How You and Your Family Can Prevent Lockouts

Protecting your family most often begins with the locks and keys you use to secure your home. However, sometimes the very thing that is meant to keep your family safe while inside your home may backfire and lead to a lockout. Lockouts happen to the best of us, but luckily there are several things that you and your family members can do to prevent them. Follow some of the steps below to help you prevent lockouts, as well as some helpful advice for what you can do if you find yourself locked out.

• Communicate with Each Other

  Regardless of whether or not you live with roommates or family, it will be important to make sure good communication is practiced among everyone who you live with. Keeping everyone on the same page in terms of security measures that must be taken, as well as alerting others to any concerns you may have is important. Discussing certain aspects of your security with those you live with on a periodic basis will help everyone to stay more alert and on top of any potential problems. You may find that an extra key must be cut for one of your family members, or that one of your roommates is concerned about getting locked out for one reason or another.

  Good communication is important when it comes to preventing lockouts. Be sure to check in with your housemates every so often and see if everyone still has a working house key and a back-up plan in place if there are ever any problems.

• Create a Household Calendar

  A shared calendar is a great way to keep everyone in your household on the same page. The members of your family can either participate in using a physical calendar that is on the wall or refrigerator of your home, or you may opt to try a digital calendar through your smartphone. With a digital calendar or application, your family members can see each family member’s schedules while on-the-go and update any schedule changes remotely. Sometimes lockouts happen because we assume someone in our household will be home and then they are unexpectedly not. Knowing where your family members are throughout the week and about what time they leave and arrive home is helpful when it comes to preventing lockouts.

• Hide-a-Key Somewhere

  This is the most popular option you can use to hide a key somewhere on your property, without the risk of it falling in the wrong hands. While some homeowners and household choose to hide an extra house key under their doormat, under flower pots, or other nearby hiding spots, this is not always the best idea. Criminals and home invaders are aware that a vast majority of homeowners opt for easy to find hiding spots. It is recommended to purchase an inconspicuous hide-a-key device to place somewhere on your property. That way, you can still have an extra key close by, but it will not be as obvious. Hide-a-key devices are shaped like all kinds of different lawn objects, such as rocks or other items, in order to deter criminals from finding the extra key easily.

• Have a Friend or Neighbor Hold a Key

  If you have a trusted neighbor, friend, or family member that is in your area, you can always decide to leave an extra key with them. This can be helpful since you can easily call someone that you already know to help you out of a jam.