Locksmith Irving TX

Locksmith Irving TX: How to Prevent Lockouts

If you find yourself locked out, it can be a stressful situation. Once you get access to your place again, you generally breathe a sigh of relief and have a chuckle at your forgetfulness. However, have you ever thought of ways you can prevent a lockout from happening to begin with? If you haven’t, there are strategies you can employ to greatly reduce the chance of a lockout happening at all. You will never be able to predict a lockout happening (or else you would just take steps to avoid it), but by following the below strategies, you can greatly reduce the chance of a lockout occurring. In the majority of cases, lockouts happen due to lost, misplaced or forgotten keys. The common places you will face a lockout include:

1. Automobile
2. Home
3. Office/Business

No matter where the lockout occurs, it can be stressful and frustrating. However, by following the tips laid out here, you are exercising precaution and taking preventative measures that will assist you in avoiding a lockout altogether. Keep reading for more tips.

Keep a spare nearby

For home or office lockouts, you might consider keeping a spare key nearby. It might be a good idea to keep a spare key in an item you always have with you (such as a purse, backpack, inside jacket pocket, etc.). Depending on the layout of your property, you may be able to hide a spare key somewhere on your premises. Of course, avoid obvious hiding places that thieves may check (such as under your welcome mat). If you have a neighbor you trust, you may consider leaving a spare with them. For offices or business, you might leave a spare with a neighboring shop owner (once again, this depends on your trust level). Or, if your commercial property has a management office, the property manager can keep a spare key for you.

Develop key checking habits

Try to build a habit of checking for your keys before you leave your home or office. The same way you habitually check to make sure your cell phone or purse is with you, develop a routine where you automatically check for your keys before you leave. It may take a while for this to become a habit, but the more you consciously do it, the more it will become a part of your subconscious routine. It will get to a point where you start to do a key check automatically. The more this happens, the better it is for you because it means you are on the way to never forgetting your keys. Another part to add to your routine is putting the key in a safe place after you use it. Perhaps you always put your key ring back in your right jacket pocket, or in the inside pocket of your purse. Build this into your routine as well. You will want to do the same for your car keys. If you are always changing the place you put your keys, it is more likely that you will forget or misplace your keys, and end up in a lockout situation.

Attach accessories

If you find yourself losing your keys a lot, you might want to consider adding things to your key chain. Adding accessories that are eye catching, such as a brightly colored rubber band around the keys may help. You can also add noisy accessories. If you add something that rattles or makes noise, you will hear your keys should they fall out of your pocket. These accessories will also add extra weight to your key set, meaning you will notice if that extra weight is missing from your pocket or bag. You can also opt to put your keys on a neck lanyard, and wear them around your neck. This may be a good idea if you find yourself misplacing your car keys often. You can put the single car key around your neck in the morning, and then just tuck the key into your shirt throughout the day.

Consider keyless entry solutions

If lockouts are a huge concern for you, you might want to consider the many keyless entry solutions available on the market. This may be an especially a good idea for your commercial property. You can have a keyless entry pad installed, and that way you can gain entry to your business by entering your code. You can also share the code with managers or other employees, so that you are not always the one who needs to open up the business. There are also keyless entry pads that can be installed at your homes. Many of these pads have key and keypad options. So you can continue to use a key if you’d like. And in the case that your key is misplaced or forgotten, you can enter your code to gain access to your home. If being locked out of your car is your major concern, there are keyless entry options for vehicles available on the market as well. With these options, you would enter your combination on a keypad that is located in your car's door, and this would give you access to your vehicle.

Hide a Key boxes

Hide a key boxes are not highly recommended because burglars can access them. However, what some people do is invest in lock boxes used by realtors. As a twist, they will store their keys in a friend or family members lockbox (someone who lives a few minutes away), and their friend will store their keys in the lockbox on your property. So if you are locked out, you would drive or walk to your friend’s house and retrieve your keys from the lockbox. The point of doing things this way is if a burglar opens the lockbox on your property, they will find that the key does not work in your locks. This adds an extra layer of security to this option.

Prevention is key, but sometimes you will find yourself in a lockout situation. When that happens, simply place a call to a locksmith and they can get you into your property fast. If you are in Irving, TX, give a call to the expert team at Locksmith Irving TX.