Do You Hide A Key To Your Home OUTSIDE Your Home?

[arwalden]

Poll question: Do You Hide A Key To Your Home OUTSIDE Your Home?

Do you trust us enough to tell us WHERE you actually hide it?

I haven't gotten to know our neighbors well enough to trust them with a key to our house yet... so we hide ours outside in a difficult to get to and inconvenient location.

But, even though I have to go into the crawl-space underneath the house... it's better than breaking a window if I ever lock myself out.

FUNNY THING: Whenever I take the time to actually hide an emergency key outside my home, I never have to use it. I only started hiding a key after the first time I got locked out.

-- Allen

[Robb]

1. How about

"...House mostly never locked?" :shrug:

Besides, my neighbor's so armed to the teeth, anyone suspicious going into our house would be met with a tightly grouped set of little holes...

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. I'd hate to live next to that neighbor

If something fishy is going on in my house I'd want my neighbor to call the cops - not play Suburban Commando. :D

[Robb]

6. Aw, he's OK.

He's a little bit of a nutjob, black-helicopter-spottin', NWO-fearin' sort of guy. But really nice, in that thank-god-he's-on-our-side kind of way. Does cool pottery.

Besides, we're sub-sub-sub-sub-urban, dare I say rural. The odds of anything "fishy" actually going on are next to zero, and truthfully, I know all three of our cops, and I suspect my neighbor's got better discretionary aim.

...Although we have one who is the real small-town portly cop stereotype you imagine. I can't see him chasing anybody, so the rumor is he's a really good shot. ;)

[trotsky]

2. If you have an attached garage...

a keypad for the garage door opener works great. Provided you either leave your inside door unlocked, or hide a key somewhere in the garage (lots of hiding spots).

[supernova]

3. No I don't leave one on the property

but my sister and brother both have keys. In an emergency, one of them is bound to be around.

[ZenLefty]

5. This is what you do...

Ever see those little resin lawn statues that have the secret stash in the bottom? They look like little bunnies, turtles, frogs, gnomes, some even look like rocks. And they each come with a little place to hide a key.

As if any housebreaker worth his weight in ski masks couldn't spot one at 60 yards.

Buy yourself two dozen of these things. Hide them all over the yard. In each one, place a key that is not the key to your house.

Your real key? Shit, leave that with a neighbor. Someone who's retired and home all the time and you can trust won't give it to anybody in a ski mask.

:think:

[arwalden]

7. That's Funny As Poop!

Only problem I see is having to move 24 bunnies out of the way when I mow the lawn... then having to put them all back in place again afterward.

== Allen

[Apollo]

9. LOL

That's Classic!

[wysimdnwyg]

8. Sort of

I hide mine in the garage. (Sorry, that's as close I'll get to specifics.) I've got a wireless key pad outside, so as long as the power's not off for some reason, I can get in there and get the key. But no one else can get to it.

[arwalden]

10. I'm Liking This Idea More And More... Sure Beats Crawling Under The House

to find an out-of-the-way key.

-- Allen

[trackfan]

11. No, it would be superfluous. My back door doesn't lock -

and even if it did, my house would still be very easy to break into. Fortunately we don't have anything that anyone would want to steal - unless they're a bibliophile, 'cause we have about 3,000 books.

[grannylib]

12. I carry a set of mini-screwdrivers in my purse; when I get locked out I

unscrew the kitchen window and crawl into the sink (this only works in summer if the window inside is open and unlocked...)
has only happened twice

[ThomWV]

13. Don't Lock The House

I don't think this house has been locked in the last 25 years.

Thom

[Beaker]

14. I'm Mr. Trustworthy. I have the keys to 7 different houses-

that people have asked me to keep...some in the neighborhood, some not.
My wife and I keep a set of keys in a spot only we know, but I also always leave one window unlocked, just in case.

[Cheswick2.0]

15. Only when my son is home from college

because he could have 15 keys and lose every single one.
I hide a key under a plant and figure anyone who wants my cheap junk probably needs it more than I do.

[LuLu550]

16. I don't even lock my doors

how's that for feeling safe in your neighborhood?

[CanuckAmok]

17. We have one of these:

http://www.masterlock.com/cgi-bin/product_detail.pl?sub_cat_id=D0_5401&template=style

bolted to the house in a discreet location. It's very handy. We can give the combo to contractors/repairmen, and then change it whenever we want.

We also gave a key to our retired neighbours, because they feed the kitties when we're away.

I don't know what Michael Moore was on about when he was talking about Canadians not locking our doors. We don't know anyone who doesn't, plus most people have home and auto alarms.

[arwalden]

20. Well Isn't That Cool!!??? Almost LIke Those "Realtor Keyholder Boxes"

I'll have to think about getting one of those. Very neat!

-- Allen

[trof]

18. We swap keys.

No, not like THAT.
Get your mind out of the gutter.
Our neighbors have a key and we have keys for 4 or 5 friends in the 'hood.

[electricmonk]

19. Not in my neighborhood

My street is always well represented in the Crime Blotter. Murder across the street from my place last week, car thefts all the time, robbery, burglary, prostitution are all fairly common here. But damn I got a kick-ass place with a great view for cheap.

[ChoralScholar]

21. I never lock it.

I defy anyone to come into my house that doesn't belong. Ginger would most likely have them for a snack. Unless they were armed with Pork Rinds. Then they could take everything I own.


My Yellow-Dog Democrat

[eileen_d]

22. Yes, and my address is...

:evilgrin: I have a copy with friends, not outside my house.

I am pretty fanatical about locking the door because my parents were that way when I was growing up. They had a good reason though - a man on the run from the police walked into our family's unlocked house when I was three and my sister was an infant. He used the phone and then took my mom with him in a car (along with two other hostages). Fortunately they all survived the ordeal, but that is why I ALWAYS lock my door, even when I'm home, even though I live in Montana in an average neighborhood. It's an unconscious thing really but the message reminded me of it... thanks for listening to me vent a little.

[travisleit01]

23. nope... we don't even lock our doors. n/t