Do you keep your house lit in the dark?

Sheepster

Something I once read is that if you only leave a hall light on, this is a green light to burglars that you are out. The idea is, that no-one ever sits in their house with only the hall light on, and it's also extremely convenient when coming home to have it on - all signs you're out.

Best deterrent is of course a dog. Even if it's a chihuahua (yuk), the noise is a deterrent as most burglars just want to get in and out asap without a fuss

Ben84

Houses with only the hallway light on are blatantly empty. I've always made this association and was pretty incredulous to learn people leave their houses like this to give the impression someone is still at home. After all, what would you be doing hanging out in the hallway all evening? If you're trying to be realistic draw the sitting room curtains and turn the light in there on, or an upstairs bedroom.

pinkteapot

Do you want burglars to think someone is home, or do you want them put off if/when they try to break in?

Leaving lights on solves the first issue. Security lights aim to solve the second. Question is, what burglar would be put off if they approached a house and a security light came on? Better option for this side of things might be a burglar alarm. Our neighbour always comes out if our alarm goes off...

If we go out for an evening we tend to leave the lounge light on, as it's where we are most evenings and so the light that is most commonly on. We do go to bed around 9-9:30 though and turn all the lights off then.

27col

I'll go with leaving the radio on. I once spent nearly an hour trying to get the wife to open the door. I was absolutely sure that she was in because I could hear the radio. It turned out that she was up the road baby sitting.

karl-123

neon lights
and rechargeable batterys cost £1 in the pound shop

KateLiana27

Thanks everyone.

To answer some of the questions: we aren't trying to convince the burglars that there's someone in - just want a basic deterrent. When our hall light is on, our porch and the whole front of the house is lit up rather than in pitch darkness (as our front doors have large glass panels) - which I thought might make a burglar more reluctant to attempt a break-in as they would be clearly visible (same principle as security lights - but without the cost of installing them). But it's a good point that a burglar might think the house is empty if only the hall light is on.

We don't have the sort of house that someone would stalk and check lights going on and off to attempt a break-in (not desirable enough for that!). If we were to be burgled, I imagine it would be an opportunistic smash-and-grab job. We do have a burglar alarm, with a nice flashing alarm box outside. Do you think that's deterrent enough?