Sure, I hide a key right next to the front porch in the … hey wait a minute! This is some kind of scam isn’t it?
This. But if I didn’t have this option, I’d seriously consider hiding a key somewhere.
My front door locks with a combination lock as well as a key lock. We never lock the key lock and rely entirely on the combination.
One time we went away for the weekend and let some neighbors use the house to host some relatives they were hosting for the weekend. These relatives/guests were unaware of our policy WRT the key lock, so when they left Saturday night, they locked both locks of the front door. We came back to the house at about 2 AM, with sleepy kids in the car, to discover that the door was locked and we had no key.
After a lot of trying this and that, I managed to discover a basement window which was unlocked, and with the help of a screwdriver (we keep the garage unlocked) I managed to remove that window entirely and climb into the basement and unlock the house.
But never again. Since then, we keep a key to the front door in one of the cars.
I do hide a key, but it’s a practice I just started a few months ago. When I walk my dog, I tuck a house key in the zipper pouch in her harness, and don’t take a cell phone. We came across a friend of hers on the walk, she and the other dog started rough-housing, and the other dog grabbed the zipper pull in his mouth and opened the pouch. The key fell out somewhere in the field they were playing in.
I had to use the owner’s phone to log in to my Facebook account and message someone with a spare key, and that person had to drive half an hour to come to my house and let me in. That’s when I decided it was worth my while to hide a key.
(You might be thinking: Or that’s when you decided to carry your cell phone on your walk? But nah, I still find it refreshing to step outside and away from my cell phone for a while each day.)
Same here. I have never locked myself out, but nice to know the doorman can quickly solve the situation.
I have one, and It’s very well hidden. It’s so well hidden that not even I can find it.
I don’t, but the previous owners did. We found one inside a buried metal cookie tin when we redid the landscaping in the front planter.
No, I installed an electronic deadbolt on the front door a few years ago. Numbered keypad with mechanical key override, not connected to Wi-Fi so no touchless features. Had a Schlage but upgraded to a better unit from Yale.
Yes vote here. It’s hidden in a place outside that’s easy for me to find, but difficult enough to actually access it to keep me from getting too complacent or careless.
Yes. The front and back doors to my apartment have analog locks as well as an outer security gate. I carry my house keys, as well as one to the outer door of the building, on the ring with my car keys. Should I somehow lose the set of keys, I can get in with keys hidden near the back door. (The building has a 24 hour security guard who knows all the tenants, so there’s really no chance a stranger can get in and go rummaging around my back door and find the keys.) Also, in case I happen to be away from home, especially out of the country, should some emergency arise I could call a friend or the building administration and tell them where to find the key.
I have one of those hide-a-key rocks hidden amongst the other rocks in the front yard. Two good friends know where it is and also know where the cat food is kept in case we have an emergency that stops one of us from being able to care for our 3 inside cats.
I rarely lock up, but I arrange with a trusted neighbor to keep each other’s key under our doormats.
My house hasn’t been locked for 230 years, I’m not going to start now.
Typically our doors are unlocked but maybe twice a year they are. When we first moved in, our basement had outside access so we kept one hanging in the rafters. I think it is still there. When we added on, we lost the outside basement entrance so I took to hanging the key inside the shelter inside the dog kennel. We have enough outside buildings to keep one in plus we are always driving somewhere when we lock up and all the key rings have a house key. We haven’t locked the door between house and garage and the remote has always worked.
I vote Yes. I have a hidden key and it’s very well hidden.
Due to [reasons] our house has substantially upgraded security. So entry without “keys” is essentially impossible. Because of this we have a way to get inside should we find ourselves without keys, but it’s a complex, multi step process. So I voted Yes in the poll even though it’s not a simple key.
Yes. There is a hidden spare key.
It’s inside my house and I’ll be damned if I can figure out where it is.
I have electronic push button locks on the front and side doors. They both have backup keys but we never carry them, that’s why we have a backup option with the side door.
Neither lock has smart features, so no remote unlocking.
I used to keep a key to my apartment in my desk drawer at work. Now the office is mostly closed, so that won’t help.
I keep a key in my wallet. It’s just one key, it’s flat, it fits fine. And if I lose my keys and my wallet, I’m really fucked anyway.
Also, the doorman in my building is supposed to have a key, but we replaced the lock a while ago and I never got around to giving the front desk staff the new key.
I should do that…
In our current house, no. In our old house, we had a key to the garage hidden somewhere on the property (ok, it was in the electricity meter – there was a hole on the side where you can put a key) and then a house key hidden deep in the garage (it would take a long while for the determined burglar to find it. Not so much that it was cleverly hidden as that there were myriad places it could be. And there were other keys strewn about that were not house keys. Not purposely as decoys–there just were lots of keys.) So it was a two-part hidden key. That was my father’s doing.
In my old car, back when keys were required to open the doors and start them, and there was a separate trunk key and starter key, I would keep a trunk key screwed behind my rear license plate, and then somewhere in the trunk I would keep a spare car key. (Naturally, I would not keep anything of value in my trunk because the key-behind-the-license-plate I doubt is particularly unknown as a hiding place.)