A Downspout Is The Perfect Hiding Place For Your Spare House Key

If you've lived long enough, you know life has a way of humbling you at the most inconvenient moments. Maybe you've stepped outside for a minute to grab a package and heard that heartbreaking click behind you. Or perhaps your hands were full of groceries, and you set your door key down somewhere, only to realize that "somewhere" is inside your house. The CEO of August, the smart-lock company, once told Business Insider that roughly 2 million people have ended up stuck outside their homes. Today, we've learned and adapted. For this reason, we prefer stashing a spare key somewhere safe. However, the burglars have gotten far too clever. The planter or the fake rock trick isn't new to them. But a downspout, plain and unexpected, blends into the structure of your home. It makes up for a perfect hiding place because it's the one spot nobody thinks to check.

Hiding a spare key in your downspout can be a gift to your everyday life, as well. Say the babysitter needs to get in while you're stuck in traffic, or your cousin is dropping by early when you're still out running errands. You don't need to hand out a bunch of key copies for these potential circumstances. What you can do is simply tell your trusted people exactly where the spare is. In emergencies like checking on aging parents or rushing inside to deal with a gas leak in your home, it may even become a lifesaver. As an added benefit, you won't have to carry around a bulky spare key that rattles around like a charm bracelet.

There are a couple of clever ways to tuck a spare key in a downspout in your yard, but let's clear one thing up right away: you cannot drop the key straight down the pipe and hope for the best. The rattling alone will make you question your life choices every time it rains. And if water flows through your downspout (as it should), your key will eventually slide down to the bottom, sit in dirt, or even wash out entirely. So, yes, we need a strategy.

One method is to attach a strong magnet to the flat side of your key with the help of glue and let it dry. Then stick it to the inner wall of the downspout that's the least likely to be consistently wet — this will help prevent rust. It stays hidden, and, best of all, doesn't budge. If magnets aren't your thing, weatherproof tape, like the ITAKITE Waterproof Tape, can do the job well. Secure the key onto a strip, then press it firmly inside the downspout. It'll hold on through heat, rain, cold, and that weird windy dust that shows up out of nowhere. And since it's tucked inside, it won't get soaked.