Got locked out of the house!

[rolsby]

Well, it happened.  As the wife, kids, and I were heading out for a drive, the wife says "Do you have your keys?"
"No, why?" and then I see the look on her face.  I left my keys in my uniform coat and I was wearing my "civilian" coat.  We were locked out and no access to the car.
Not a big problem, the weather is nice and we both have our cell phones.
"I'll call my parents," she says. "Oh no! My battery is dying.  I was going to charge it in the car."

I call the parents, who have a spare key.  No answer at the house.  I call the Mom-in-law at work.  It's around lunch and she is close enough to drive home and help us.  Then she asks, "Which key is yours?"  Since the wife handled the pass, I don't know and now she doesn't remember.

We went to a near-by store and entertained ourselves while mom-in-law left work, drove home, found our keys, drove over, and unlocked the door.

What went wrong?
* Not transferring Every Day Carry items from one outfit to the next.  We have a key hook, but I don't think mine was on it.  I have an organizer to keep all my EDC stuff in one place, it just wasn't fully/properly used.
* Holding out for charging the phone.  Sure, recharging a battery when it's only halfway can degrade a NiCad battery, but consider the cost if you're locked out with no battery on your cell.  What if I hadn't been there with my phone?
* No backup plan if we can't get to the ONE spare key.
* A clearly marked keychain -- not necessarily with the physical address, just something unique to us

What went right?
* We left a spare key
* We had our cell phones
* We had a porch for temp shelter.  Man, if it had been raining...
* There was a heated store nearby.  Only a problem at night but there is a 24 place, but it isn't seven days... *sigh*

What we'll do in the future?
* Be more alert about keys before going out the door
* Be more attentive about cell phone charge levels
* Maybe give out another spare key?
* Perhaps put a picture keychain on the spare with a picture of us in front of our house? *lol*

P.S. I skipped where I tried to break into our house and our self-defense carry options.

[Matt G]

Well it looks as though you covered everything.  I personally hide a key outside.  Sprayed with WD-40 and wrapped in celephane.  I hide it at night when no one is looking and iif I had to use it I would move its location.  Never had to use it.

Matt G

[Daeglan]

better option than hiding a key is having a combo lockbox for a key. you can put it in an unobtrusive place and since it is locked it is not nearly as catastrophic if it is found. And theives know all the usual places to hide a key.

[tom]

Never use keys to my house, keypad on garage door. If you can get in the garage...the house is fair game and it is alarmed...on a different code.

tom

[rolsby]

I received a response after cross posting my original post on my blog.

A woman and her son were locked out when her husband was out of town.  She had no cell phone and had to walk to a payphone with her son.  She had to call her in-laws collect.

As for the keychain, she suggests a dog tag (the ones you can purchase and engrave at petsmart) on it with my cell number, name and email address.

I'm not overly fond of the second option, but it starts the luggage tag conversation which may have been covered in the hotel security episodes?

[Kripton]

I always carry a spare key in my wallet. I realize that if i lost my wallet that the person would have not only my key but my address. but this is a chance i have evaluated at willing to chance.

[Daeglan]

I'll stick with the combo lock box as it keeps the house key away from address. and is still useful if you leave everything inside.

[Speedy]

They now have locks that in addition to a key also have a pad for a finger print.  The pad in UNDER the lock so you have no idea it is there unless you already know.  Either the key or print will open the door.

A friend has this lock & I think I need one. The husband is always locking himself out of the house.