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Creative Guide to Hiding House Keys

Date posted: June 1, 2013

The key (see what I did there?) to keeping intruders out of the house is to stall them as long as possible, making their attempts to break in more obvious and time goes by. Hiding your house keys under the welcome mat may as well be a sign on the door saying, “Hello! Please come in and take all of our valuables!” In order to avoid that, try one of these creative tricks to catch potential intruders and keep your home safe.

1. Key vault: Key vaults are small, weatherproof boxes secured with a combination. Although a good thought, they dare potential burglars to break them open, and then break into your home. They are large and obvious targets, therefore making good decoys for intruders. Either put someone else’s house keys in the box (someone living across town who has your house keys in their vault) or just dummy keys that don’t unlock anything.

2. Keys on a wire: It is nearly impossible for a burglar to go unheard and unnoticed when having to retrieve a key from a ring of keys hanging where a door knocker would be (all keys but one should be dummies). Robbers will either have to waste time finding the right key, or waking neighbors with the clatter of keys. Hanging multiple keys from multiple rings will only amplify the sound and decrease the risk of the burglar getting away clean.

3. Dead key drop: You don’t necessarily have to put your keys in plain sight of an intruder. If you have an outdoor A/C unit, find an inconspicuous spot on it and stash the key there. It shouldn’t be somewhere where a standing person could see it, or anywhere within finger-swiping reach. Glue a magnet to the key and hang it from an interior surface of the unit.

4. Personal key protector: Affix a small pouch to your dog’s collar and keep your spare key in it. The dog runs around in the yard all day anyway, so put it to use! The keys are effectively guarded and your dog is given a sense of purpose.

5. Key Party: Fill a mason jar halfway with dummy keys, put the spare key in (a different colored one so you know which is the correct key, but not so differently colored that it is immediately noticeable), and then fill the rest with more dummies. Shake the jar to mix it all together, and it should take the potential intruders and yourself a significant amount of time to find the correct key – which is the whole point!

Courtesy of Gizmodo

http://gizmodo.com/how-to-hide-your-house-keys-in-plain-sight-510318178