Al-lock-gory

[hrj]

Today's life-cleaning moment is brought to you by ... keys. Keys distill down the essence of the life-cleaning problem. You find a random key. You have no idea at the moment what lock it opens. But you know that somewhere in the world there is a lock that needs this key -- that's the essential nature of keys and locks. So you can't just throw away the key because you have no immediate use for it. Someday you will run across that lock (maybe) and there will be something important locked away behind it (maybe) and if you don't have the key then ... well, then you might need to use a crowbar or a hammer or a hacksaw or, well, you get the idea. I did a key organization session a couple years ago, but I didn't actually throw anything out. And since then I found a little box with another whole heap of keys, some familiar, some not. What's more, I've decided that maybe having the keys to everything in my life hanging on a row of hooks on the back of my front door isn't such a good idea -- especially after they've all been carefully labelled what they go to. So I bought a small industrial key cabinet and have re-sorted through every key in the house. Tossed out those I know I don't need (e.g., cars I no longer own), labelled the known keys, and distilled the remnants down to a single ring marked "I have no idea what they go to". This last is actually a violation of the basic principles of life-cleaning, but unlike the merely allegorical "keys", the cost of continuing to keep the ring vs. the annoyance value of discovering an unkeyed lock is negligibly small. Everything except my active ring will go in the cabinet in a non-obvious place in the house.

Why do I have so many keys? The hazards of being a landlady account for half of them. Being an emergency-spare-key repository for various friends and relatives accounts for another batch. Luggage and other cases (although TSA requirements make most of these obsolete). Various pieces of furniture with decorative locks. And the rest ... they're on that ring labelled "I have no idea".

Comments

[ermine-rat.livejournal.com]

I wish I could carry less stuff everywhere, but after the wallet, fastrack pass, cellphone, driving glasses, and wad o'keys, I feel like I need a purse...or not far from a daypack. My keys specifically were pretty manageable for a long time, but now the volvo and the truck both have keys ...And an electronic door thingie. The volvo key is especially obnoxious, because they cleverly added a rubber covering on the end that make it freaking huge. To make this all worse, you don't dare to put those keys in your pocket, because while they jangle around, they can set off your car alarm, or unlock your car if you happen to be nearby. I guess it's fine if you don't have to open your house, open a door at work, have a second vehicle or keep a spare key to your folks' house.

Long ago I got rid of the rarely used keys, or the keys that belonged to houses I no longer lived at, and cars I no longer owned (I guess everyone aquires them after a while). I still have them, I just don't carry them around.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't carry all these around everyday! The everyday ring has: house (my apt only), car, bicycle, padlock on bicycle storage, padlock on non-bicycle storage, work desk, and now key cabinet. Just the essentials. But it sounds like you're a good candidate for a man-purse.

[ermine-rat.livejournal.com]

I think the biggest problem guys have with that is finding a good name for it. maybe I'll go back to a soft briefcase....