Not too long ago I was lecturing suggesting to a friend that she secret a key to her house somewhere outside giving her the ability to enter the house should she lock her keys in or lose them. It happens. She'd told me about a pesky gate to the side that, if it happened to blow shut and she was on the outside (street side) of it she'd be locked out should she not have her keys; a problematic situation.
In the course of the lecture conversation I made suggestions on methods she could securely hide keys outside, ensure they were not found by anyone and kept safe from the elements. It's a very simple thing.
She asked me, "so G-dog, how do you secure your spare set of keys outside of your house?"
This is a very good question and I applaud her for seeking information from a very prepared man who has spent many years making sure every aspect has been covered. I thought about the question for a while trying to come up with a suitable answer but...I decided to tell the truth. (This part is embarrassing.)
"I don't have one," was my eventual answer. I know, utterly pathetic!
It occurred to me the moment she asked the question that in the almost eighteen months since moving into this house I had failed to arrange an emergency key outside in the advent of, well, an emergency!
Now I just feel dumb
Her reaction was a lecture in return laughter, as should be expected; it seems my dumbassery knows no bounds! She gave me what I deserved and I owned my oversight and embarrassment.
In further discussion I also admitted to the fact I don't actually ever carry my house keys with me. I have automatic roller doors on my garages and the garages have house access so I click the button, drive my cars in and close the garage door then simply walk into my house from there; no keys required. Do you see the problem though? What if there's no power? Because I have no keys to open the actual front door I'd be stranded. Dumbass!
I've rectified the issue by placing a key outside of my house so I'm back on the straight and narrow despite feeling rather stupid. I'm yet to check with my friend if she's done the same however I hope she has. She's smart so I'd say she did it immediately.
Do you have a key hidden in some cunning manner outside of your house in the advent of being locked out or losing your keys? Don't give away and secrets, but if you want to share please let me know what your lost-key-locked-out-of-the-house-risk-mitigation-protocol is.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
Any image(s) in this post are my own
Not your keys, not your house. Sorry bro'
Don't be sorry, I'm not a criminal so wouldn't want to enter someone else's house without an invite. Even with an invite I can rarely be bothered.
In Norway we trust our friends and neighbors we don't need to hide a key around. It is a very loyal and honest society. We are glad about that. only the problem of losing a key in wintertime under a snow pile someone has to wait until the snow melts. How long??
It must be good to live in Norway with trustworthy people around. My brother lives in Finland and I don't think it's like that there. I'm sure there's isolated cases of course, like there is here, but generally humans are untrustworthy around the world I think.
I have a keyless entry, but, learned when I lost power that it could be a fail. I also have the remote doors to the garage which have battery backup, but, I don't trust that.
So yes, I do have one that is well hidden outside, plus a neighbor where we swapped keys. We feed each other cats when one of us is away. It works well.
It is very true though. Many people just don't think anything will ever go wrong and maybe it won't...
I've wanted to put a battery backup on my garage doors but never got around to it. Maybe next weekend. 😏
I don't have someone who I'd trust with a key, not close enough to make a difference if I lost my keys anyway. So, I've rectified my key situation in an innovative and secure way and should the power go out, or I lose my keys, I'll still be able to get in.
Mazel Tov! That is the important thing! Being able to get in. Hopefully, I will never need it, but, if I do, I think I have it covered. No... I have it covered. I am pretty fortunate in that we have never (knock on wood) had any break-ins or any vandalism here. I left the garage door open with all of the tools, saws, etc out on display for three days while I was at the shore house and came back to the doors open wide! I opened the door with the remote (hey! whatsa behind me, I donta care!) Oh, my! it totally freaked me out, but, guess what? Not a thing was touched.
Never happened again. For sure.
I grew up in an area where we locked nothing, ever. These days...Nah, everything is locked. It's sad really.
It sounds like I'd like your suburb; sounds safe and a nice neighbourhood. (Neighborhood, for you Americans.) 😊
Oh don't worry I sometimes read pretty good Aussie. I think it's amazing especially living right outside of Washington DC. But we do feel fortunate and there are many neighborhoods like this in the US, especially small towns but sometimes larger ones too. My family lives all over the US and nobody has any issues with their neighborhood which like you say is pretty awesome. My house out on the shore is even better because nobody out there locks anything.
I'd like that. There's places like that here of course, and I don't live in a bad neighbourhood myself, but I still lock things up. I guess it's just habit now.
You don't have to live in a bad neighborhood to have petty crimes. You know how bored kids act. :) Bad neighborhoods protect each other. I was in the habit of locking up, so I still do. Of course, the people on the shore think I am crazy, but, the people on this side understand it. I always err on the side of caution. I have nothing to lose by that.
It's a good habit, for sure.
Here in my country Venezuela in South America @galenkp you can't leave your keys anywhere outside the house there is too much insecurity, the only way is that if you go out for a weekend, or for many days away from home you have the option of plan B: a close friend or relative.
I can understand how difficult it would be there, and in other places. With financial pressure here, crime is on the rise (I think around the world also) so it won't be long before other countries catch up with your situation.
A trusted friend or relative is a good secondary option.
It is very difficult in all aspects of our economic and financial life quality has deteriorated a lot, but like me there are still people with a lot of strength and faith in our hearts to move forward in spite of...
Thank you for your words that yes it can be done!
And that if for the plan B of a trusted friend or family member that really is so as not to suffer disappointments later ... happy day to you next to Cleo, here in my country night falls and are 6:15 pm
Here in Africa secreting keys anywhere is not an option. Sadly, locking houses, doesn't seem much of a deterrent either. We are very blessed to live in one of the safest parts of the country. But I know many who have internal gates and sleep armed....such a terrible existence
Yeah, one needs to be mindful of undesirables finding hidden keys. There's loads of them too, unfortunately.
Well, I use to strategically hide my key outside my house but someone figured it out when we were out for hours and it resulted in our house being robbed so for now, I just try to put my key in my wallet or bag always and hope I never forget it.
Hopefully you don't forget it.
Hopefully!!
😂😂😂 it's funny when we realize we haven't actualized the advices we give others.
Good thing she asked the question, now you've learnt and we've all learnt..
There's a little space outside my house..it isn't visible enough..but it's quite noticeable, no one would expect a key to be hidden there.. hehe
It's smart to have a safe location for an emergency key, good to hear you have it sorted.
Yeah sure...good to see you're working on getting yours sorted too..
Have a great day ❤️
I have two! Because my front is open to the world I have a key to my garage secreted there. Then from the garage you can gain access to the back which has another sneaky one hidden in a great place. It makes me grin every time I think of it. You have to be prepared indeed!
I love a plan that's so cunning one could put a tail on it. It seems you have it sorted.
That is exactly the kind of plan that I am fond of too! A bushy tail!
Lol. I'm glad you got the reference.
Foxes are big in this house, three little books boom's favourite animal. One of at least, when it's not a unicorn!
Lol, we all love unicorns, but sometimes we get foxy.
HAhahaha, A line to be stolen!
One of my favorite quotes right there haha.
For the hidden keys, I really don't have many options, nor do many of the people in our region. Our houses/apartments are small, so there aren't many options to hide or leave the keys out somewhere.
Most common thing I see people doing is just carrying an extra key. Let's say you already have a set of keys with you all the time. But you just choose to keep an extra key, the most important one, keep it stashed somewhere, maybe in your wallet/purse whatever. That's mostly how it goes over here.
That's a good option, a master key kept somewhere other than with the main set. It's a better option than none at all.
Yess sirrr 🥃
My locked-out-of-the-house protocol is to go to my neighbor's house and ask for help. Then my neighbor comes over to my house and heaves me through a window I know does not lock.
That only happened once. He lectured (how do you strike through in a comment?) suggested that I leave a key outside somewhere. My yard is tiny, so my solution was to leave a key for one door under the mat of another. I have had to use this twice , in addition to the heaving method, twice since moving here a mere six months ago.
Heaved through a window solution. I love it! I beat you don't lock yourself out much!
~~text~~See those little squiggles either side of the word text? That's how you do strikethrough.
The mark is called tilde.
Thanks for commenting.Please do a video the next time you get tossed through the window! 🤪
Thanks for commenting.
and thanks for the markdown code! (I suppose I could have looked it up)
That's ok, no need to when someone supplies it. 🙂
Hahahahaha I know how that feels and I've always dreaded that situation. I am always very careful with keys and things that can leave me stranded but I still manage to keep my key somewhere. When I was working in my former state, I kept one in the office, one in my wallet and the other one was with me with other keys. I just knew disaster can't strike that would make me lose all three at once 🤣🤣😂😂😂.
I guess in giving her the lecture,you took one yourself... G-Dog... Win-win.
Haha, I'd say it would be a rather bad day if you lost all three at once. Let's hope it doesn't happen!
Hahaha I hope never to see it happen too. Hahaha.
Spare keys - you realise just how much you need them when you lock yourself outside. You realise just how much you don't need them to be found when someone else finds them (my latest post).
I've locked myself out a couple times. It was an expensive problem to fix without a spare key. I remember the last time I somehow managed to do it, it came down to deciding which would be cheaper : breaking a window or calling a locksmith.
I called a window replacement guy the following day lol. That particular incident was brough to me by a craving for ice cream 😐 Sliding doors with hair trigger locking mechanisms suck! Having a spare key nestled away somewhere safe rocks!
Ice cream seems always to cause problems, usually through there not being enough! However on occasions it causes one to be locked out of the house too. The proof of this is in your story! Pesky ice cream.
Lol I still love ice cream even though it was the cuplrit. I should have got that stupid door fixed sooner, but shortly after that I always had a spare key squirreled in the garden.
Ice cream could bite me hard on the ass and I'd still like it!
Interesting conversation! Hmm I don't actually has a spare pair of keys hidden anywhere, if I happened to be stuck, I will probably have a coffee at a nearby cafe while I wait for another family member to return.
The coffee whilst waiting plan is a good strategy. Hopefully nothing is that important that the time-lag entering the house doesn't cause problems.
No....
...and I can't tell you how many times it has crossed my mind that I need to do that, but also thought I would do it soon. Soon has never happened.
In my case, my landlord lives next door, but that doesn't cover a possible emergency situation where the landlord would not be home or available.
Lamebrain..... LOL... right ? I knowit !
Maybe later today.
It's something that sounds so logical when one hears it, but so many don't have a plan for.
Garage door code, and in previous homes we'd give a key to a neighbor we trusted
Yeah, that was a thing here too. These days not so much I guess. There's fewer trustworthy people.
At times, may be when a friend want to visit and I may not be around, I do keep key for him outside the window, so as to enable him enter the house and feel relaxed till I make my way back home.
The idea of using an automatic roller doors on your garages, I seems to like it although power failure may be a challenge sometimes, but it all depends if power has ever failed in that locality, If it has never failed before, I think is a good method of making your way into the house.
The integrity of the power supply here is good; it rarely goes out, maybe once or twice a year, if that, so the automated garage doors work fine. Still, it's good to have a back up.
To have a backup is still a nice idea🤗
Indeed.
Very inspirational friend keep the good work going
Huh..?
My garage door opener works with a phone app. Sync with ADT alarm. Remote pushbutton key. And built into the Stang's programmable buttons. Alerts me on my phone when open/close. Is silent with rubber drive belt not chain driven. Also has...
A Battery Backup..!
This is 19...
2022
It seems like you're all sorted. I'd expect nothing less.
I’ve had my fair share of devastating experiences but losing my keys on the two occasions I’ve did rendered me utterly disoriented. The first time it happened was in the day so I had the time to call someone to come take out the locks and change them.
Second time was at night, I was calmly in an Uber heading home to a warm shower and my sweet bed after what seemed like an unending day. I suddenly felt the urge to check for my keys and they were gone. I nearly lost my mind. I needed to be in my house and not calling any friend to accommodate my ass. My best friend was out of town and her spare key was in my missing bunch. I cried that night and ended up sleeping in an hotel.
Now I’d be a complete fool if I didn’t take measures to prevent this from happening again so I gave out a spare from the new keys to a friend and also found a hidden spot and stashed another spare within the premises of my apartment. I haven’t lost my keys again since then and I hope I don’t.
Please check with your friend, that entire
lectureConversation might just be the universe trying to give her a subtle warning. 😅The experience of being locked out certainly is good motivation to have something prepared. It seems you learned very well and now have something prepared.
Probably why you should make sure to remember to actually do the things you
lecture aboutdiscuss beforelecturing? :DThere's almost always someone home so there will usually be an unlocked door in the event of missing keys. Mine live in my bag and the bag comes with me almost always because it's just easier that way (it contains said keys which live on a keyring which also has my car key on it and my wallet which has driver's license in it among other things, plus I still habitually still carry a FAK though it really needs to be inventoried which I haven't done for a while seeing the children particularly youngest have long grown out of needing it every other day) and if it doesn't (if I'm just going for walkies it doesn't need to) I either make sure someone will definitely be home and absolutely is not going anywhere or the keys come with me in my pocket.
And worse case scenario I know how to break into my own house without actually breaking it.
Ah yes, now there's a different idea! The ability to enter one's own house (without keys) without breaking things is a good skill. Who needs keys! ✅
It’s slightly (orders of magnitude) easier with keys 😆
Yeah, keys make breaking into houses a snap really. 😊