I have a nice house but I don’t have anything worth stealing. The thief would be very disappointed.
Our garage door opener is programmed in my car.
So just how many of you actually get locked out? I can think of only one time and that was when my DS was with a friend so he didn’t need car keys (house keys are on same ring) and came home while we were out. (Luckily we were on our way home). After that I’ve told my kids to grab a house key even if they are not driving.
We installed a keypad on the side of the house after a few frustrating experiences of being locked out. At that time it cost $55 and I could not believe we hadn’t done it earlier. We will likely be replacing our front door in the next year or so (updating the facade of the house) and I love the idea of a keyless lock. The few I’ve seen all have the numbers visible which I wouldn’t want but if I can find an attractive one that isn’t so obvious, I’ll definitely make the switch.
And ditto to not leaving a key or remote in the car for security reasons. We went through a period where someone was smashing windows of cars left on the street overnight in our town to steal things and this was a real problem. A key to someone else’s house (like an aging parent, as mentioned above), makes lots of sense.
I don’t get locked out, having deadbolts on doors & garage door opener in car, but key can be an issue for my teenage D who spends half time at her dad’s and doesn’t drive.
Likewise, if one of the older kids is arriving from out of town while I’m at work, they can get in.
Are there any keypads that work with three point lock systems? I thought they only existed for single dead bolt locks.
My husband has been locked out. He sometimes goes for walks or bicycle rides without telling me, without carrying his key. Then, if I go out in my car, he can’t get back in.
But we don’t have a spare key anywhere on our property. That would make us both nervous. It’s enough that we both have keys.
If I lived alone, I think I would leave my spare key at my office. And if I didn’t have a job, I would give it to a neighbor or friend. I can’t see leaving one hidden outside. The hiding places are too obvious.
Thanks for all the responses and suggestions. There are two spare keys: my ex-h, who lives 2.5 hours away (and wouldn’t come even if I asked him to) has one, and my brother, who lives a 10-minute walk away (and didn’t answer the door when I knocked and rang the doorbell) has another. My office is a half-hour drive; my car keys were inside the house, on the rings with the house keys. I’m still contemplating where to hide or to whom to give a key.
I highly recommend changing the lock so your ex would not get in with his key.
@ClaremontMom: Your family has only done it once, get locked out? Wow, I can’t even imagine that. I’ve crawled in a kitchen window twice, and hoisted a kid up to the second level (a bit of a catwoman she is) to enter an upstairs window and then come down and let the rest of us in. While she can still be hoisted, I can no longer climb through the window.
Neighbors are the surest bet, though.
In my most paranoid fantasies, I think about my ex getting into the house with his key, but in reality, he wouldn’t even leave his parents’ home to see his children at Christmas, so I’ve placed getting a new doorknob at a lower priority than some of the many repairs crying out for my dollars.
My existence is rather pathetic: single divorced middle-aged woman locked out of house on a cold Saturday morning; no phone because it’s inside the house; even if she called ex-h, he wouldn’t answer; walks two blocks to brother’s house, feeling like she’s going to have a heart attack because of ill health and the cold; brother doesn’t answer the door. This was a sad weekend for me.
rosesred, gosh, if we were your neighbors, we would be happy to “adopt” you. 
You should have seen Mr. taking on the wasps that made the nest in the crawl space of our neighbor’s home (her H was serving overseas).
seriously, dig a hole, put your key in a small container, fill the hole and put a pot on top.
So sorry about your weekend 
We have been locked out many times and have always been able to get our key from the neighbor. We did feel bad waking them at midnight when we couldn’t find our key in our luggage but otherwise they were always gone and amused at his often we lock ourselves out among the 4 of us.
For awhile, we put a spare key in the carport cupboard with a combo padlock but I got nervous when there were burglaries in the neighborhood and decided only to have a key with the neighbor.
We are friendly with another of our neighbors but they are frequently out and also travel, so not as readily accessible.
We have a lock box. The kids didn’t even carry keys when they were first coming home on the bus alone. No worries about them losing keys.
It’s also useful for pier sitters.
This is so timely. I just saw a video clip about this on fb this morning. Hot glue an acorn or stone to the lid of an empty prescription pill container. Put the key in the bottle. Replace the lid and then place in a small hole in the yard. Easy and free!!
“Hot glue an acorn” The huge squirrel/chipmunk population in my yard would abscond with that acorn. Or the deer. I better stick to a stone. haha.
Several ideas regarding spare keys.
Ask a neighbor if you can put a key under their mat or in their back shed.
Put a key under the floormat of your car or under the carpet in the trunk.
Use a fake rock but but put it in someone else’s yard or a block away from your house.
It is very easy to replace a lock yourself. It just requires a screwdriver in most cases.
Unfortunately, I would have to replace the doorknob to replace the lock.
@Waiting2exhale -yup. That is the only incident. But it occurs to me it may be a matter of our lock (and a possible solution to those of you who get locked out a lot). Our front door requires a key to lock it. It’s not going to lock accidentally behind us and every set of car keys has a house key, it’s really hard to leave without a key. The only possibility it if someine leaves for a walk or bike ride or gets a ride with friends and we’ve just been good about either taking a key or making sure someone will be home when we return.
That said ( and now that I’ve jinxed ourselves) I may take one of these suggestions just to be sure.
@rosered55 – it’s not hard to replace the doorknob either. Go by a good hardware store and they’ll show you how.