Uglify stuff to keep it safe?

[JTA Mom]

I just finished reading this interesting article about ways people protect their prized belongings.

What do you all think of this 'trend'?

What other 'anti-thievery' techniques have you used?

Do you think it works? Would it be more 'frugal' to do this or is the author crazy?

Ami

[greenmamapagan]

Wow, those baggies are crazy!

[JTA Mom]

Originally Posted by greenmamapagan

Wow, those baggies are crazy!

I know! Personally, they would kill my hunger even though I *know* it's not real mold.

Ami

[Novella]

I think it's a sad, but useful, trend.

• Currently have a friend building a lovely bicycle with a primo vintage frame. The bike is being painted and decked out to look like a "sleeper".
• About 20 years ago, my mother's friend needed to write her son's name on the backs of his ski mitts in large block letters with permanent marker, just so they wouldn't get stolen at school.

I haven't yet employed the strategy, but it's certainly crossed my mind and I wouldn't hesitate if I lived in a high-theft area.

[Ruthiegirl]

I remember lots of friends doing that to their bikes. And I wish I had done it to my bike that was stolen.

Sad that we have to go to such lengths, but it does work.

[Happiestever]

Those are definitely some ugly things. I have bumper stickers on my van, so I guess it is uglified as well.

[Purple Sage]

Interesting! I should try to get dh to do that to his bike.

[Lizafava]

Does keeping your car dirty and cuttered count? I live in one of the highest auto theft and auto break-in areas in the country and no one has bothered with my filthy car. Having a stick shift really helps too.

[velochic]

Interesting. Probably the most expensive thing we have in our house is one of my bikes. I know, from experience, that most people don't know a good bike when they see one, except other cyclists (and they would realize it's custom and only would fit me, so they'd leave it alone). Other than that, though, according to the guy who did our alarm system, we "don't have anything worth stealing." Our TV is a 19" regular, old analog TV and my laptop is 6 years old. They work, though. We have no gaming system, IPODs, or, well, anything worth stealing.

Perhaps instead of buying the latest and greatest and then destroying the appearance of them, people should just use what they have until it dies and quit filling up the landfills.

[JTA Mom]

Originally Posted by Lizafava

Does keeping your car dirty and cuttered count? I live in one of the highest auto theft and auto break-in areas in the country and no one has bothered with my filthy car. Having a stick shift really helps too.

Maybe. I know our car is littered with baby clothes, diapers (clean!), etc. I've heard that car thieves are less likely to carjack a car that has a infant seat in it. Maybe not less likely to steal stuff out of it, but maybe they feel bad for stranding a baby? No idea. I also do NOT leave valuables in the car. It's a newer car (2007) BUT it's the base line of an sub-compact car--not much worth stealing there.

Originally Posted by velochic

Perhaps instead of buying the latest and greatest and then destroying the appearance of them, people should just use what they have until it dies and quit filling up the landfills.

I don't think it's necessarily a latest or greatest thing. It just needs to be a higher priced commodity. Your 6yo laptop would fit the bill, believe it or not. I once had a friend see someone steal her bike out of the classroom window (college). Her bike was nothing special, but it was clean and polished. Looks nice=good resale value. I've had people swipe my 2 year old cell phone with no camera and barely some color in the window. Yea, when I switched my number onto a different phone (had a camera) the #$*%*# mother called me and wondered who I was.

Still miss that phone too. Gave me much fewer headaches than the new one I have. Which is currently dinged up. Seems like the quality of the parts went down too, because my other phone wasn't this messed up.

Ami

[Leta]

I think this is a brilliant idea. Especially with the camera. I mean, you go on vacation, you want a camera. Stuff gets stolen on vacation, especially from touristy areas. I don't give a rat's patoot what my camera looks like, I care about what my pictures look like.

Then again, I am not an early adopter. I think only adult humans are "sexy", I have never used that word about cars or electronics.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by Lizafava

Does keeping your car dirty and cuttered count? I live in one of the highest auto theft and auto break-in areas in the country and no one has bothered with my filthy car. Having a stick shift really helps too.

When I spent 6 months living in the worst part of the city (were talking drug dealers hanging out on your porch and the police flying around your complex with choppers 3-4 times a week and the police showing up to the complex on a near daily basis) I purposely kept my car FILTHY, totally covered in dirt so it looked like an old beater, I kept the windows just clean enough to not get a ticket and kept shades up all around so you couldn't see into the car but it looked like I was just trying to keep it cool inside. It never got messed with even though other peoples cars did. Now I really do have an old beater, I miss my nice car and the stick, automatics have no power Next car I buy will be a manual one again

[josybear]

i like in the 'hood and many of my friends do this on a large scale. the outsides of their houses look like crap. tarpaper, broken siding, nasty old stucco, rotting fences, all that, but then inside everything is fixed up beautifully. even though we live in an extremely high crime area none of my friends has ever had a house broken into. the people who fix up their exteriors become targets, but not the people whose houses' interiors don't match the exteriors.

[Satori]

double post

[Poddi]

Seems like a good idea, though we don't really need to "implement" this idea. Our car is always dirty and the inside is littered with garbage. Our house is old and ratty on the outside and filled with junk inside with almost no furniture. We're still sitting on a couch that's 20 years old and you can fall right through it if you sit on the wrong spot. We live in them quite happily. None of us have the urge to keep things clean and neat. Before Halloween I told DH to pack away anything valuable from the living room. He looked around and put away some Pokemon cards.

[RooRooDog]

You know, I've always wondered if I were to really "uglify" the outside of my house, would my property taxes go down?

[bigteamug]

i have heard of people back east not maintaining the outside of their houses to dodge property taxes. not sure if that works - and honestly, our property taxes here aren't awful and support things that I feel are important.

i would be very careful on what things i let slide and what i didn't - letting siding go can can cause issues with water entry, chipping paint may create a lead hazard. Not washing a car can cause issues with rust.

I guess I prefer the "buy a nice bike and paint it black" method. Good bones, but not fancy.

[HeatherAtHome]

Originally Posted by RooRooDog

You know, I've always wondered if I were to really "uglify" the outside of my house, would my property taxes go down?

Don't they do an inspection every now and then? Or is that only when you have a building permit and they come to inspect it when you're done?

We don't have a lot of nice stuff and if I did have something remotely nice, I wouldn't leave it out in open sight. Obviously, a house, car or bike might be hard to hide but there's no reason to leave electronics, your purse etc out where people can take them. If you have to leave something in a car, cover it with a sweater, empty grocery bag etc. In your house, don't place the ginormous bigscreen in front of the window where everyone walking by can see it. That type of thing.

We actually had a neigbour (in apartment block) complain that someone stole a bunch of stuff from his car including some fancy sports equipment. He did have a junk car, but he left the stuff laying right out on the back seat with the DOORS UNLOCKED. Boo hoo. Lock your doors next time buddy!