Slashdot Mirror
How Do You Handle Your Keys?
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?"
Put your "disposable" keys like the key to your bike, mailbox, the roof, and your gf's place on one key ring and keep it in your backpack, while keeping just your "essential" keys like car and front door strapped to your pants.
Exactly; our home uses the same key for all the doors. Also separate key rings based on activity. eg. I don't need my bicycle key when I use my vehicle.
wha'? where am i?
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 >.
The fact that this story is not in idle, or the fact that it has so many "serious" replies?
Next up: An in-depth analysis of what brand of adhesive tape is best to mend your glasses.
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
A key ring with house keys and bike key. Another key ring with house keys and car keys.
linquendum tondere
I'm in Scotland...
Summer lasts only 4 hours a year....
Laters Sol "Have you found the secrets of the universe? Asked Zebade "I'm sure I left them here somewhere"
The only thing worse than wankers who make useless, inane comments like this are the wankers who moderate this sort of tripe as "Insightful".
I'd rather read about other people's processes than anything else. If you find key management as trite then perhaps you don't understand what being a nerd entails.
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
You have a point but I find an article like this to be more then reasonable to be called "news for nerds". Geeks have a nice mix of OCD and creativity that result in useful and interesting ideas on a topic like this. This same question asked in another community would result in useless uncreative comments that I expect to all be along the lines of questioning what the big problem is if you lose your keys sometimes and why do you need so many keys anyway.
Now that I think about it, a good idea may be to make a new section for 'life hacking' topics like this.
Motorbike key stays at home keeping the roof key company. Unless you use your bicycle every day, take that off too. Assuming you live in an apartment and the outer door is a communal one, keep that one and one of you inner door ones. Leave the other lock unlocked. Locks are for honest people anyways. Ditch either the girlfriend or her keys. They are weighing you down too much. Get her to buzz you in. Why carry they keys? With that you are down to 5 keys. Buy a $2 keyring (don't get any extra crap, just a ring) and ta-da key problem solved.
Tune in tomorrow to learn how to clean your room.
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It's been suggested that it's "less secure"
I am a locksmith, and I have one key that fits my house.... and my mother's house... and my brother's house... and my father's house... and two of my friends' houses. Security is simply a matter of key control. There seems to be a common delusion that having more locks is more secure. Really, if someone is going to break into your house, they're going to break in to your house. People who steal using keys are nearly always people who have been given the key by the occupant. Having a bunch of different keys won't solve that.
...and if you think you have a lot of keys to deal with, you should see what *I* have to deal with. I have them by the thousands, and it's a constant struggle to keep them organized.
For work I have my work key ring in the truck, and that gets me into the lock shop. For home all I have is a ring with my house key, my HID prox fob,and my truck key (which also fits my other car--- a benefit of being a locksmith).
If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.