Is it the key to everything?

My family have several extra keys at home, making up at least three bunches. But none of them are used by anyone other than the family. And I don’t think anyone here is willing to share their keys to outsiders either. The risk is just too high: you can never know if your keys held by outsiders for any reason get into the hand of strangers, and the strangers can do any kind of things with them. We used to give our extra keys to my grandparents, but after they almost lost them we had to change our mind.

I have a key hidden about five blocks away under a rock in someones yard. It is in a ziplock to keep it from getting wet. My thinking here is that even if someone did find it they would have no idea what it actually went to. But I can still retrieve it in ten minutes if I need to.

Lock my door? Never, unless I am going out of town for a couple days.

Seriously, I live in a good quiet neighborhood and I can’t think of the last time I locked the door when leaving the house.

I keep an extra hidden

Each of the four people who live in the house have a key. We don’t have keys hidden outside. I’ve thought about it, but I’ve never got around to doing it. Nobody else has a key to the house.

I live in a neighborhood like @elbanditoroso ‘s .
A few years back I decided to make an effort to find the keys for all the doors (front, rear, garage front, garage rear, side) to this 60 year old house. Every one was different and 3 out of 5 were not functional.
I bought 4 new door knobs and locks, all keyed the same, and installed them in an afternoon. The doors have only been locked a hand full of times. I don’t know if they still work.
I only carry car keys and the keys to my office.

Between my friends and relatives, there are at least a dozen set of keys out there and we never gave it much thought until I had to replace a worn out lock mechanism installed when the house was built in the 1920s.

I don’t use keys to get in my house. I come in through the garage door and I have a door opener plus a keypad. I have no idea where my keys are.

Hubby and I each have a key. Should something drastic happen, we do have a window that doesn’t lock, so there’s a way inside.

I have keys to the house with our car keys, but none hidden anywhere else. My garage door has a keypad to open.

My parents have keys.

Last winter, one of the coldest days of the year, I went to a retirement party after work on a Friday. Party was about two miles from my parents’ house, which is 45 minutes from my house. Long story short, I get home around 11 pm, am locked out, no spare key. Drive to my parents house (hour and a half round trip), get some keys, they’re the wrong keys. I had to go to a hotel (Best Western, $100, 1 a.m. arrival time). No pajamas, no eye glasses, no contact lens case or solution, no tooth brush, etc. It taught me a lesson.

I’m a self employed locksmith, so I guess i’m the key member of the household hahahaha, ahem…yeah, i’ll get my coat.

I have a key and my husband has a key. I also keep a spare key on a largish key ring on the secretary just inside the door to give to house guests or pet sitters, etc.

I have a key, but I don’t know where it is.

I don’t remember when I last had a house key. Years. I don’t remember what even happened to it. If no one is home and the garage door opener won’t work, I’m shit outta luck.

When does adaptability cross the line into procrastination?

My SO and the handyman both have keys. I think the handyman’s key might have formerly been mine.

The 2 of you should remedy that as you well know

Well, if I lock up the house when I’m gone, people who need to come in can’t come in.

@chyna What would happen if you came home to a power outage?

Six keys have been made for my home. Three are accounted for; three are (hopefully) gone forever. One was given to a housemate who now lives 1300 miles away, one was given to a neighbor who suddenly moved out (long, scandalous story) and we lost touch, and another was lost by me. I know when it happened, but haven’t been able to locate it in six years.

Of the existing three, two are on separate key chains and one is in a lock box attached to the house.

I have a back up battery.

We all have a key each. Doors always get locked. The back door key hangs on a hook so that if we get locked out, we can still use the key that our neighbour has. My daughter occasionally locks me out by leaving her key in the lock if she locks herself in. I’m then left banging on the door until she hears me over the noise of her tv

Have two keys for most everything on my person but not in the same location (pocket and such) and never on the same key ring.

If you don’t lock up your house, and you get broken into, are you still covered by insurance?

@Earthbound_Misfit Not based upon my home owner’s insurance policy. “Broken into” requires proof that there was actually a break-in. It also needs to be reported to official authorities within a specific period of time.

I also wouldn’t be insured here if they found out my home was left unsecured. Years ago, I was renting a house and I locked up but left the key in the back door. Someone broke the window and went in through the back and robbed the house while we were out. For some reason (I can’t remember why), I then couldn’t lock the house up. I called the insurance to say I didn’t want to stay there on my own until the lock was fixed on the Monday and they said if I left the property unsecured, I wouldn’t be insured for any further damage/loss.

This is why we all need to read the fine print and review it on all insurance policies on a regular basis. I’ll admit that that I’m guilty of not doing this.

Passed a guy and his friend trying to figure out how to get into his truck because he locked the keys inside, if he had an extra pair in his other pocket, there would have never been an issue.

My house has been broken into twice. Once through an unlocked door, and once by breaking in the front door in broad daylight.
Both were reported promptly, neither received any perceptible attention from the local authorities. I’ve been told that’s the case around here unless you call the state troopers instead.

Basically, the difference was that I had to pay for repairs when they had to break in.

Both resulted in loss less than my deductible, so neither was reported to insurance.

Our son and daughter have keys. We never lock our doors.

I always lock the door and my son has a spare. My girlfriend also had a spare when she was here.

We have an alarm system now, and I vote that we just set the alarm and leave the door unlocked, but I’m overruled.