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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Key facts

Usually on Wednesdays, I post a "what in the world Wednesday" picture on the 4th Frog Facebook page.But I didn't have a good entry for today, so I decided to play a new game. I asked readers to guess how many plastic loyalty card things are on my keychain.

Sheri T. won with her guess of 8, though my friend Lainie won the overachiever prize when she reported she has 18 on her keyring! Anyway, that got me looking at my keys. Because we've been playing musical cars this summer, I haven't been carrying a full set of keys. Usually, I just grab the keys to the car I'm planning to drive and leave the rest behind. But now that all that drama seems to be settled (for the moment, anyway), I decided to put everything back in place. That's when I realized that I'm carrying around a softball-size wad of keys in my pocket or purse everyday.

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I used to have a great pewter Butler bulldog keychain that allowed me to show support for my alma mater and provided personal protection against anyone who might want to harm me -- I'm pretty sure one whack in the forehead with that thing could have knocked out even the biggest of scary criminals. But I lost that keychain somewhere along the way.

Now I'm left with 2 bulky car keys and their companion door-locking fobs, neither of which work thanks to dead batteries; a house key; two office keys; those 8 loyalty tags -- at least two or three of which I probably only use once or twice a year; and one ugly plastic keychain for a business I've never even heard of.

Consequently, I've spent way too much time tonight contemplating how to simplify my key situation. I could take the loyalty tags off and put them in my purse. Except that sometimes I run to the store with just my debit card and my keys, which would leave me missing out on some big savings or something else if I didn't have the tags with me. 

I could take the big door lock fobs off, but I keep thinking I'm going to get new batteries. Plus, I don't want to misplace them, which is a distinct possibility for someone of my organizational disabilities capabilities. I guess I could even separate them into personal and work keys, which would take some of the bulk out of them.

Then there's the question of the keyring. I loved my bulldog keyring. Maybe I'll head down to campus to find another one? I like the idea of a keyring saying something personal about me. It seems like that's a girl thing. Most men I know are happy to have their keys hooked together on some plain metal, utilitarian ring.

But my keys are kind of an extension of who I am, so I think they should reflect me a bit. Wonder where I can get a Diet Coke-ice cream-Scrabble-Catholic-mom keychain?

Are you a keyring minimalist? Or should your keychain be registered as martial arts weapon? Does yours dangle a picture of your kids, your initial or something else that reflects you? Or could you care less?

8 comments:

Nate's Mom said...

Love this! And my name graced the "frog blog." And you spelled it right. That said, I have to key rings. One in my purse that has a house key, mil's house key, and the key to Jacob's room (which is never locked). These are "extra" keys. These are on a photo ring from Santa Cruz Boardwalk of Nate and I on his first roller coaster. You know, that way overpriced photo keychain that you can't pass up, because it was his FIRST rollercoaster. The second set goes every where with me. It has a keychain from Disneyland, with Mickey Mouse and my name SPELLED RIGHT. (I have an issue here, lol). It has car keys, house (front, back, garage) keys, my dad's house keys, mil's house key.

Now my husband has a 10 pound key ring. Honestly, I don't think he knows what they are all for, but he insists they are important, lol.

Sorry you asked? lol
Sheri in CA

kimybeee said...

We have one key for our Aztec, it stays in the Aztec and whoever drives it has just the one key on a simple metal ring. We have two keys for our Taurus that have the opener thingy on it. One key and thingy stays in the car with a simple metal ring, the extra hangs in our utility room. My husband and I each have a key to the truck, I keep mine in my purse on a keychain with two or three of those loyalty things and our house keys. Our daughter's car has only one key and she has it on a lanyard with about six or seven other keychains. I have a few extra keys to my parent's house and vehicles and I also keep them tucked away in a pouch in my purse. Our keychain system is very simple since we share. I would go nuts now if I had to carry what you are carrying.

Jessica McCoy said...

I just had to pull out my keys to see what all I have on them.

Luckily my car's key has the unlock/lock/panic button actually on the key so it's just one device. I have 5 loyalty tags. One for the grocery store, CVS (that I never go to), Pets Mart, Petco (even though I don't have one in my town), and Style Club where I used to buy my shampoo. Half are chewed up because my dog got ahold of them but if I change tags I'll lose my points :(.

I also have 2 office keys and our house key. Also, I discovered that my flashlight that used to dangle down is no longer there but the little screw top is. Probably needs to be trashed. My "personal" item is a big keychain that is in the shape of lips covered by beads and it says "I love lipstick" on one side & "Mary Kay" on the other.

My husband refuses to have anything else on his car key other than the house key because at work he has to carry around about 100 keys at all times. LOL.

Eternal Lizdom said...

I love when you find something that everyone has in common- I mean, who doesn't have a keyring??

I'm going to answer you on my blog today...

Missy said...

Very much a minimalist. All my little key tags (I have 18 also) are on their own keyring. With your habit of just taking your keys & debit card in the store, that might not work for you, but with 18 store tags, leaving them with the keys wasn't an option for me.

Momza said...

3 keys...house, car, mailbox...with 4 doodads on it...horsehair fob, ME "Queen of Everything" fob, Sego Lilies "sisters in zion" fob. And I think that's it.
I want one of those "clappers" for my key rings, so when I can't find 'em, I can clap and set off an alarm!

Beth Zimmerman said...

One of my best friends has a key fob that IS a martial arts weapon! Scary sucker even without the keys! :) Mine has a plastic ID holder on it that holds my Driver's License and Campus ID. I love it but it wouldn't be much of a self defense weapon!

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