basement. It was August and she was 9 months pregnant. Her 4-H group and their mothers, all the neighbors began cooking - the freezer had been full of beef. Pot roasts, spaghetti sauce, meat loafs, many things assembled, cooked then frozen again. Who knew hamburgers could be grilled as could steaks, frozen, thawed and heated in the microwave. While maybe not wonderful, certainly edible with some seasoning. They'd also had a big neighborhood BBQ where she mostly waddled around grateful, doing little of the work.

DH has a sister who is infrequently home. They travel extensively. After all these years, we still go just the few blocks to their house the minute they've left town and check door locks, coffee pot, lights, sometimes the television and the washing machine for wet clothes. Bonus is I check the refrigerator for expensive ingredients that would be past the use by date when they return and help myself 😊

" I've had numerous snakes, groundhogs, possums, racoons, skinks, and mice come in "

In addition to the rats ever present in my neighborhood, we once had a raccoon go in and make quite a mess.

Everyone is different. I prefer to not have such things to deal with. Animal encounters are easily avoided by simply leaving these doors closed.

Re: visiting animals. Recently I filled my outdoors watering can, then couldn't get any water out of the spout to water my pots. Nothing like unscrewing the perforated diverter to investigate, tipping the can, and seeing a tiny nose and whiskers protrude from the spout. I'd drowned a mouse. A few days later...same thing. I'm now leaving the watering can on its side beside the spigot.

because i leave my dog door flap accessible 24/7, the most-asked question i get is "aren't you afraid of critters coming in the house?"

with 2 great danes (one with an exceptionally intense prey drive), most wild critters stay outside the fence for the most part. there have been a few times when frank has brought a possum in the house. thankfully, it's always been during the day/early evening when i just have to pick it up and relocate it outside the back yard fence. i keep a snow scoop on the deck for just such times. so far, he hasn't actually killed a single one, they come back to life as soon as i release them. i never tell frank that, i think it would crush him. 😂