A rather unfortunate lapse in judgment left me on the stoop of my apartment building last weekend waiting for a locksmith to help me break into my home. I'd just finished a half marathon and all I wanted was a shower and my couch, instead I got three hours on the front stoop and a hefty bill.
My fiancé was out of town, our spare key was sitting in the junk drawer inside our apartment, all the windows were either locked or inaccessible and our landlord was hours away. Besides breaking a window (a serious consideration) a locksmith was my only hope.
After hours of lock picking and bump keys on both the front and back door the locksmith presented me with good news - it's really hard to break into our apartment, which was also the bad news. My misfortune might have been related to the inadequate abilities of the locksmith, either way, two hours into the endeavor I was committed. Eventually, he drilled the lock and was able to break through. Hallelujah!
I wouldn't wish this experience on anyone. To avoid the trauma, make a plan for a spare key. Your safest bet is to give a spare to a friend or family member nearby, however, this isn't a foolproof method if that person happens to be out of town when you lock yourself out. The alternative, yet less safe option, is to hide a key somewhere outside of your apartment. Another way to avoid a lock-out is to get in the habit of dead-bolting the door from the outside. This will force you not to leave your keys inside. These are all best practices I now plan on practicing.
What's your back-up plan?
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This is why I love living in a doorman building. The doorman keeps spare keys. So a few weeks ago when I managed to lose my key in the park, it wasn't a big deal to get back in.
My brother (who lives 10 minutes away) and my neighbour *both* had keys to my last place. Plus I had one hidden under a rock in the back garden.
Then again, one key secured the whole house. Plus, it could be broken into by a moderately enterprising 5-year-old.
Since you live in an apartment I'm pretty sure your landlord/super could have assisted you. Depending on how nice they are they might have charged you, but I bet it would have been less than the lock smith.
My kez ring is big enough so that I can hang my keys to my door handle (L shaped). So I HAVE to put my hand on my keys to open my door and go out.
In fact some landlord would rather you call them before you drill a lock out. It's a headache to get it replaces and get keys to everyone.
PAIGEP she wrote that her landlord was hours away. She clearly ran through all of her options before calling the locksmith.
We deadbolt our door from the outside when we leave the house so it forces you to have at least the spare key on your person if you're just going to walk the dog, or your whole key ring if driving somewhere. I appreciate this method because I have been a notorious leave-r-of-keys, just talk to my college roommates!!!
even if the landlord was hours away, they usually have someone on call for emergencies that has a key.
I have a set of keys to my car and house with 3 different neighbors and another friend. :)
I have mine with a neighbor but a friend has one of those lockboxes that Realtors use hooked to her fence behind a bush in the backyard.
I used to keep a set in my post box which was rather easy to open. I also keep a spare set at work on my desk, with my boyfriend and our part time maid.
I also never close the door behind me without my keys physically in my hand.
Family have spare.
I do the same thing as kpies. After locking myself out a couple times and getting charged by my landlord to let me in, I just use the deadbolt so I have to have my key on me. It's been over 7 yrs since I have locked myself out of the house.
Oh, this is so timely! I locked myself out of my new apartment for the first time last night. I had previously lived in a PT doorman building so had not encountered this problem and even though I am clumsy/forgetful, I rarely locked myself out. My super lives in the building and it was only 8:30pm so he was able to let me in, but not before muttering and grumbling and calling me "so careless". It was an accident!
So I'm feeling like a I need a backup plan other than my rude super, but I'm not sure what to do? I just moved to Queens from Brooklyn and I don't know anyone remotely nearby, have not gotten to know neighbors well enough that I would trust them with a key. I've thought about hiding a key outside somewhere...I live in a huge building with 75+ apartments and I obviously wouldn't put my apt # on it. Is this a bad idea? Any better alternatives?
Despite my apartment complex having a front desk with access to keys, I have two neighbors with copies. Manually deadbolting instead of just using the in-door lock is always a good idea that prevents lockouts. Never use a hide-a-key-- they're never really that hidden. I like the lockbox idea that elbowglitter's friend had.
That sounds like a horrible experience. Locksmiths are notorious for taking advantage of people in your situation and drilling a lock instead of removing it. That way they get to charge you to replace the whole thing (and they usually charge you $150 for a doorknob set that you could get for $30 at the hardware store). If they won't remove the knob tell them to GTFO.
@ELBOWGLITTER, brilliant idea with a lockbox.
My spare key is at work which is a 5 min drive.
Elbowglitter, that is a brilliant solution! But doesn't that require a key to access the lockbox? For my car keys I've trained myself to ask myself if I have my keys and require myself to recall myself stashing my keys before closing the car door. I also don't set the keys down anywhere but the ignition or my hand or purse. These habits could be adapted for a house/abode door. Me? I usually go through the garage door with an automatic door/remote control.
I keep a lockbox in my desk at work.
My rents have a spare set in case of emergencies.
Changed my the lock to the kind in which you have to use a key to lock it when you leave. Best way to prevent lock-out.
One in my mailbox, one under the doormat. You'd need them both to get in. (I guess I'm not too scared about it!)
I feel like you never ever hear stories of "this house was broken into because a burglar found the spare key!" - does that happen?
this happened to me too ( though I hadn't just run a marathon...congrats on that btw) ... My landlord had gone to Asia and was unreachable, hadn't told us he was going ,left no back up person. That really set me off! Try to get multiple contact numbers and emails from your landlord. You can't rely on them for everything ( or even being available and receptive to helping you ) and sometimes a locksmith IS your only option...
My relative who had a key was also out of town, and I while I usually have a key to her place I didn't then. So I had my laptop got online and searched for a facebook contact to give me shelter. Nada. Finally I did stay at a friend's place , and the next day got into my relative's place via a key left with her neighbour, found my spare key there.
Not a nightmare but still. I don't really trust my neighbours here so I can't give them a set of my keys.... and I wouldn't want to hide them outside due to the winter season here that's so long ....
anyway , just to say I haven't figured out a great system.... though I do now carry an extra set of keys that is always in my knapsack , which i almost always have with when I leave the house , and I made a spot that says KEYS on it so I will always put them there ( I don't ) and know where they are - And I have a very big key chain , so I am more likely to notice i don't have it ...
Oh man, my boyfriend locked himself out on our BALCONY last week. We're on the second floor, so he (insanely) crawled over the railing and lowered himself down to the street again. We gave a spare key to our friend a few doors down, but my boyfriend also had dead-bolted our door... FROM THE INSIDE. Even a locksmith can't fix THAT one without busting the door down.
He totally redeemed himself though by figuring out there was an accessible screw in one of the windows that, after much wiggling and twisting with tools, allowed him to unlock a window and crawl in that way.
We are really close to both sets of next door neighbors, so we all have each others' keys. I realize this is not an option for most people. That said, since we only use our deadbolts, it is hard to lock ourselves out.
Not too long ago, I got a phone call from my boyfriend while I was on the train "I hope you have your keys on you." he said. Nope, I left them home because he was going to pick me up at the train station, and I didn't need to drive. Uh oh.
He'd walked out the door to come pick me up, and realized only after the door swung shut that he didn't have his keys on him (apparently because I had made him start hanging them up on a hook instead of dropping them on the table, and he wasn't used to looking for them there) and the little doorknob lock was turned to the lock position (you can open the door while it's locked). Though the deadbolt was not locked, he couldn't get back in, and there's a metal strip on the door designed to thwart the "credit card trick" on the bottom lock. I had to walk a mile home from the train station.
You could SEE the keys hanging up on the hook through the window - so close, yet so far.
I called a local locksmith who said they'd charge $25 just to show up - there was no mention of how much it would cost to open the door, so I ditched that idea, knowing that locksmiths are notoriously expensive.
We called his mother who lives about 20 minutes away. She couldn't find the spare key we'd given her. So we called MY mother who lives about 40 minutes away. We walked a mile to the convenience store to pick up some subs for dinner, and by the time we were nearing home, Mom was just arriving.
We now keep a spare hidden in the shed, and the shed is locked with a combination lock.
So in a really worst case scenario; apt. door on upper floor, no available landlord, super, trusted neighbor, friend or relative quickly available + let's say no car . . .and that "uh oh #@!%&" moment happens. You may need to do some super sleuthing where you could conceal a key with strong tape to something somewhere that's not likely to be moved, cleaned, reached etc.; do this when no one else is around and inconspicuously check for it now & then. Make sure also, your apt. # is NOT stamped on the key. For guys, keep a spare in your billfold which 95% of the time you'll have with you.
I was walking my dog one afternoon, and a youngish guy and girl called down from the balcony of their 2nd floor apartment, which was in a 2-decker house. "Could you go in through the back door, through our apartment, and let us back in?" They had gone out on the balcony and locked themselves out. The only alternatives were breaking a window or jumping down 2 stories to the ground.
I wasn't too crazy about being all through a stranger's house! Aiiee! Sounds like the beginning of a murder-horror movie.
Luckily, I knew their downstairs neighbor from dog-walking, and she knew them - so she went up through their apartment to let them back in.
Don't tell anyone... but I leave one kitchen window unlocked. It opens out to my deck, nad is an easy step-through. If I lock myself out, I just go in that way. My hope is that no one is coming through the window while my vicious-sounding dog stands there barking and baring his teeth.
Where can you get an awesome door mat like that? Every time I leave my apartment I give myself the keysphonewallet mantra. I love this.
I constantly lock myself out. After doing so multiple times on a particularly stressful day last year I developed a play similar to DRAGYNPHYRE. I've had several spares made and I keep 1 in my purse, 1 in my car, 1 with my neighbor, 1 in my laptop bag, and 1 more in my gym bag. These are all in addition to the one on my actual key chain.
I used to have a spare taped to the inside of my storm door, but my roommate moved out recently and now that I'm living alone I feel much safer at night knowing that there aren't any keys to my place up for grabs outside. If someone wants to break in they'll at least have to make a little noise.
Our current home has one of those combination locks -- need to change a battery now and then, but no key. (It holds two combinations at once, so you can set a temporary for workmen or guests, and you can reset the combinations at will, for security.)
Before that, I kept a spare key in a magnetic hide-a-key box in the back yard underneath the air conditioner unit. (I'd have to trudge through snow to get it in winter, but that's better than the alternatives.)
But mainly, Before having a house, I NEVER left my old apartments without my keys. Ever. In about 20 years of apartment living. I did lock my keys in my car once, when loading groceries into the trunk. (Put the keys down, loaded the bags, slammed the trunk... sigh.) That happened once. I had to get AAA to come pop the front door open for me.
Just train yourself to keep your keys on you if you go out the door for ANY reason, including checking the mail... I'll bet very few people who get inconvenienced about being locked out forget the experience, and fail to take precautions!
Rachel C Brooklyn, I LOVE that! A mantra with 'phonewalletkeys'! I am SO adopting that! All too often I forget my phone!
My door doesn't lock automatically, so if I forget my keys, I also forget to lock my front-door. I don't have keys with friends or family. But if my door was one of those that lock automatically, then I would leave a key with my mother.
I also have to see the keys in my hand before I leave. both my hubby n I carry keys, no matter what. but if he is out of town, I have a post it note stuck to the back of the door with "take keys, phone & :)"
One of the first weeks in our new house we locked ourselves out; I thought she had the key and she thought I did. The only person who had a spare was her mom who lives 30 miles away in the suburbs. Fortunately we had a phone and some money. So we took the metro to the end of the line, arranged for her nephew to pick us up and take us to her mom's house, got the key, got her nephew to take us back to the metro station, and took the long ride back. I'm thankful we didn't need a locksmith, but it took the better part of a day. Now we keep a spare key well hidden outside the house, but I'd like to get a box with a combination lock for it.
Thank heavens I live in a small building of sane people. We all have a pass key that unlocks the snap lock on all our doors. The other
lock has to be dead-bolted, so we can lock everyone out if someone feels the necessity. I hardly ever do; I have that ad about "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up" on my mind, and I want people I know to be able to get in in case of emergency. One officer of the coop has keys to all apartments in case of flood/fire. Also, I am a notorious key-loser, so neighbors/catsitters/cleaners all have extra keys. I guess I am just a trusting person.
My fiance and I have copies of each other's keys nowadays. But as a notorious key-loser, I used to keep a key to my car in a hide-a-key box near my apartment door & keep a key to the apartment in a hide-a-key box under my car. If a miscreant finds the box, he still won't have the right key. To break into either, you need to identify both my car and my address and raid the key boxes for both.
I locked myself out of my second floor apartment AND my car, with my purse, phone and toddler (strapped into her carseat) all in the car. No neighbors home and a half mile to the closest store. Yeah, I was a bit stressed that day. After that, I developed a routine. I always lock the door with my keys.
These days, we have friends who have copies of the keys. In our building, there is just no place to hide a key or even a lockbox (200 year old building), there is no window access and the landlord and maintenance crew can be hours away (plus outrageously expensive if it's late at night). At one old place I had a combination lockbox attached to the storage shed, it had a key to the back door. When I lived in a townhouse with attached garage, I put a coded entry pad on the big garage door, then a lockbox with a key next to the interior door. You just find ways.
my grandfather always had a spare key inside his wallet. of course, this is only useful if you happen to have your wallet on you.
my neighbor down the hall (strategically chosen because in addition to being trustworthy, she also works from home and is there a lot) has a spare key.
AND ...
per my idea, my parents, my sister & i all had our locks keyed to the same key. ditto for my parents' beach house. we all live near one another. so in addition to solving the potential lock-out problem, we all only need one house key on our key rings--not 3!
I don't think this has been answered yet, but for those asking the KEYS WALLET PHONE rug is from Urban Outfitters. They've been carrying it for a long time, my guess is that it is pretty popular ;)
one advantage of living with roommates. also, my bf has a key to my place. when i lived on my own, i used to leave a spare at my local bar (kept in the private back office with trusting owner-friends).
BTDT...will never live in a house again without a keyless entry. The price on some models has come down to under $100, you can remove them when you move out, they hold 20 or more 4-digit codes so you can give one to the neighbors/your mom/boyfriend etc. Very easy to install and change codes so you never have to worry about getting a key back from someone...just delete their code. You can leave for minute or days and never worry about having to take your keys or how to get back in. And you only need it on one door.
"my grandfather always had a spare key inside his wallet. of course, this is only useful if you happen to have your wallet on you."
BAD idea. If your wallet is lost or stolen, someone has not only the key to your house but the driver's license which has your address.
I have one of those labels for organization that I have fixed onto my dashboard, it says: 'Wallet? Phone?'
Twice I have locked myself out emptying the trash in my pajamas.
Sigh.
I shall go make some spares today.
Our door can only be locked via deadbolt, so I have to have my keys to lock the door. If my fiancee were to lock me out or I were to lose my keys, our landlord's office is literally a block away. Additionally, if neither of us have keys, my fiancee learned to use a lockpick set. (He's twice picked the lock of a friend's door when they locked themselves out. I'm trying to learn too, but don't quite have the knack, it seems.) Finally, our building used to be a commercial building and it still has one business in it... a locksmith! The folks over there are very friendly (they gave me fiancee a lock to practice his picking on, for free) and would probably help us if we needed it.
All things considered, locking myself out isn't much of a concern! :P
Our neighbor has a spare key, we have one hidden in our garage, and a nearby relative (within 10 - 15 minutes drive) has a spare as well.
When I was younger and we didn't have such forethought, I used to go through the cellar door (unlocked) and crawl through a hole in the basement door that the cats used to get to their litter box. Not sure I could fit through that hole anymore...
@Durga - great idea. I've never even thought of that, but I'm off to consult Google right now.
Wear a door key on a long chain. It's what all the old people are doing. I even wear a car key when I go out in case I lock the keys in the car. I keep a spare set of keys in my purse, but the key on me protects against locking my purse in the car.
Parnassus is correct. A truly good locksmith, wouldn't drill your lock. Most say that have to drill your lock just to get more money and spend less time actually trying to get in. I had some horrid locksmith pull this shit on me when I was locked at at 3 in the am. My phone was locked inside too. I had to use the phone from a bar down the street and it was soon to close. I was pretty much stuck. I did go off on the owner of the company the next day, but like all shady businesses dude didn't care. It cost me $130 to get in and another $40 for a new lock that was keyed the same as my others.
As scary as this sounds, I locked myself out of my house last month, opened our garage door, and forced open the door to the laundry room with *a piece of paper from the recycling bin…*
So funny - on the day after we moved in to our new place this month, my husband and I stepped out on to the front porch to admire a thunder/lightning storm (we were from California, where there is no weather) but our new door lock is one of those that you can't tell it's locked from the inside. We were instantly locked out, in our socks, no phones or wallet. So I ran downstairs and pounded on the landlord's door, but the rain was pouring and the wind was blowing and she couldn't hear, so I had to wait between thunder crashes to wail on the window in her front hall. Finally she hears me and comes out, and has to invite us in because she doesn't have the spare, it's at her mother's across town, and of course it's rush hour so she can't leave yet, it would take an hour. So she insists (even though we are obviously putting her out) that we come inside, and we go in (even though we don't want to impose) and we sit on her couch for an hour dripping wet while her naked one-year old runs around and she tries to fold her laundry, which was everywhere, I felt terrible and it was mortifying! Because of this, I am definitely going to hide a key somewhere in a magnetic hide-a-key, but I think I'll do it in the back, not the front, so as to not be discovered from the street. It's too easy to be locked out!
We got a code lock for the front door. No keys required. I thought it would cost a fortune but turned out to be a reasonable expense.
2 things, 1 practical and 1 a broader principle:
Spend a few minutes for just one week in whatever way best fits your learning style to making a mental connection between locating your keys *before* walking through a door out of your home.
Be present. If you're an adrenaline junky or just taking on too many responsibilities, mental distraction is the downside, and it's a big one. All areas of your life are suffering, and the irony is without being present to now you're unaware of it.
I keep a spare house key and car key in my wallet.
I made a spare set of keys & gave them to my parents & mother in law. My parents live a few blocks away so one of them can be here in no time & my mother in law is about 15 Min away & a spare set helps her when she watches our cats when we are away.