A couple of days ago, our home was broken into. This was a devastating experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone: all my precious sentimental jewelry pieces are gone, along with a significant chunk of cash.
On the brighter side, the burglar didn’t take my laptop, which was left right there on the kitchen table, nor the wallet with my ID and credit cards. I’ve been checking my credit card charges daily, and everything seems OK so far.
Hoping to make some sense of what happened, and possibly extend a bit of useful advice to others, here’s what I learned from this incident.
One, don’t assume you’re safe. Never assume that. I’ve never dealt with a burglar before. It’s a quiet neighborhood. I walked out for exactly one hour between 10 and 11 a.m. They still got into the house.
Two, don’t assume you’d notice someone had been in the house. In retrospect I understood we experienced MULTIPLE break-ins, but I assumed I just misplaced cash until I walked in and smelled cigarettes (no one in our family smokes). Then I saw they cleared out my jewelry box. If I had been more vigilant, I could have protected my jewelry by taking it from its usual place and hiding it as soon as I noticed money disappearing.
Three, the police is useless. Burglars are virtually never caught, and you’ll never see your belongings again. That’s the hard truth.
Four, burglars typically don’t have unlimited time to search your house from top to bottom. They’ll go for the obvious places where people keep valuables and cash. Thanks to this, some of the jewelry and money we had in the house is still here.
So, from now on, (besides changing the locks and preparing to install some extra security stuff) I’ll never keep anything expensive in my jewelry box again. I’ll lower risks by spreading cash and valuable items among several hiding places. You can read some useful tips on where to hide valuables in your home here.
Domestic Felicity 
I am so sorry this happened to you. I have also had my home burglarized and the unsettling feeling you get knowing someone was going through your private stuff is almost as bad as losing the stuff.
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Yes, exactly. Especially as we realized it happened on more than one occasion over a few days and we didn’t know until the burglar made the misstep of leaving cigarette smell and misplaced items behind. I might not have looked into my jewelry box for a few days. We feel so unsafe now.
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I’m so sorry this happened to you! Is it possible it’s someone you know? Especially if things disappeared over time and the thief did not take your laptop or cards, which are more traceable. My mom is to this day convinced that someone broke into her house and stole her jewelry while she was doing yard work. It’s a whole lot more likely that my drug-addict brother stole her few pieces of value (including her wedding ring)
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Thank you. Yes, it’s possible that someone we know, if not the thief themselves (I personally don’t know anyone who gives off such an awful mixed stench of cigarettes and roadkill) worked with the thief. A neighbor who hates us could let someone know the coast is clear.
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Been there, done that. Sometimes I think The Rice Paddy is a training ground for thieves. The first time we were robbed was in 1983, and I firmly believe it was a teen-aged neighbor. This happened when silver was wildly expensive, and “all” they took was my sterling.
We were robbed twice within two weeks in 85 or so. The thieves broke in and stole my jewelry box – I lost everything but my wedding band, and I told the police if that had been taken, they wouldn’t need to be involved. Again, my sterling was taken – half of it the first trip, and the rest the second time around. The took my husband’s computer, but left all of the cords, and the came back for typewriter I was using – took the machine and the bottom half of the case, but left the top half. The worst of it was that they broke into the gun cabinet and stole my husband’s guns – all long guns, no pistols – and used one of them about six weeks later to murder a neighbor. THAT hurt!
We were robbed again – the last time, I hope! – in March of ’22 – when person or person unknown tossed a rock through the window and took my purse off a chair. Obviously, they were looking for my keys, but I never, ever put my keys in my purse. (I used to date a police officer, who gave me that hint. Thank you, Neil!) Of course, losing my purse meant credit cards, driver’s license, family photos, and all that stuff was gone. Replacing the cards and license was easy, but I’ll never get those pictures back.
Sorry for the long, long reply, but I DO understand what you are going through. It takes a while to regain your stability – and your sanity!
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Thank you so much for sharing all this. It really means a lot to hear from others who have experienced this type of safety/privacy violation.
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