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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this is extortionate

207 replies

Butterflykissess · 05/06/2018 17:25

I've lost my house keys, I've searched high and low. I've been looking for at least 2 hours. Even in the wheelie bins. Realistically there is nowhere else for me to look now. I called the council and apparently it is £94 for a locksmith. Aibu in thinking that is ridiculous? How do they justify that. I simply can't afford that amount. I know I should have had a spare (I did silly me gave it to my nephew when he stayed here and he never gave it back, now doesn't know where it is.)

OP posts:
Sarahrellyboo1987 · 06/06/2018 22:13

YABU it sucks - but that’s adult life.

If it’s a cheap price IMHO

Dexy1957 · 06/06/2018 22:30

My mum always asks st Anthony,I’ve tried. It when I’ve lost something nearly always works!!! X

manicmij · 06/06/2018 22:36

You saw them when you picked up your phone, sure you didn't pick up the keys too. Has anyone gone out of house before you and had to use keys. Do hope you find them. Price you have been given is reasonable. Know anyone who can change the lock or barrel if it's that type for you.

SherbrookeFosterer · 06/06/2018 22:40

Try the washing machine.

At least being locked in is mildly better than being locked out.

I hope you resolve the problem soon. Good luck.

Loonoon · 06/06/2018 22:46

I lost DCs 2 day old Clarks school shoes once. After three days frantic searching I had to bite the bullet and buy a new pair for the upcoming autumn term. It was a massive chunk out of our household budget in a month where all the DCs have birthdays.

The shoes turned up about 6 years later when we moved house, tucked neatly into an archived box of bank/credit card and utility statements I had been organising.

Wearelocal · 06/06/2018 22:59

Ps with st Anthony, you must make a donation in a Catholic Church. There's usually a box. He is not a free saint! I usually pay ahead, and he always finds lost stuff Smile

AcrossthePond55 · 06/06/2018 23:54

He is not a free saint! So that's why it never works for me!!!! That, and I'm not Catholic!

Although I will admit that burying St Joseph upside down in my yard got my house sold within 2 weeks after it had been on the market for months!

beehive74 · 07/06/2018 08:45

My dd2 when she was 3 decided to hide mine in the back of her peppa pig house ! Took me 3 hours to find them!

Mumto2two · 07/06/2018 08:59

Our then 3 year old pulled the front door closed while I was packing the car, leaving our keys inside. The locksmith cost us £180. Just to open a door. But they have businesses to run, and around here, that was a competitive price.

MustShowDH · 07/06/2018 11:12

I need to get a life - I REALLY want to know where the keys turn up!

No place is too unlikely to look when you have children.

Offer the kids £1 for whoever finds them.

Original poster
Butterflykissess · 07/06/2018 14:42

Well quick update. The keys my mum had are NOT my keys!! Unbelievable. Dad has given me the money to sort it but I feel really bad. He says not to try to change the lock myself as I will "hurt myself" bless him (I'm not that bad at diy!) But honestly I would rather try. He wouldn't take no for an answer.

OP posts:
ZibbidooZibbidooZibbidoo · 07/06/2018 14:46

But honestly I would rather try. He wouldn't take no for an answer.

He doesn’t have to take no. It’s nit his decision. If you want to try it, then try it. You don’t need daddy's permission.

Original poster
Butterflykissess · 07/06/2018 14:49

I mean he insisted on giving the money. I will try it anyway if it works I can give it back as like I said I feel bad taking it.

OP posts:
diddl · 07/06/2018 15:06

How have you been managing without keys?

TiggerSnooze · 07/06/2018 17:27

What type of lock is it? Some you can literally swap the barrel out for about a tenner - it's easier than putting a picture up!

glowfrog · 07/06/2018 18:24

He's not a free saint? You have to PAY for divine help? WTAF?!

Original poster
Butterflykissess · 07/06/2018 18:38

Been using the window! Anyway a furth er update. I have the keys!! My mum brought the wrong one round earlier. So it's all sorted. Still no sign of the others. If they show up I will be very surprised.

OP posts:
Wearelocal · 07/06/2018 19:26

'Fraid so Glowfrog.

glowfrog · 07/06/2018 19:46

How nice to find cold hard cash has at last replaced faith. Much more sensible.

Wearelocal · 07/06/2018 21:20

I'm teasing glowfrog. I'm not sure if you are? There is usually a St.Anthony box in a Catholic Church. Growing up we would pray to St. Anthony if we lost something or if if something was a 'lost cause' i.e. We thought we would do badly in an exam. We considered it courtesy to put some money in the box for St. Anthony for helping us out. I have found many things over the years in strange places that have been lost e.g. a set of missing earrings actually resting in a pipe behind the kitchen bin. I'm happy to 'believe' St. Anthony put them there for me and I don't object to putting a few quid towards the church. I don't think of it any differently than paying to light a votive to remember a loved one who has passed away.

Wearelocal · 07/06/2018 21:22

OP I've done a little prayer to St.Anthony on your behalf for your keys. I hope you don't mind. I'm in credit, so you're good to go Wink Have another look. Especially somewhere you have already looked. Good luck!

guessmyusername · 07/06/2018 21:50

My 3yo dd took mine once. I was visiting my parents and when it was time to leave I couldn't find my keys (house and car together on one keyring). I hunted everywhere for them, checking the car, which was locked, in case I had left them in there. I was just about ready to scream when my dd came along and waved the keys at me and said "is this what you are looking for mummy?".

I bet one of your children knows where they are.

PointyCabbageQueen · 07/06/2018 21:59

My husband lost my car keys and the fob was on it to start the immobiliser. For some reason it was the only set we had ? (Cant remember why i only had one set now)
He lost them in the house, as I drove it home, I emptied all of the bins, everything. We never found them.
We moved house, we still never found them.
(It cost me a lot at the time to replace them, I should have replaced him)
Apparently he doesnt think we’ll stay together..I might like to make him swallow those keys if I ever find them, even though its over 10 years later.
(Im not serious about making him swallow the keys, but after he said that this evening I should be )

PointyCabbageQueen · 07/06/2018 22:00

Sorry, he drove it home, not me, so the keys were definitley in the house somewhere..

celticprincess · 07/06/2018 22:58

I lost my keys at my mums. On my sisters wedding day when I was driving us all there. Major panic.
Car and house key bunch. After searching for ages I had to ring my ex husband who actually had spares for my house and car (yes a random thing to still have). 2 days after the wedding I went to my mums and went to get a magazine out of the magazine rack and there were my keys. They’d fallen off the arm of the chair into the magazine rack and into the middle of a magazine. The relief!!

I also lost a pandora necklace. With charms that had been bought over several years. My mum kept asking where it was so I eventually bought a new one and some charms with my savings. Literally a week or less later I was going through my wardrobe getting rid of clothes and found it on a coat pocket. Had the receipt for the new bracelet so took it back claiming to have been bought two. No cash refund but they allowed me to exchange for charms.