This one is kind of up my alley. My dad owns a security company installing systems in banks. I recently put one in my own home. I definitely would recommend it if not for the peace of mind then to take advantage of the discount on your homeowners insurance. As for the cost of the monitoring, I also opted out of that and instead put in sirens. Sounds silly right? These sirens can be heard for at least 3 city blocks. If that doesn't scare any intruders off than nothing will. Any company should be able to install these with your system and are not an odd request at all. If they tell you otherwise find a different company. Also a word to the wise, those advertisements you see on tv are for the keypad and one door, not near what you will want. Make sure you hunt for a deal as these people will mark things up at least 300%, no joke. FYI the company pays $150 for a complete system (keypad and control panel) and around $5 a door contact.

We have a security system right now and I have mixed feelings. The neighborhood we currently live in is not the best so having the alarm does make me feel safer BUT if ya do get one make sure ya read the contract, look for fine print and get EVERYTHING in writing. If all goes well, my hubby should be getting a new job soon, we'll be moving to a town where it's A LOT safer, really won't need the alarm but we are signed up for a 3 year contract and in order to stop using alarm we would have to pay that contract off! OUCH!

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Jana
Happily married to John - 7 years May 19th
One Happy mama bear to step daughter Amanda (15) and LeAnne Kimberly born Oct 11th 2007

Well my second floor windows are typically locked as well...LOL. So it's not really an issue for me. Also our house is not 'scale-able'. I've seen that episode to catch a thief as well. As I said though, I think if someone wants to get in, they will.

Dogs aren't foolproof either. My sister has two enormous, very protective dogs, who didn't notice when someone, in the middle of the day, cut the screen on her first floor window, climbed in, took her purse off her dining room table and left. Probably took 30 seconds.

My Dh travels a lot but I don't feel unsafe without him. I don't know how much help he'd be actually, he sleeps like the dead! I'm the one that hears things etc One time at our old house, some guy was stumbling around our yard and I called the police. They came out and the guy was SLEEPING in Dh's car (of course he left it unlocked!). Apparently he was some poor lost soul from a local university. It was Homecoming and he was still totally tanked at 7AM in the morning.

I live in a major city but in a nice neighboorhood so I wasn't sure I wanted one. However after my BIL's house 15 min up the street got broken into I opted to get one. The best thing is the security and the fact that our insurance is down so it is really a wash for us. We have the sirens and the alarm company monitoring, they go off at the same time. I don't think the sirens really matter much because they went off and my nieghbor who is very close didn't even hear them. It was late at night but still. We do have all of our windows locked and they are all monitored as well as the doors. We only have one key pad but that is because of the design of our house we didn't really need one. We also have a way to send a silent alarm that if someone follows us in it looks like I turned it off. They send the cops without calling us. That was important to me because I am home alot of the time with the kids without my DH.

All in all you are going to have to feel comfortable with what you choose. As I said I wasn't to sure about it but when I did it I felt great. If you look hard enough you can find it as cheap as $20 a month, we did. Good luck with your decision.

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We have two 60kg+ dogs in our yard, burgaler bars on our windows and have a six foot fence all around us.
Our dogs sleep outside - and although they are the biggest pansy's ( they are currently hiding under the kitchen table as it is raining outside), nobody knows that as they look pretty scarry to a stranger.

Between the lights outside that show the whole garden, our big scary dogs the best thing we have are neighbors.

Our street knows each other by name, every one has a contact number for each other and with two older couples and an insomiac on the block there are always eye's watching. Which is nice as they are normally the ones to see anything strange and phone you to let you know.

i think the most important factor is you sense of safety.. if its gonna make you feel safer than you just might want to get one...also where you live does make a huge difference.. i'm of the belief if they want in bad enough they are gonna get in.. though i do have a doberman pincher that freaks everyone out with her fearce barking(you can't just walk into my home she will stop you at the door) once i give her the ok command she is a big pussy cat and just wants loves.. i got her when dh worked nights as company for me not becuase i was scared though i do like the fact she is trained not to let anyone in my inlaws have to call when they hit the driveway so i can release her when they come in.. so i believe its all about the sense of security and for everyone that is different.

I live in a very safe small town and have only the barest security. We lock our doors at night when we go to bed and that is it. We do have a big dog, but I agree that knowing your neighbors is so important! It DOES take a village and if we all look out for each other we will not feel so isolated and cut off.

We never lock our doors, even at night. Never have. Sometimes if we are going away for a while on vacation we might lock up--mostly because of my son coming in and making himself at home and to everything. But I have lived in this area all my life and feel really safe.

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I would like to get a security system but right now that will not happen as we rent our house. My dh is gone 40% of the time out of town. So with just me and the kids, it would be nice to have one. I do have an older couple next door that I can go to for anything, but if someone were to break in, it's not like I would have time to run and get them. I did have some stranger ( I think that he was drunk or on something) this summer that knocked on my door, I peeked out and did not recognize them, so I was not going to answer the door. Than he opened the screen door and was checking to see if my main door was locked! Thank goodness I always have it locked twice-lock on the door knob and dead bolt. There is a window close to the door so I opened it really quiet like and ver loudly and anger yelled "What the F*** are you doing??!!!!" I think I almost scared the pee out of him, I told him he needed to leave since I just called the cops (I really didnt) and they were on their way. He couldnt get out of there quick enough. Once I knew that he was gone, I went over to my nieghbors and told them what had happened. Ever since than, my neighbors are really good about checking on us and I watch their place when they are gone, etc.
On a funny note, my grandma lives alone and is always scared about someone breaking in. She has a 10 ft. iron fence around her backyard and double dead bolts on every door. Plus super locks on all the windows too. But she didnt think that was enough so instead of buying a security system, she just bought the stickers that you put on the windows. Than she somehow got a hold of some sensor thing that if anyone comes up to the house a recording comes on. It is a recording of like a german shepard just barking and growling up a storm like he are gonna ripe your legs off. So when we go over there we call her from the car and tell her to shut fido off so we can come in.

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Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate.
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Thank you everybody for your words of wisdom!!! I have a couple different companies coming this next week so we will see how it goes! I would love to find a monitoring company that only charges $20 a month....wish me luck!