You know that feeling when you walk out of your house and the door clicks closed behind you?
No problem right?
Until you remember you locked the door and you don’t have any keys in your hand because they are sitting on the table inside. And it’s cold outside. And you are in your pajamas. And you left oatmeal cooking on the stove. And your kids are inside, one is in a high chair and the other is only two and can’t open the door for you. And remember, the stove is on?
Yeah, that feeling. Not that I have personally had this happen to me. (Cough. Cough.)
Or, you know that feeling when you run into the grocery store in a neighborhood you aren’t familiar with and you come back out and you can’t find your keys and then you see them shining in the light of the streetlamp because they are inside the car and it’s locked? Oh, and look, your phone is sitting in there too. Awesome!
Don’t you just love that feeling?
Yeah, me either.
But guess what? I don’t worry about getting that feeling. You don’t have to either. Why you may ask? I’ll tell you the secret.
Hide-a-Key.
It seems so simple, doesn’t it? But while you have probably mentioned to your spouse, “We should hide a spare key somewhere.” Have you actually followed through?
If not, it’s time to head on down to your local hardware store and get some spare keys made. Get them for both your home and your vehicles.
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Don’t get locked out of the house
No one in your family needs to get locked out of the house, ever. It’s too easy to hide a key. To be clear, putting a key under the front mat is not actually hiding it. Don’t be so obvious. Instead, hide your key in a place that is secure but accessible to all the members of your family.
Do you have the perfect spot in mind? Excellent. Go get your keys made and git ‘er done.
If a good hiding spot didn’t immediately come to mind, hold a family meeting and see if you can come up with a good spot or consider a push-button lockbox.
With a lockbox, you can attach it firmly to your house or garage and program it with a number code of your choice. I like this one from Kidde.
Keep in mind, a push-button box like this one is ideal for grandparents too. We installed one after my mom was hiding her key under a rock in her planter. Everyone from the cleaning lady to the physical therapist knew where it was. So did everyone in the neighborhood who could easily see people climbing around in her flower beds. Oy!
We installed a lockbox and now only those with the code can access the key and the code can be easily changed if needed.
When you go have extra keys made do yourself a favor and pick up a couple of heavy-duty key boxes that attach to the underside of your car. Place one of your new extra keys in the box and attach it to the frame (not the wheel well) of your vehicle. It will be hidden from sight but accessible if you ever need it.
Here’s what the car hide-a-key box looks like:
You can get one anywhere keys are made. I have used one of these for years and never had it fall off my car or go missing. I live on an unimproved road so my car does a lot of bouncing around and I’ve still never had a problem.
If you are concerned about a box like this falling off another option is to zip-tie a key to the underside of your vehicle. You just have to make sure you can get it off when you need it.
You should never get locked out of your car or your house. Ever. It’s just too easy to prevent that from happening.
So, where is your house key hidden? Do you have a hide-a-key box on your car somewhere?
If not, it’s time to get one. This week. Oh for Pete, just go do it today.
Here are your tasks:
1. Go out and get some keys made. House keys and car keys.
2. Find a good hiding spot for your house key and get a key box for your car key. Put that under your car too – in a spot where it won’t get rubbed off (hint: the wheel well is NOT a good spot). If you buy a quality box the magnet should be plenty strong enough to hold it on to your car. This means buy one at a hardware store, not at the dollar store.
3. Encourage your friends to hide a key. You may even exchange keys with them for dire emergencies. Why keep this secret to yourself? Go tell your girlfriends, your mom, your daughter – anyone who also needs to make sure they never get locked out again. Make it easy on yourself and share this post on Pinterest to let all your friends know!
You have a real fun life to live. Don’t let something like not having a spare key keep you from doing the things you love.
Do you need to get some keys made?
Photo by Timothée Mägli on Unsplash
3 comments
Our current car has a code to get into it. Can I just tell you how much I love that feature!! It’s so nice. It’s also great when the kids get to the car before us, as they can just unlock it and get inside instead of standing out in the rain. We do have a key hidden at home that has come in handy a few times too. 🙂 Thanks for the suggestion about how to hide it. Might look into that so it’s safer!
Oooo, lucky girl. Someday I’ll have a car like that. I am surprised at how many people don’t have a key somewhere around their house. Our neighbors get locked out like once a week. Luckily we have one of their keys and we’re home a lot but I think I’d better forward this post to them. Thanks for reading. I appreciate it!