Always Lock on the Bright Side of Life: 4 Things to Keep in Mind About Your Home Keys & Locks
It's a truly sickening feeling when you realise you don't have your keys to get inside your home. The mad scramble inside every single pocket isn't coming up trumps, and with each passing minute you become more and more stressed at the prospect of being trapped outside your household.
Fortunately, there are a few simple and easy ways to deal with this nightmare scenario. Just remember the acronym KEYS, and you might find that the aspect of temporarily being unable to get into your home isn't actually the end of the world after all.
K—Key Keeping
Keeping your keys in the right places is the best way to make sure you always have access to your home. Give out one spare key to one trusted family member or friend who lives in the local area when you move into a new place, and make it distinctive by wrapping a coloured rubber band or sticker around it. This way if you arrive on your doorstep one day to find that your key has gone walkabout, you can call your trusted friend to look for the spare that you handed them previously, and they'll find it in no time.
As for your own key, make sure it's attached to a keychain or two so that it has some substantial weight to it. People who lose their keys on a regular basis often do so because they walk around with one or two loose keys dancing around in their back pocket. Doing this is simply asking for trouble.
Give your keys something to grab onto by attaching them to a couple of small keys chains. This way you'll hear them quietly jangling about inside your pockets to give you reassurance that they're still there. If by any chance they've slipped out of your pocket, you'll know about it sooner rather than later as your trousers will feel noticeably lighter.
E—Emergencies
After finding yourself unable to get inside your home, take a deep breath and consider whether everything on the inside is in check: Is the stove on? Is there a young child in the house? Are there pets that need attention? These kinds of scenarios will require either an emergency locksmith or the emergency services.
Never be embarrassed to contact as many people as you can when you desperately need to get into your home. The safety of your house and any vulnerable inhabitants are paramount, and much more important than saving face.
Most locksmiths will require identification to confirm that you are in fact the homeowner. If you do not have any proof of address with you, take the time to consider the whereabouts of these documents inside your home whilst you wait for the locksmith to arrive. Then, you can go directly to that source and prove your identity after the door is opened. If you have any identity documents that might come in handy sat at another location, go there to pick them up whilst you wait for the locksmith to arrive.
Y—Yanking Doesn't Help
From time to time, people enter their key into their front door like they have done hundreds of times before, except on this occasions it cracks inside the lock. As tempting as it might be to yank a broken key out of a lock, you should never attempt to take this matter into your own hands. You might have heard a story about a friend who managed to do it once, but trying DIY locksmithing is undoubtedly a bad idea.
Any prying or poking with other objects to try and get the snapped key out from inside the lock will likely cause significant damage to the mechanism inside, leading to hundreds of dollars spent on unnecessary door repairs and a much longer wait time whilst your locksmith tries to rectify the damage you've caused. If your key ever cracks inside a lock, simply call locksmiths like AAA Coalfields Locksmiths and let them do the rest.
S—Smartphone
Having a smartphone is all the rage these days, but did you know that being up to date with your cell phone also comes in extremely handy if you ever end up losing your home door key? Many smartphones come with a protective case, and providing that there is enough room inside, this is often a great place to store a spare key.
Also, smartphones act as a great way to be able to contact your locksmith quickly and easily. Ready yourself for the event of a lockout by storing all your local locksmith numbers in your contact list, take a picture of your proof of identification/address and store it in your digital album, and download any appropriate apps that might be come in useful if the situation arises. This way, your smartphone could act as your saviour if you're ever stranded on the street.
Share
