Locking your doors behind you is a smart habit to get into since it creates an important barrier against criminals of all types.

What would you do if you lived with three other women, but they rarely lock the door themselves, even though there has been a break-in to the apartment and other crime in the area?

That is what the woman in this story is dealing with, and no matter how much she tries to beg them to lock the door, they keep forgetting, and she doesn’t know how to fix it.

Getting a self-locking door is the best bet, though that isn’t always possible. Read through the full story below and see if you have any suggestions.

Does anyone else’s roomates forget to lock the door?

I have 3 roommates. We are all women.

Why would they leave the door unlocked like this?

Our apartment was robbed just a couple months ago. Someone hopped onto our balcony and stole one of my roommate’s scooter. There is a lot of crime that happens in this area.

There are always break-ins. We have a big sign on the door in red that reminds us to lock the door. AND STILL! THE DOOR IS ROUTINELY UNLOCKED!!!! AND IT MAKES ME FEEL UNSAFE!

Honestly, how they grew up is not really relevant to this issue.

It just makes me wonder where these people grew up. Did they grow up in a neighborhood where you could leave the door unlocked and have the kids playing in the front yard or something?

Where does this carelessness come from? And also, does the fact that we’re women not play into this at all? During my childhood, I was given a bunch of safety lessons all the time, and constantly was told about how unsafe the world can be, and I know a lot of my girlfriends had the same experience growing up.

Whatever they think, they need to start locking the door.

In my perspective, men my age have been a bit more careless with keeping their doors locked and windows closed, but its probably because they tend to feel more safe from things like burglaries.

Maybe this is just my observations with the people in my circle, but I assume women are socialized to be more precarious about these things. So, it is making me scratch my head. Do my roommates think they’re invincible or something?

If everyone agreed to lock the door, then the door should always be locked.

I also don’t think there’s a charitable explanation for not locking the door. If there is crime routinely happening in the area, you are putting your roommates in danger if you don’t lock the door.

Yeah, forgetting happens. But IDK. I have ADHD, which is the disorder that causes this forgetful behavior, and I still don’t let myself forget this important step.

She is overthinking this. Their reasons don’t matter.

I create accommodations for myself by keeping my keys in a visible place by the door. I still lose them sometimes, but I take time to find them and never forget to lock the door.

Even if I’m just going to throw the trash out. My roommates do not have ADHD either. I stopped storing expensive stuff in the common areas because someone could just walk into my apartment and steal stuff.

There need to be consequences for not following the apartment rules.

We send reminder texts in the group chat whenever we notice its unlocked, but I think that one of my roommates thinks we are overreacting or something.

Do you guys have any advice for this other than just me going to check if the door is locked every morning and night?

This is unfortunate, as a self-locking door would be the obvious solution.

That would be bad for my mental health as it would quickly devolve into a compulsive behavior because unfortunately my brain likes punishing me.

We can’t change the doorknobs or install any type of self locking thing to the door – I already checked my lease ;-;

She should really check with the landlord and see if he would install a self-locking door if she paid for it. It would be a free upgrade on his side, so he might do it. If not, there is little that she can actually do about this situation, unfortunately.

Read through the comments below to see what other people have to recommend.

This commenter never locks their door.

Honestly, this might work. Hit them in the wallet.

Become more annoying than it would be to just lock the door.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who wants peace and quiet by the pool, but finds guests and loud music instead.

This person thinks she needs to push for a self-locking door.

She needs to really push on them to get those doors to stay locked. Even if it means complaining to the landlord.