Key Safety – 3 Things To Know

You can get your locks changed as often as you'd like, but if you don't practice key safety, those locks could prove to be useless. Outside of locking and unlocking their doors, many people don't give their keys a second thought. Below, you will learn some tips to help keep your keys safe and reduce the likelihood of your keys falling into the wrong person's hands:

Eliminate Hide-A-Keys

So many people keep a key stashed just outside their doors to ensure they have access to their homes if they should lose their keys or lock them inside. Sure, this can be a handy idea in those events, but in all seriousness, it's just like leaving your door unlocked when you leave. All it takes is one person seeing where you go to retrieve the key or hiding it in a common place, like under the doormat, flowerpot or stone, to grant someone access to your home with no evidence that they have even intruded.

If you lock yourself out of the house often, consider upgrading the lock on at least one door to a pin entry lock. This way, you won't actually need a key to get in – you will just need to remember your pin.

Clear your Keychain

Don't load your keychain up with every key that you need in your life. If you lose that one keychain, you will have a lot of work to re-secure the locks that those keys unlocked. Instead, have one keychain for your car and home, one for your work keys and one for those keys that unlock other secured areas. This will nearly eliminate the chances of you losing all of your keys at once and having to replace the locks on everything you have secured.

Use your Valet Key

When you drive up to the valet parking service and hand the keys over to the nice person waiting to drive away with your car, do you hand them the keychain that has the keys to your car, your home and maybe your office? Do you know that person? Can you trust that they won't look at your address on the information in your glovebox, make a copy of your key and have access to your home at any given time?

Instead of handing the valet driver your keychain, hand them the valet key to your car. This key only unlocks the doors and starts the car. You can then lock your glovebox and keep your personal information safe as well as the keys that are on your keychain.

Please think about key safety as you go through the day. Those keys are the one thing keeping your home, car, and office safe each day and night. Contact a company like The Locksmith House for more information and assistance.