Keep an extra key to your house and/or car on the end of your dog leash. When you take your pet for a walk in the neighborhood, or in the park, you will not have to worry about locking yourself out accidentally. You also won't have to worry about losing your keys if they are in your pocket when your dog starts running, you won't have to take your purse, your keys will always be there, handy and useful!
By Chichijunk from Cleveland, OH
This page contains the following solutions.
I needed a spare car key in case I locked mine in the car. However, the price of a programmed key was over $100. So instead, I took my key to the local hardware store and got a regular key made, put it inside a magnetic box, and hooked it under the car.
My uncle taught me a good way to hide a key, under the vinyl on the house. He had a spot on his vinyl siding that he put a extra key in case they were locked out, or if someone had to get in for emergency purposes.
I am forever going outside to my laundry room only to return and find the door has locked itself and I am locked outside.
My neighbor and I exchanged house keys so that we could enter each other's homes in case of an emergency or to feed pets while one of us is on vacation, etc.
I painted the inside of a mayonaise jar with white craft paint. I keep it in the refrigerator in the garage to store our house keys in. Works great and no more fumbling.
I put an extra key for my house and my car in the outside fuse box and I then lock it with a combination lock. To remember the combination, I put it down as a phone number and put the number in my storage unit.
Simply tie some mono filament fishing line to your key and slip in into one of your house siding openings so only the filament is exposed. Pull it out when needed!
We all have our favorite key hiding places for our own use. However, to tell the location of a well-hidden key for a 911 call may not be easy, especially by the person who may be in need of emergency personnel.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Does anyone know of a safe, yet accessible place to hide a spare car key under the hood, or any other place that can be gotten to while locked out? I don't like the idea of a magnetic box because all someone has to do is pull it off the car plus, as hard as I hit speed bumps and potholes, at times, it would never last!
I keep one in my wallet and one with a nearby family member. That won't help if I am out of town and lock my purse in the car, but since I don't go far and neither does she, it works for me.
That said, my dad used to use the magnet holder in the inside of the hub cap, but that was 30 + years ago...hub caps probably aren't the right kind of metal today. Maybe duct tape to the inside of the hubcap?
Keys are really expensive these days if the have a chip in them, so you may not want anything so risky that if you lose it you are out a hundred bucks.
That won't help if you are over a couple miles away, your cell is inside the car or they work. You can tie it with a double fisherman's knot using fishing line to the back of the license plate. Wrap it like your never going to need it. Then when you do, it will be there. Here are some good ideas.
Does anyone know of a creative, secure way to store an extra house key outside? We don't want to do something obvious like put it under the door mat, but we want it as close to the door as we can. I know you can buy fake-looking rocks to put a key in, but I was wondering if anyone has any free ideas! Thanks!
Make a deal with one of your neighbors to swap keys--your key under his door mat or flower pot and vice versa.
you could hide it inside of a potted plant or if you wanted to spend a bit of money, you could by one of those rocks that have a hole in them just for keys. i'm not sure how expensive they are though.
We have one that looks like a thermometer and
you hide the key inside. It slides open. Why couldn't
you buy a pretty thermometer and tape it to the back?
I have a flower pot on my deck that I fill with sand and put a citronella stick in...I keep a key hidden in the sand
We have always taped a spare key to the underside of the cover of our circut braker box. It's not too close to our door, but in a pinch it's there and it gets you into the house.
A friend of ours put a key to their house on a nail in the crotch of a tree (the side closest to the house so the sun's rays wouldn't reflect from the key). Even for those of us who knew it was there (emergency use) it was a little difficult to find.
Why on earth would anyone want to share with the Internet world where to hide house keys ... that's advertising to all the thiefs out there!
Criminals are not the smartest people ... don't point it out to them.
Grandma Bess, where did you get your thermometer one at ?
Do you often need the outside key, Or is it an emergency key? If you use it frequently keep the front door key in the backyard, perhaps on a nail on the fence, so that nobody sees you going to get it and use it.
My neighbor keeps my key in her unlocked garage on a nail in her tool cabinet.
Make a deal to park it at a neighbor's house under or in a fake rock that is a few houses away from your house.
I once dropped my daughter's friend off at her house and the child fetched her entry key in this manner.
Don't buy one of those things that you hide a key in. They're pretty obvious and I'm sure anyone who shops at Wal-mart or any store has seen them and knows what they are. At my last house, I put a key in a small ziplock bag and hid it under some mulch in a flowerbed. No one knew it was there, but was easy to get to when I locked myself out. It was in the same place for 4 years before I had to use it, but I took comfort just knowing where it was if I ever needed it.
I know this sounds silly, but carry it with you. I know a man that keeps a spare key in his wallet. Hide it in your car. Put it in a pill box in your purse. Make sure anyone who would need one has thier own key. If you hide a key then have to keep using it, it won't be long before someone figures it out. Just a side note, I carry my keys in my pocket when I'm out. That way if something happens to my purse I have my keys.
We're moving so this isn't a secret anymore .LOL I hung mine on a wire from a small nail that was used to hang an outside decoration on the wall close to the front door. It WAS there for over 25 years we have used it maybe 5-6 times. And the kids knew where it was in case we were not home when they came to visit, so maybe they had used it twice.
Another time hubby had placed one under a rock in a rocky area, in a baggy near the house.We found it by accident the other day...It must have fit the old door,as it wasn't for the one we have now.And one more idea. He chiselled out a small hole in the post holding up the porch roof put the key in and sealed it up with a small piece of scrap wood and hung an outdoor thermometer over it. Always the tinkerer. Now I will not tell you where it is now.lol A neighbor used to put hers in the roll up sun blind on her patio. She has moved also. GG Hugs, Vi
We have a key hung on a nail high up in a tree. I also gave each of my kids a house key and attached it to each of their backpacks on one of those coil type keychains so they dont lose it.
I have my spare key duct taped to the inside of my rottweiler's collar.
here is what I used to do...hopefully no one will because no one should EVER chain a dog outside, you live and learn, but we did...I would put my spare key in the german shepherds dog house. I figured if anyone was brave enough to check in there they deserved to find it!!!
NEVER CHAIN A DOG OUTSIDE FOR ANY REASON IF YOU HAVE TO CHAIN A DOG, DO NOT GET ONE
THANK YOU FOR ALLOWING ME THIS PLATFORM
Duct tape it behind the closest down gutter.
Good ideas. I accidentally (as if I'd do it on purpose) locked my dog and me outside one cold February night, and finally managed to get in through one window that wasn't locked, thank goodness.
Hanging flower pot or dryer vent or dog kennel or neighbor's yard, keep a spare key somewhere safe. You'll use it.
I keep an extra door and car key in my purse.
We took about 75 old keys and the house key and painted them different colors and made windchimes, only friends and family members know which color key is to the house.
they are called something like a key vault... they are little boxes that you screw to a wall and have a 3 digit code you enter in that allows you to get to the key... hard to get the key out without the code... and fairly small so could be put somewhere inconspicuous....
there is a thing called a key vault... not all are built equally... but some are very tough.. it is a combination system that you can enter in a code to get out your key... it can be screwed to any wall and secures very well...
Depending on what conditions you need to be able to access the hidden key, duct tape it to the back of your car license plate. I do it with a spare car key and it has worked beautifully for years. If you need the key to be accessable when the car is not at home, hang the key under your neighbor's deck or other location as other people have suggested. I would NEVER keep my house key anywhere close to my home. Even the license plate idea makes me nervous.
Burglars are very smart/cunning. They will think of things to enter your house that you have never thought of!
it does seem sort of silly to share with the www where to hide a key - makes me think it would be much better to wear it on a cord or chain around my neck !
Or if you have an elderly or shut in neighbor who is ALWAYS home - maybe leaving it with her or him would be a good thing --
I know this sounds so obvious it seems silly. But I am a key Loser! I have locked myself out of house and car so many times over the past 30 yrs I could never count them. So I made a small investment in one of those Large key hooks that you can attach to your belt loop. It has saved me SO many times.
I still have a key at my parents home but this little hook gadget has been an investment WELL worth the money! AND as for my car, I bought a car with a keyless entry combination. So until that goes out I SHOULD have that problem solved.
I would say the most important thing is to place it somewhere that you could retrieve the key without being seen. Once a person sees you get your key, they will know where it is. I love the windchime idea, but I am too paranoid and that is pretty high profile. (Maybe if there were 500 keys to choose... hmmm...)
We have buried a key in a small tupperware container, but that can be frustrating when a year passes and you have to dig in the dirt but are not exactly sure where.
I am thinking of buying a few key vaults, and swapping keys with neighbors. They would have my key vault and I would have theirs. You could get several neighbors a vault. Then, if a person were to break into one, it would be a guessing game on which house it opened. If he were targeting your house, he would have to break into several vaults to find your key. I bet they would give up on finding a key in that scenario.
What about a dryer vent, covered in lint? The dog's house or collar is a great idea for those with outdoor dogs that might be unapproachable to an intruder. How about the zipper on the cushion of patio furniture? Or hiding the key to a hidden lock box? (Can you say scavenger hunt?) If you have many flower pots, bird feeders, lawn ornaments, etc, use a different one each time you use the key.
If you have a lot of paving stones or trees or something all together, pick one to start at and count in a certain direction for the number of letters in a password or phrase. Then you can just tell family and friends when the passphrase changes, or (getting more creative...) you could have a decorative wall hanging or yard ornament with a quotation on it, and change it to a different one when you need to change which rock your key is under.
Make it too difficult for them to be found, and change your hiding place as soon as you use it. Cycle through many hiding places. At least if you forget which one it is hidden in, you will find it eventually.
I remember my father locked himself out of the house once, as I was with him at the time. He said "I have a spare key hidden in the cement joint in the wall in a plastic bag. I haven't used it before". When he tried to use it it so was crusted up with rust it would not fit in the lock. It had been there at least ten years, and we had to wait for mother to return home to let us in!
I use a paver that is part of a small walkway I have in my grassy area to hide a spare key. What I do is wrap my key in plastic wrap and coat it with Vaseline to retard corrosion and rust. Then put the key in a old film canister and dig a small hole under the paver in the dirt. No one has ever found it but we know where it is if we get locked out.
We put a hook under the hand rail on our deck to hang the key on and put it towards the back side of the rail where it is not visible at all.
I locked myself out of my house. Garage door was closed and all windows locked. Had to call lock smith and my locks are completely "unpickable"! Oh dear!
There are many suggestions as to where to hide keys around the house, but where can you hide a car key for times when you lock yourself out of your car? It must be somewhere on the car, able to be retrieved when you're away from home. Under the hood is not good, for most cars release hood from inside the car. I have a magnetic box for this purpose, but can't figure where to hide it that a thief won't think of right away.
By Cay
Do what I do - always carry a substitute key. Carry in same place you carry your credit cards, or cash. When's the last time you were robbed of your personal belongings while out shopping, whatever?
I have an elderly neighbor who pins an extra house key inside her top, just in case she accidently locks herself out of her house. She does it every morning when she gets dressed so it is always with her if needed.
Why not make an extra key and carry it in your wallet? There are credit card sized "spare key" holders that are available or you could tape a key to a piece of cardboard and stick it in a card slot. Another option is to keep your spare key in something else that you always keep with you (your phone for most people) and most women keep their phones in a case that could hide a key.
Have a keyless enter put on your car
Put it behind your license plate, put a key ring on the key and put the bolt threw the ring. it only takes a coin to remove the bolt that holds the plate on.
I bought one of those extra large magnetic key hiders on ebay and hid it under my car near the drivers side. Its easy for me to get to and it doesn't fall off because of the large magnetic on the bottom. I also keep an extra house key in there too, just in case i get locked out of my house. I wouldn't be without that box. It cost a small fortune to hare a locksmith.
If you lose your wallet, not only do they have your address, but also a key!
Okay, so when you loose your wallet (along with all your ID) they now have your home address . ..
Keep your key on a stretchy lanyard or similar around or in your purse or whatever you'll always be sure to take with you. Or even easier, put a spare in the bottom of your purse.
