Aero has lost her keys - house and car on same bunch!! V v worried...............HELP

[Aero]

I am so stressed by this because I don't know if I lost them outside or in the house. All I know is that I had them last night (drove home) and I think I took them outside this morning (I usually do) so I could get in if the door slammed shut - it was blowing a gale and I was clearing up somebody's paper shreddings that had blown into our front. I came back in and got ready for school and when we went to go, no keys to be found. I took the spares and thought I'd look for them on my return.

They have not turned up and I'm sick with worry that they've been dropped outside and perhaps got into the wrong hands.

I don't know what to do..........I can't imagine we can afford to replace the locks on a double glazed 5 bolt lock door and also to replace the car locks either (central locking system).

On the other hand, it's likely that they are still inside the house - ds2 (nearly 3) could have taken them, but he says he doesn't know where they are.

I have looked everywhere I can think of including in the bin and through the recycling before the rubbish collectors came.

What do you advise o wise mners??

I'm in the same position but I've been burying my head in the sand assuming they'll turn up since Sunday. There's a good chance DS (almost 2) has posted them somewhere but also, I could have lost them outside the house or at the swimming pool on Sunday.
Should I be panicking too?

No ideas just sympathy - my car keys were lost recently on the short trip between house and parked car - I couldn't sleep the first night for thinking that someone had picked them up and was going to drive off with my car.
Have you got a bolt that you can put across on your door for now?
Have you tried all pockets of all clothes ( I generally find mine in the pocket of my jeans in the laundry )?
Good luck

Oh gawd, Aero, I so sympathise. This happened to me a couple of years ago. Complete nightmare, as I had a friend staying over who was giving a talk at my work the next day and I had spare house keys but no spare car keys. In the end, I had to get a taxi to work (£20), dh hired a car for a couple of days (£100+ IIRC) and we ordered a new set of car keys (£80). It turned out that my MIL, who had been babysitting the night before, had accidentally picked up my keys and thrown them into the bottom of her handbag. I wouldn't mind (it was obviously not done on purpose) except that I phoned her in the morning, when I discovered that the keys were missing, as it's the sort of ditzy thing that she would do, and I explained that I was panicking a bit and although it was unlikely that she could have picked them up, could she just check in her bag? She said that she had checked and they weren't they, but I don't think she even bothered to look, and it was only the following day that she turned up at our house looking very sheepish! She didn't reimburse any of the £200 it had cost us, either!

None of which helps you, of course (unless you have a MIL like mine, in which case, get round there and go through her pockets and bags now! ). I presume you've looked in obvious ds hiding-places (inside the washing machine, inside favourite toys, etc.). Sorry, not a lot of help, but LOADS of sympathy....

OK - work on the assumption that they are somewhere in the house - for the next few hours at least. Have you turned the house upside down?

Look in:
toybox
video player
sofa (down the back)
shoes/wellies
Everyone's coat pockets
Buggy (if you have one)
bins (including kitchen one )
schoolbags
behind furniture
under cushions

.... will think of some more places soon ...

Tomorrow morning have a good look in the garden - in the grass, in the verges etc. Get the kids to help you hunt.

If they still haven't turned up by the end of tomorrow morning - then have another think.

Where did you put the paper shredding that was blowing about, are they with that?
In the morning go outside and check under and near the carand have a blooming good look outside. Look in above eyelevel places, places you can reach but you cant see ..

Oh no Aero!

Have you looked in those drawers in your little porch bit? In the recycling box you keep that there too don't you? Coat pockets?

did you pick the rubbish up and drop them in the bin with the rubbish?

have you looked under the sofa? my dd put my keys there once.

look in ds2's train set box

The paper shreddings I added to our recycling cc and it was taken away this pm, but not before I went through the whole (wet and disgusting) box.

I have done the sofas and toyboxes. Washing machine is outside and we weren't out there either yesterday or this morning. Also have had a look in all kids rooms and even our own room, but I'm pretty sure I took them out with me to clear up the rubbish and I wasn't upstairs after that and neither was ds2.

I'm now wondering if the car will still be there in the morning!

Has anyone ever actually changed their locks when they've lost keys?

I'm so frustrated because the keys are always in one of three places - my pocket, my handbag, or on the hook where I always put them when I come in. Have even looked in poscets of coats I haven't worn!

Is dh home now or still away?

Have you checked your contents insurance? I think some policies cover locksmiths fees to fit new locks etc.

That is my saving grace for tonight Caddders - he's on his way home now - somewhere between London and here on a slow train - yawn. At least I won't be on my own tonight.

Shit - just heard on news that interest rates are up again too! Not my day!!

I changed mine when I lost my keys. Felt safer. If someone has found them outside they won't know which car is yours will they?

He might be on the train with my dh!

Wish I was there to do a systematic search of your place - I'm usually quite good at finding keys.

Thanks Drusilla - will look at that, but I doubt we'd be covered for lost keys as I even stopped the accidental damage cover we had as we've little left for the kids to destroy!!

It's on my drive bananaknickers and if they were lost outside, it will have been on the drive. Also, with the central locking thing you just press a button and it works from quite a distance.

shit shit shit! (sorry - I never swear on here!!)

Oh bugger, Aero

Do you have a grid outside you could have dropped them into?

Breathe!

Right, calm down and sit down quietly.

Think back to your actions and 'see' yourself going through the same things again. Work through it all in your head, going outside etc, and try to see what you did with the bunch of leys.

have you checked the front door - I've left mine in the lock a few times

do you have a torch to look under the car?

Or the bunch of keys even, since that's what you are looking for.

Calmness is the (sorry) key to solving the problem.

i lost my keys earlier this week. also had been outside and was sure i;d lost them in the house, but istil lcalled the police station just in case they had been handed in,. i found them in teh hood of dd2 raincoat after 2 days.

i hope you fidn them.

have you checked with neighbours?

sorry just looking through have you tried the fridge and the freezer thats where i found mine once x

SG (lovely to see you back btw) - I have been calm all day (well, calmish) thinking they must be somewhere. I have done exactly what you said and tried to re-see this mornings movements. I thought I put them in my jeans pocket (in order to pick up the rubbish). I wasn't wearing a coat. But as Cadders can verify, it's a big bunch and I'm sure I would have heard them drop if they fell out of my pocket (although it was very* windy).

Have done under the car.
Been in the porch drawers and the whole porch area - nothing.

No grill HM.

Anyone care to estimate the cost of replacement locks these days?

Have you checked with neighbours to see if they've picked a bunch up?