But it left me with the huge inconvenience of making a police report, filing insurance claims, having the car repaired and replacing the stolen items.
But the material possessions stolen during these crimes mattered less to me than the feelings of intrusion, violation, anger, sadness, and probably the most destructive - fear - that resulted.
Fear can paralyse and it is not something people can recover quickly from.
Fear can linger long after the crime is committed - from being uncomfortable being home alone, to obsessively checking locks on doors and windows before going out.
Not knowing if you will be targeted again - especially if your belongings have been replaced using insurance payouts - can also be crippling.
All burglaries are terrible but it takes a special kind of lowlife to steal from a charity.
It was reported this week that Waipuna Hospice shop in Mount Maunganui was broken into and the thieves took thousands of dollars worth of stock and trashed the place.
The offenders caused extensive damage trying to find valuable items.
Store manager Heather Burns says: "Everything was in disarray on the floor. Things had been pulled out everywhere, that was the shock. When I got in there and saw everything on the floor I thought 'uh oh, this is serious'.
"We feel personally affected, but technically these sort of people are affecting the whole community. As the population grows, the need for a place like the hospice grows as well."
She says the charity shop operates on "a lot of goodwill" from the community and some customers have felt "disgusted" about the burglary.
People should be disgusted.
Hospices provide a vital service to their communities - often on a tight budget.
Charity shops that support these services rely on volunteers and they are often older, retired people just trying to do their bit for the community.
They, donors and the patients themselves don't deserve this kind of treatment and it is sickening to think some people don't have qualms about stealing from vulnerable people.
It seems the trend of pinching other people's stuff is on the rise.
According to the New Zealand Police crime snapshot website, property crimes reported in Tauranga, including burglaries and thefts, rose from 6077 in 2020 to 7020 last year.
For the same period in Rotorua, there were 5174 reported property crimes last year, a slight rise from 5003 reported the year before.
These trends are worrying and I believe penalties for burglaries and thefts need reviewing. Are they appropriate for 2022?
The reasons people commit such crimes are complicated and throwing people in jail may not always be the answer.
But a message needs to be clearly sent that this type of behaviour will not be tolerated.
