How many keys do you carry?

[Mike in Seattle]

On my key holder, which has a "house" and "car" end...
On the house end, it has:

• 2 house keys (deadbolt & door knob lock)
• 1 key for the neighborhood locking mailbox stand
• 3 padlock keys (our backyard gates, next door neighbor's gates, a storage unit)
• 1 key for 4 drawer locking file cabinet (client files) in the garage
• Key to the fire safe
• Assorted store "club" cards which DO get you some money back

On the car end, it has:

• 2 Chevy keys (ignition & door) for my car
• 1 Toyota key (ignition & door) for Paul's car plus the alarm/unlock fob
• 1 key for the steering while lock-bar "thingie" I haven't used (but still have in the trunk) since leaving L.A. in 1994
• 1 key which I *think* is the lock on the shell of the wrecked Nissan that I hope the County finally pays off on shortly (their bus driver ran a light and totaled the truck in January - still sitting in the driveway awaiting they're settling the case - but it made one HELLUVA Halloween prop with one skeleton sticking out of the flattened front end, one at the wheel, and one on the roof hanging on for dear life!)
• 1 mini-LED light

And before I had my office at home, I also had key to the building, key to our office, key to the vault (needed key & combination) where we had all the client files & ledgers, key to the file cabinets with employee records & our corporate paperwork.

Good grief - what a lotta keys for really what amounts to not a lotta stuff! lol lol lol

 

[Lincsong]

House key, car key, padlock key

 

[Archie Goodwin]

Car Talk on NPR

This may be a little off topic, but I was listening to Click and Clack a couple of weeks ago, and they said that having a lot of keys on your car key ring is bad for the starter. According to the guys, the starter mount is not designed to support the weight, and in time it can cause problems including the starter no longer functioning. I didn't get a definition of "a lot" of keys, but the primary issue seemed to be weight, so I suppose a really heavy key ring with a single key would cause the same problem.

 

[Mojave Jack]

For personal use, I carry my house key, truck key, and three keys to the gun locks.

Unfortunately, I work for the government, which is apparently going backwards in time, and they keep adding keys to my keyring. We used to have one key that opened the outer door and our office door to our main building, but then they changed that so we now have one key for each. Then I got my new Curation Facility, and that increased my count to seven more keys for a 2500 square foot building! I refuse to carry that wad of huge brass keys, so I frequently drive between the two buildings repeatedly to get the keys I forgot on the first trip.

Lady Day, I am sooo looking forward to your system of entry! I'm all for nostalgia, but I like a lot of my modern conveniences!

 

[John in Covina]

They said that having a lot of keys on your car key ring is bad for the starter. the primary issue seemed to be weight, so I suppose a really heavy key ring with a single key would cause the same problem.

THere are key ring connectors, I have a small version of the clip that is used with nylon belts such as on a fanny pack. It allows me to keep my ignition key seperate from the bunch of keys so the ignition lock need not support that big clump of keys.

Also: It means I don't hand over my house key and the others to the Valet parking crew! Or if I should get car jacked the jacker only gets my car key!

I had the ingition lock wear out on one car and the car key wore out too. The locksmith also said don't have a ball of keys hainging from the lock, set it up so it's just the car key for the above reasons.