'Hank' has been opening the door to danger



Dear Annie: For the third time in 12 years, my husband has opened the door to a complete stranger after 11 p.m., when all the lights in our house were out because we were in bed.
After it happened the second time, "Hank" promised me he would never do it again. However, last night, I was awakened by the dog barking, only to find Hank talking to a stranger at the door. When I questioned him about the wisdom of unlocking the door at that hour, Hank insisted he "could take the guy" and that we were never in any danger.
I love my husband, and yet, if he continues doing this, I fear one night I will wake up with a knife in my chest and be unable to help our two young children. Hank insists I am overreacting, although he refuses to ask anyone else's opinion about how safe it is to open the door to complete strangers after all the lights are out.
How do I handle this for the sake of myself and my children? I don't feel safe when I'm asleep. Wide Awake in Keeseville, N.Y.
Dear Wide Awake: Three times in 12 years isn't often, but one time is enough for a tragedy to happen. Your husband is foolish to believe his family is safe because he could "take the guy." If "the guy" has a weapon, Hank is likely to lose.
It strikes us as odd that strangers knock on your door at night, and you might want to investigate why. Meanwhile, if Hank can't be bothered to use the peephole and chain lock, insist on installing an intercom that will allow Hank to speak to late-night visitors without opening the door and/or a motion detector that will turn on an outside light when someone approaches. Also, ask him to wake you when he goes to see who's knocking, so you can stand behind him with the phone and a baseball bat.
Dear Annie: You printed a letter from "Cannot Live This Way Much Longer," whose wife was a packrat, keeping everything, including old baby clothes that she will never use again. That letter could have been written by my brother. His wife hoards old toilet paper tubes, broken toys, old shoes, tennis ball cans, paper, dried-up markers, you name it. When they retiled the floor, she saved the old linoleum.
Their basement became so cluttered that it was becoming a fire hazard. Whenever my brother asked her to throw stuff away, my sister-in-law would vehemently protest, saying she was saving this junk for the kids' school projects.
Here's how we deal with the problem: Every three months, my brother and I raid her "treasure trove." We wait until she and the kids are out of the house, then we stuff everything into garbage bags and drive it to the nearest recycling depot. After each raid, my nutty sister-in-law doesn't even notice her precious things are gone. The Garbage Thief
Dear Garbage Thief: We're glad this system is working for you, although not everyone has a sibling willing to help clean the house four times a year. Here's one more on the subject:
Dear Annie: Your advice to "Cannot Live This Way" to seek help was good, but I wish you hadn't also suggested moving some of her collection to a storage facility.
I have been married to my wife for over 40 years, and I have the same problem. She has gone for help in the past but never sticks with it, because she can't believe anything is wrong. My wife uses at least five storage buildings on two sides of the state. She hasn't visited them in over 20 years, but she dutifully pays the monthly rental fees, which now have amounted to tens of thousands of dollars. Meanwhile, our house is full of newly accumulated stuff, and it just goes on and on. The sad part is, most of this stuff is garbage. Bummed in the South
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