A couple of strange things have turned up missing/out of place the last few nights. Until I figure it out, does anyone know of a way to improvise a bedroom door alarm? I don’t have time to order one or go out and get one tonight.
Along those lines, anyone experienced with sleepwalking here?
Balance an empty tin can or two on the doorknob.
Good idea…it could also be possible that my husband is the one sleepwalking. In any case, this would cover us both.
Any additional ideas would be appreciated
Surveillance camera.
Wedge a paint stir stick between the top of the door an the frame. Balance a can on the other end of the stick. If the can hitting the floor doesn’t make enough racket, the perp yelling because it landed on their toe will.
Another great suggestion!
I assume by “strange” things - you don’t mean money or something like that, but if not and you suspect at all it might be someone from outside the room (kids or guests) - you can UV powder off amazon as well as a light that will fluoresce and show it. I think you can probable get both and eye protection for like less than $20-$30.
But it sounds like more fun to come up with ways to possibly (and just slightly)'injure her husband if he is the one sleep walking.
I’m curious as to how sleep walking works. There have been occasions where I’ve sworn that I’ve set an alarm (and more than one) - and then wake up with the alarm being turned off - and no memory - or even vague memory - of having done so.
Usually this is on occasions with very little sleep.
I’m wondering if the same is possible with a sleep walking contraption (they have enough awareness to disable the alarm).
Eta: oh and I realize you need something now and I don’t mean alarm in the same way you do - I like the can falling suggestions so far 
You can also sprinkle talcum/baby powder lightly on the floor, in spots suspected of nighttime visiting. It’s benign so any tracked on feet isn’t a big deal and you can vacuum it back up.
Put a small bucket of water over the door; that’s been known to wake people up.
The incident last night really has me bewildered. I made chili for dinner, ate a good sized bowl, then put the leftovers in a bowl in the fridge. I KNOW I didn’t eat it all…it was 1/2 lb of beef, a can of beans and a can of tomatoes. My husband doesn’t eat beef, so I’m pretty sure he didn’t eat it. Where is the chili? Where is the bowl?
Check the freezer and the cabinets near the fridge. And the dishwasher.
It’s far more likely you put the leftovers “someplace” nearby while totally not paying attention than you’re sleepwalking or that the Mad Chili Bandit has visited your house.
The night before I woke up to find that the WiFi was turned off on my phone. You have to deliberately go into the settings to turn off the Wifi, and I don’t remember doing that.
Neither one of you is on ambien by any chance?
After an embarrassing sleepwalking incident in a hotel several years ago, and only with resources inside the room available to me, I blocked the door with a chair and tied a towel to the security chain in the hopes that figuring out the puzzle would wake me up.
Assuming I didn’t reassemble the puzzle while sleepwalking, it seemed to do the trick.
use a bed alarm from a nursing home
Is anyone in the house using any sleeping aids?
Seriously - Am bien is rather well known for causing this kind of behavior, possibly others are as well. (and I deliberately put a space there because otherwise this causes email notifications to go to my spam folder, even when coming from a known address such as SDMB).
Another vote for ‘sounds exactly like Ambien’ (which I no longer use for exactly this reason).
I also ran into it with triazolam (which I now have on my medical record as an ‘allergy’ to make sure I’m not fed it).
I was waking up and thinking ‘now to go and do X’ (I was working on the house) - only to find X was already done.
Either I was doing some serious sleepwalking or the shoemaker’s elves had found a new gig.
No, no Ambien… hate that stuff!
Have you had a sleep test?
My sleep disorder (aside from lifelong insomnia) was sleeping for 14 hours.
Turned out I was sleeping that long to get through my dreams - I had COPD - now on a CPAP and waking after 7-8 hours and feeling much more rested.
Sleepwalking is dangerous - the drugs are the usual sus[ect, but something is likely wrong.
I don’t know your access to healthcare, but, if possible, get to a sleep lab. Your PCP will probably need to refer you if you want the insurance to pick it up - they don’t like self-referrals.
To hear when my kid left his bedroom at night, I leaned a couple of toy golf clubs against the door. They clattered when they hit the floor.