How Do You Handle Your Keys? 763
arisvega writes "I lost my backpack some time ago, but was lucky enough to have left my laptop at home that night, and my cell and keys in my pocket. The inevitable habit-change that followed was to start strapping my keys on my pants, so at least I would still be able to get home (as long as I kept my pants on). But I realized I had a lot of keys: one for the outer door, two for the inner, three more for my girlfriend's place, one for the office, one for the postbox, one for my bicycle, the car, the motorbike and the roof. ... Plus, I keep a tiny Swiss Army knife on my keychain that I really wouldn't want to part with. Needless to say, this makes a jingly bunch that eats through my pocket. I ask you, Slashdot people, how do you carry/safeguard a hefty, pronouncedly jingly bunch of keys? What are the alternatives? Any suggestions on clothing or technology? Would having 'The One Key' make things better, or worse?"
CDO Key Habits (Score:5, Informative)
I keep my keys in my front right pocket. They don't go anywhere else. They're always there unless they are in my hand and I'm unlocking something. If I do set them down, I usually notice that they are missing (and also am in the habit of patting myself down to make sure they are there before leaving the house etc). The same goes for my cell phone in my other front pocket and my wallet in my back pocket. that's where they go and I simply don't put them anywhere else except for unusual situations. That usually solves my losing things issue and when people ask me how many times I've lost my phone, I can say 0.
For too many keys, since I didn't want to change my system, I eventually had to split up my key rings. One for every day, always have keys. Another for the car. Another for my photostudio. Another one for work keys. The work keys go on my lanyard at work and the others I only pick up and put in my pocket when I actually use them. They actually do fit better on different key rings rather than all on one. Otherwise, they sit in the same coffee mug on my desk at home.
3 or less (Score:2, Informative)
I rarely have more than three keys on me at any given time. One for the house (all locks keyed the same), one for the vehicle I'm driving (SUV, Car, or motorbike), and optionally the mail key. Work is all proximity card readers, and there are precious few other locks that I ever use.
I did see an instructable or the like that had a way to put a number of keys into a leatherman by removing the tools.
Re:Pokepantsu (Score:3, Informative)
Re:saves time and money! (Score:5, Informative)
If you live in an apartment building with a single entrance (think movie style with the stairwell in the middle), you have the main apartment building key, the door knob key, and the deadbolt.
Three keys, designed for increasing levels of individual safety (insofar as locks are not designed to keep you safe, but to make it noticeable when someone is actively violating another persons safety ~ or however that gets said)
Re:Pokepantsu (Score:4, Informative)
For those in colder climates, try the heavyweight firehose material pants [duluthtrading.com]. Also recommended for winter desert hiking when you can have rain, snow, sleet, and hail in the same 2 hour period.
Re:I don't really worry about it. (Score:5, Informative)
Most badge readers aren't two-factor. They rely on something you have, and that's it. Some combine it with something you know (a keypad) and/or something you are (handprint), but in my experience, those are the exception.
Simple... (Score:1, Informative)
This is really simple, and for being the smarter sex, you guys really suck.
Get a bag.
Put keys in bag, optionally on multiple keyrings.
Put knife in bag.
Always carry bag when away from house.
Wear pants that don't make you look eighty pounds overweight.
Kwikset Smart Keys (Score:3, Informative)
Every housing lock I control, I swap over to run off the same Kwikset smart key.
With them, I can re-key to any other Kwikset key I like in a few seconds. If my wife or I lose a key, if we decide a friend who was trusted with a spare isn't so trustworthy now, we can rekey each lock in a few seconds and be good to go again rather than having to replace the whole damn lock. Plus, as I've re-keyed all the locks, the new key continues working in every door rather than being yet another variant.
They're not perfect but then most household locks aren't - they're simply good enough to deter most people.
one for the outer door, two for the inner, three more for my girlfriends place, one for the office ... and the roof
At the very least, that's one key in place of your three plus the roof. Depending on how close your girlfriend and you are, it could be one for all seven. If you were very lazy and happy with security through obscurity with your co-workers, you could key all six of your home/girlfriend's locks off your work key. That'd be eight keys condensed in to one.
That one plus the bike/car/motorcycle keys is only four and now pretty easy to carry. If your car is your daily ride and the bike/motorcycle are occasional toy rides, you can likely swap them off to a second keyring for just those occasions. At that point, a building and a car key on a keyring, even with your swiss army knife, isn't going to be that bulky at all.
Re:News for nerds. (Score:5, Informative)
I keep a large ring of keys for the house/truck/garage as well as a larger keyring for the shop, trailers, chains, and various pieces of power equipment.
The best way I have found to keep them all on hand is with a chain wallet. I use a good leather chain wallet, but replace the small stock chain with a 2 foot length of chain cut from the end of a large dog leash. The hook on the end is robust and large enough to accommodate several key rings.
The short chain length gives enough length to unlock doors without unhooking the keyring, and allows it all to be dropped in a front pants pocket to keep it low-key so as to avoid looking like some sort of trailer-trash skateboarder wannabe with 4 feet of chain hanging out of the pants.
Re:CDO Key Habits (Score:3, Informative)
I have two of those thumb push key-things. You now, where one cylinder goes inside another, and you push the end in and it falls apart? They're a lot easier to use than carabiners, you can detach them one handed. (Erm, except half your keys fall on the floor if you do that.)
I'd recommend using them over carabiners, but for some reason they seem almost impossible to actually find and buy.
I don't use them for different sets of keys, though, I just grab another keyring from my car if I need it. I use them to detach my ignition key to leave my car running, and to detach my leatherman.
stop carrying around pointless keys (Score:1, Informative)
I'm with you, I carry one car key, all by itself, no fob.
I have a small key ring with a house key, P.O. box key and girlfriends house key, all other keys stay at home in an organizer unless needed (radio station, clients offices, storage shed, trailer hitch lock, toolbox, etc.).
And move to a small town where you don't NEED so many damn keys.
Re:saves time and money! (Score:4, Informative)
I have lots of keys .. but I'm a man. I put them in my pocket, and maybe sometimes they bulge a little. So what...
The day your bulge of keys is what you're concerned about is the day you realized you're not doing anything to challenge yourself or not pushing yourself to do something seriously worthwhile. That's fine by some people's standards. Not mine, but to some I suppose....
Like I said... I'm a man. There are keys and sometimes I have a lot of them and sometimes I prioritize them. But I'm far too occupied with something far more important to drivel on about it and ask the public for help.
Key Wallet (Score:4, Informative)
There's a rather old-timey solution to this problem. I, too, was tried of wearing holes in my pockets from the numerous keys I had to carry around. Get yourself a leather key wallet. It is a wallet sized object with a set of key holders inside. You can store your keys in a relatively small area, and no more tearing up your pockets. Some of them even include change purses.
Re:saves time and money! (Score:1, Informative)
Alternatively, stop carrying around pointless keys. Don't carry around the key to the roof of your house for example, leave it in your house. Taking your car? Leave your bike keys at home and vice-versa...
I would have thought this was pretty obvious.
Talk about intelligent people and lack of common sense >.
I went through this same nonsense a number of years back, and my solution was to partition a kitchen drawer, and each partition held a different smaller keychain ( work keys, home key+car+motorcycle, parents house keys, and so on.) it simplified my life.
I would just grab the keys needed for that time period, and the put them back when I came home. Sometimes i had to mix and match, but it worked SO much better than when I tried to carry every key ( and mini keychain lights, knives etc ) ( also, get a carabiner for your belt, you can attach keyrings and detach keyrings as needed )
Re:I don't really worry about it. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:News for nerds. (Score:3, Informative)
One note about the Kwikset SmartKey. I have seen people screw up the lock by not following directions exactly when changing the key (mainly by not inserting the new key fully). Well, screw it up until you disassemble the lock and put the cylinder into a reset cradle, or try your luck with a five-tonged custom tool.
It also have another advantage -- it is a lot more difficult to pick than the usual five cylinder pin tumbler lock that Joe Sixpack has on their front door. Because it uses a sidebar mechanism, it takes actual work to pick it, as opposed to just a bump key picked up from a flea market.
I'm curious how these locks will stand up in the long haul. Pin tumbler locks are fairly simple, and can stand all kinds of abuse and last 30+ years (although they would be so worn, that picking becomes easy). I just wonder how well these sidebar locks will do after 10+ years of daily usage.
Re:saves time and money! (Score:4, Informative)
If you are going to a locksmith, you might consider getting deadbolt and other locks for your house that uses SFIC [1] cylinders. This way, you can not just have a rekey job in the future be insanely easy (pick up the new cylinders from the locksmith, use the old control key to slide out the old cylinder on each lock, and use the new control key to slide in the new ones), but you can also change brands of cylinders. If you want to change from Best to Medeco, or from Medeco to Schlage Primus, it can be done very quickly.
You also will have good security, since in general, locks that use SFIC cylinders tend to be a lot better made than most consumer stuff.
[1]: Small Format Interchangable Core.
Re:CDO Key Habits (Score:3, Informative)
You might also look at using a cable key ring.
http://lifehacker.com/5302086/use-a-cable-key-ring-for-easy-key-management [lifehacker.com]
And a quick disconnect keychain
http://www.google.com/search?q=Quick+Disconnect+Keychain [google.com]
And an S Biner clip
http://www.countycomm.com/sbiner.htm [countycomm.com]