u/BobsOwn_

I bought a house with manual front gates. I've been in the habit of closing them at night for a bit of extra mental security, though anyone can open them or climb them.

It then dawned on me that when I go away on holiday, it'll be a clear tell the house is empty if the gates are shut day and night for two weeks.

Should I just leave them open almost permanently? Am I over thinking it? Though surely a shut gate and shut curtains will clearly tell anyone the house is empty.

My ring doorbell gets a low WiFi signal so the video quality is degraded to the point of being unusable.

I'm debating moving to Blink mostly as it offers local offline storage with the Sync Module 2, which is preferable to the Amazon subscription. My thought was to get two 2K external cameras and go back to a dumb doorbell.

However, I guess my concerns are, how long does it really last on two AA batteries? Will that cost quickly out weigh the subscription equivalent of Ring?

Are there any other problems I should know about with these devices? My main use case is for a visual deterrent and recording footage if needed. Perhaps motion alerts if I don't get too many false positives.

I always wondered this. It's useful to have motion detection alerts, but when you're away from home, what can you do? 9/10 it's obviously a false flag as you can see, but on the off chance it isn't, what can you do? The adverts always show someone shouting out the doorbell at the person and them being "scared off" but that seems unrealistic.

Has anyone ever had it prove useful short of genuine scenarios where you talk to a delivery driver or a lost neighbour?

I recently had a potential person looking to break into my home, so I decided to finally get a ring doorbell.

So far it's been a mixed bag, between it somehow not registering the postman putting mail in my letter box, to the footage being so grainy you can't make out the numberplate of a stationary car in the drive.

I also find the content motion notifications almost worse for my anxiety as everyone my phone pings, I panic.

Has anyone found them useful as a visual deterrent to potential thieves/parcel thieves? I can turn off the motion alerts to save my mind and review it later if there's ever an issue, but I am just wondering if it's useful as a deterrent or if should return it and invest in an outdoor security camera from ring or someone else. (Provided the camera is somewhere visible to deter people)

The ability to answer the door remotely is also admittedly low on my requirement list in hindsight. It was a bit of a late night panic buy.

So I guess the tldr, is a ring camera a good deterrent and useful despite the low image quality, or should I invest in a different external camera?

I've always kept my spare keys in the key safe in case I lock myself out. But I now find myself paranoid it's an easy target for thieves or can invalidate your insurance if it's used to gain entry to your property (I had no idea on this)

I'm tempted to remove it due to the above, but I'm intrigued to know if I am over reacting? I debated hiding it in the back garden so I'd have to climb a gate if I locked myself out, but not sure that's as wise an idea!

Bit of a weird and long one. For context I am a 38 year old Male.

I moved out from my parents home four years ago, but still live nearby and see them everyday. During that time, I've lost jobs, changed careers and while I can pay the bills, it's a constant stress and worry for me if I lose my job in the future.

During this time my mental health has plummeted as a result and I find myself lacking confidence, quick to have panic attacks, anxiety and fearing the worst. It's just built up and I feel trapped as I can't support myself nor quit a job to take time off to recover due to the overhead of bills and a mortgage. (Recent prospects of a break in has me terrified, crying and wanting to run to something familiar and safe)

I find myself trapped indoors, scared to go out. When I do go out, my parents support me and go with me, so much so I am seeing them on a daily basis.

I find myself so scared and unable to support myself, I feel like I should move back in with them for the moral support and help with my mental health, but at the same time, it feels like I'll be running away from my problems and the achievements I've made so far, however small.

Tl;Dr I moved out four years ago, during that time my mental health and wellbeing plummeted. Should I move back in to restore my wellbeing?

Just had a pushy guy come knock on my door and shouting hello as the windows were open. I wasn't expecting anyone so figured it was a pushy builder wanting to fix a gutter, so just ignored it. He went away, but then came back 20 minutes later.

I answered and the first thing he said was that "this place has changed hands" and "he did the flat roof for the old guy who used to live here"

I just confirmed that and he left, saying he'd put a leaflet through the door - but he just got into his expensive car and left.

It's got me a bit shaken up, mostly as he seemed pushy earlier but the fact he didn't put any leaflets though the door makes me wonder. The fact he didn't try to upsell anything seems like he might be genuine? But I am surprised he didn't offer his services or anything...

I've been here for about six years now and the roof of the previous owners was probably done about thirty years ago. Seems odd he remembered to revisit after all this time.

I just being paranoid, or should I be concerned? Not even sure what to do next now, other than be vigilant when I'm home. But the house is often empty during the day....

Replanted my house plants today into fresh multipurpose compost I bought from a supermarket.

In hindsight, I'm wondering if I should have mixed the compost with dirt from my front garden? I don't have any perlite or additives, will the pure compost be okay, or is it likely to cause issues? Should I take them all out and start again?