Happened to me. I was in the yard, doing X, wife went out to store, locked house, nobody home but the cat, and that cat hates me, so it wouldn't open the door. It was about 30 degrees out.

There is NO non-destructive way to get into my house, and, unfortunately in this case, there was no way for me to get in. I thought about it for a while and decided to keep working outside for a while, and if I needed to get in, I'd break a window (and set off the alarm...oy).

Fortunately, she came home within the hour, but after that, I hid a key outside - no it's not under a "rock like" thing or under the door mat. In fact, it's not even near the house at all. But it's there if I ever need it. Kids know where it is too.

I noticed on a recent cold morning our frail neighbor lady trying to scrape the ice off her windshield. She is very short and was having a hard time. I went over to help out. She was using a metal kitchen spatula. I took over and she got in her car to warm up. When I was almost done she got out and said I had done enought and she wanted to finish herself. She really did not like me being away from home since I don't get home often. Reluctantly, I went back home to get her a large reach scaper and a warm gloved scraper I had as spares. When I approached, she said she had a problem. She locked herself out with the engine running with all her keys even her spare keys, including her house keys, in the car. Her car was designed to be theft proof. Even with my Chicago backround, I could not open her door locks with a coat hanger wire. But I did the next best thing, I was able to open her electric windows which allowed me to easily reach in and unlock the doors.

We always have had a spare key for her house but we now have a spare to her car and she keeps a coat hanger in her shed just in case.

Often keys for remote buildings and gates are hidden somewhere near the structure, like behind a tree or under a rock, etc.

The problem comes when there is snow on the ground, you just follow the tracks of the person before you to the key hiding site, simple.

Mike

Both my truck and my wifes SUV have chipped keys. I had a non chipped key cut for each vehicle and wired inside of the frame rail on the passengers side of the vehicle. If the keys are locked inside (as has been done on a couple occasions) the non-chipped key allows access to the interior of the vehicle.

I also have hidden a chipped key in the vehicle compartment of the vehicle in the event that a key is lost. The non-chipped key is used to gain access to the vehicle and then the chipped key is retrieved to operate the vehicle. I hide the chipped key behind the glove box so someone would have to know where to look and then disassemble the glove box to retrieve the key. This way, even if someone finds the key wired to the frame, they could take the contents of the vehicle but not take the vehicle.

They'd have to be lucky to find the nonn-chipped key and extremely lucky to find both.

I also have a house key hidden outside, but you gotta go into the backyard to get it and even then if is not obvious where it is.

As far as cars go,if you use a wooden wedge between the door and frame it makes it far easier to slide in and use a coat hanger.

Also if you tie a fish line tight so it does not slide a few inches from the working end of the coat hanger and hold onto the other end outside the car , you can pull the line to make the coat hanger bend and move to where you need it to hit a button etc.

That fish line idea is awesome!! I always manage to get close and then pull the wire out to try to re-bend . . . lot of wasted time.

Dental floss works for that as well. I find that having two ends of floss strung back from opposing angles is ideal for repositioning/contorting the end of the hanger.

Years ago a good ziplock with a housekey, buried under the dirt at the water meter box was popular. Then it was in a valve box for the sprinklers. Didn't even drop the garage door or lock the doors, vehicles, etc. Heck, we had a tractor that had no key, it was push button start.

Then I moved into town.

Now I suggest a keybox,I personally like the Supra S7..with the rubber cover, looks like a somewhat typical outdoor outlet cover.
I wired mine to the alarm, in case someone knocks it off with a sledge hammer. and there's a tamper switch inside that goes off when it's opened. Just in case someone acquires the combination..they still need a code for the alarm company.

For the vehicle: if you have a good hitch..there's the hitchsafe product.
The following description is probably is not a good idea for those RFID chip type keys.
Using some soap and water, clean up a frame rail top, dry thoroughly, with a hot glue gun, or epoxy (lightly)..glue a key to the top of the rail,
wait for it to dry, cover/blend in with paintable silicone sealant.

then paint with matching(typically black) paint. add dirt for effect.
Pick a couple of drywall screws or nails and hide strategically where you know where they're at, and will not fall out and blow someones tire.
My last truck had 270k on it, and the key was still intact. (and the key was there for 260k of those miles)

My house i am not worried about, we have a spare hidden around here somewhere.

my truck has a hide-a-key inside my frame, It's c shaped and opens to the inside, nice lip up. So if you don't know its there it takes a long time to find, plus my truck is a '98 with the bottom part of my front bumper missing. (air dam) so theft is not a really big worry of mine.

IIRC some LEP will not slim-jim a car. The LEP's in El Paso, Texas won't (personal experience). Liability. Some lady locked her baby in the back seat of her car, with the windows up, engine off, in the El Paso sun. Frantic she flagged down a passing cruiser, he slim jim'ed her door open, she was happy until she went to leave. a wire had come loose and apparently shorted out her door. She sued and won. Now the El Paso LEP will not slim-jim. They sometimes might help you with what you are doing, will call a locksmith, or if it is an emergency break out your window. but that might just be there. I would not bet on LEP's slim-jim-ing my car though.

I used to have a hide-a-key, then I went 4 wheeling without warning one day. never saw it again..it was inside the frame as well. I figured some brush or palmettoes got up in there and swept it out somehow as I went chasing down a (sorta)dirt trail. That's when I decided to epoxy on to the top of the frame, above the spare tire area..remarkably after that, I never lost my keys. go figure.