Most people absolutely dread the thought of getting locked out of their house. However here are a few helpful measures that anyone can apply in order to prevent the infamous locked out crisis.
The first thing you do not want to do is to leave any door or window unlocked. This can give a crook an excellent opportunity to wipe you out in a just a matter of seconds.
Always secure your home when you leave for any amount of time, even if your just going to a local store down the street.
One of the best ways to help avoid getting locked out of the home or apartment is to make an extra set of keys. However if you do make an extra set you should make certain you will have access to the spare key, since having the second set of keys in your home or apartment doesn’t help if your locked out.
It also helps dramatically if all the locks in your home are keyed to one key. The way to do this is to simply remove your door knobs and take them to almost any hardware store and have them key all your locks to one key, which costs far less than calling a locksmith out to your residence.
Great places to stash extra home or apartment keys are:
1. Leave a key with a family member, co-worker, friend or neighbor with whom you trust.
2. Stash a key in your briefcase, car or simply leave an extra key at your workplace. Mind you all stashed keys to your home or apartment should be well hidden and never be labeled with your address or name.
3. Hide extra home or apartment keys inside your garage or shed.
4. Lock an extra set of keys to your home inside your home’s electrical panel and lock the panel with a simple combination padlock.
5. Attach a realtors lock to your outside knob of a garage, side or shed door with a combination lock. These locks are weather resistant and can provide you with the peace of mind that you will have a key handy when you need it.
Many burglars prefer to enter homes through unlocked doors and they rarely take the time to search for keys since simply breaking a window is much faster and more convenient. Still that doesn’t mean you should hide house keys in obvious places that provide burglars an open invitation into your home.
Horrible places to stash a key to your home or apartment are:
1. An obvious one is under the doormat, which is one of the first places most people know to look. Not to mention weather conditions such as wind may blow the doormat off and in that case your key then becomes an open invitation to anyone walking up to your door.
2. Another horrible place is under a flower pot or other container near your doorway, again this seems to be another obvious “help yourself entry” into your home.
3. Leaving anything in your mailbox is severely frowned upon by the United States Postal Service, especially a key to your house or apartment.
4. While placing an extra key in your car may be a good idea, it is not good to leave it in an obvious spot such as the glove box since most car thieves search the glove box and then may not only steal your car but everything you own in your home or apartment. After all if your car is stolen they can use your car registration and insurance papers to guide them directly to your front door.
5. Another horrible place is a window ledge since obviously your going to put it down low enough to reach it in case of being locked out. Think of it this way if a crook is going from window to window looking for a way in to your home by leaving a key on the window ledge you just provided them a much easier way of entry.
6. Lastly never purchase one of those fake rocks, or some other sort of fake bottom yard item like a talking frog because trust me they stand out and most crooks see them as dead giveaways to where you have stashed an extra key to your home.