Nothing to Steal

I awoke this morning to discover that I had left the back door unlocked.  All night, all of our belongings were freely available to just anybody – not to mention our sleeping selves!

Now, I don't seriously believe we were in any danger.  I doubt that anyone creeps up to our apartment in the night to test if locks are open.  No one comes near.

But we all do it, don't we – we lock, and double-check, on the slim and far-out chance that someday, someone might be looking for just such an opportunity.

Not too attractive

I'm fortunate to live in a fairly low-crime area, but even so, my husband Jon and I don't have much that would be attractive to a thief.

• Jon's bicycle, maybe – although it's about 15 years old.  He does take good care of it.

• Our TV and Blu-ray player, maybe – although the TV is a few years old and fairly small, and lots of people don't play any type of disc anymore.

• Our laptops, maybe – but they aren't in plain sight, and they're old enough to have little street value.  The contents (which are valuable to us) are saved on thumb drives.*

• Our phones?  They're both about four years old – dinosaurs in the tech world.

• Social Security cards, passports, bank checks, maybe – if they could locate them.

Sure, we have stuff – clothing, kitchenware, books, some art (nothing expensive), furniture.  However, I can't imagine anyone wanting any of it.  And if they need it so badly that they have to steal it, they probably need it more than we do.

Of course, when we're out and about, IDs, debit/credit cards, and whatever cash we have are potentially vulnerable.  And we wear gold wedding rings, and mine has a diamond.  However, if we were accosted, we'd give them up.

We also drive a well-maintained, but basic, Kia sedan.  It's not fancy, and we don't worry about being a target in parking lots or cities.  (Kia also etches the VIN on catalytic converters, and we have a decal displayed.  Stealing that particular part is apparently a thing.)

In fact, if it weren't for personal safely issues, we could just as well leave our doors unlocked.  I'm pretty sure I'd never actually do it on purpose (!), but you probably get the point.

* This blog is supported by readers, not ads.  If you buy through my links, I may earn a small commission.

The freedom of owning less

A few years ago, someone did try to steal Jon's bicycle from our back patio.  I happened to be awake and in the living room when I heard a noise.  I yelled "Hey!" through the closed window with a deep, diaphragm-projected voice, and he ran away.  Really!  It was probably a teenager acting on a dare.  I mean, didn't he notice the light around the edges of the curtains?

I called the police (a small station is just down the street) just to let them know the incident had occurred, in case there happened to be a theft somewhere else in the neighborhood.  Since nothing was actually stolen, and the intruder had fled, they didn't need to send someone over.  I had to laugh when the officer asked if I had security cameras that might have caught an image of the would-be thief's face.  What would I need a fancy security system for?

Of course, I wouldn't want my home ransacked.  I wouldn't want to feel vulnerable to an intruder.  And when my grandsons stay with us, I'm always careful to lock up and put the sawed-off broomstick in the track of their window.  (Window locks work too.)

But when you don't own a lot, there's nothing that invites a thief.  And consider emergency preparedness.  If Jon and I had to evacuate because of fire or flood, we'd grab our purse/wallet, phones, medications, thumb drives, one file box of important papers, and two albums of irreplaceable photos.  That's it... we're out the door.  If it happened in the middle of the night, it might take me longer to put on clothes and shoes than it would to grab those few things!

You know all that stuff we think we need?  The latest and greatest fashions, appliances, electronics, and décor?  The jewelry, china, crystal, and collectibles?  The stuff in ads, stores, magazines, and our friends' homes?  The stuff our parents might have had or longed for?  Well... we don't.

Life is a lot less expensive, less busy, less stressful, and – yes – less tempting to thieves when you don't have a lot of stuff.

Happiness comes from what you do, not what you have, and excess possessions can be anchors.  Consider owning less, and you'll find more freedom.

Related article:  Minimalist Advice to My Younger Self

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