We all have them, sometimes even without realising it.

The place where you put your keys when you go to bed.  What?  Don’t tell you leave them on the coffee table in the living room or on the hall table ready for a quick escape in case of fire in the middle of the night.  It is a well known fact that those are the first places a burglar will look.

For years in many homes in Ireland, there were only two keys to the front door.  The man of the house had one and the other was for use by the wife and all the children.  If ‘mother’ was going out before the children were home from school, the key was placed under the doormat or nearest flowerpot.

In other houses the key was attached to a long piece of cord and hung on a nail on the inside of the door directly above the letterbox.   When any member of the family arrived home, they put their hand through the letterbox and pulled out the cord until they had the key.  The cord would be long enough to reach the key hole.  Once the door was open the key was pushed back through the letterbox once more.

I know a lady who is so afraid of locking herself out that she has given keys to some of her neighbours.  I actually sat and counted the number of keys belonging to her that she gave to people at different times.  EIGHT  Eight sets of keys and I am sure that half the time she does not remember who has them.

I have contingency plans made for when I lock myself out.  I have done, and proved my plan works, but there is no way I am telling the whole world how I do it!

Now one lady I knew kept money in cookery book, but that is a story for another day