BROWSE HOW TOs

How to Find Your Keys

By eHow Home & Garden Editor

Rate: (9 Ratings)

Sometimes it's the things you use every day that can be the hardest to find. Creating consistent habits and permanent homes for keys, handbags, briefcases and other important items saves time and stress every time you leave the house.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Step1

Pick one location near the door to hold your key ring while you're at home. Practice putting keys in a basket, bowl or hook by the entry area as soon as you walk through the door so they're easy to find. If you are having a hard time getting into the habit of using your new holding spot, write a reminder on a sticky note and keep it on the outside entry door until the habit becomes routine.

Step2

Slim down massive key rings. Keep only frequently used keys for entry locks, security doors and vehicles on your everyday key ring to keep it light.

Step3

Sort through all other keys, testing to see that they actually open something. Toss those that you can't identify or that unlock things you no longer own.

Step4

Install a hook rack for keys in a handy location to hold the remaining keys, such as those for the mailbox, storage shed, bike lock, boat or neighbor's home. Identify each key with a colored key jacket or key tag. If security is an issue, use a wallmounted key safe. See 57 Live Better Through Labeling.

Step5

Give an extra house key to a trusted neighbor for unexpected lockouts. If you have both upper and lower locks, identify which key opens which lock--or better yet, have both locks rekeyed to the same key.

Step6

Avoid stashing your keys in a coat pocket, as they're easy to forget when temperatures warm up and the coat stays in the closet.

Step7

To avoid losing a safe deposit box key, tape it to the inside of a frequently used cabinet or drawer. Note the location within a contents file for the box, kept in your home filing system. See 185 Create a Flawless Filing System.

Step8

Keep an extra car key in your wallet as a backup in case of accidental lockouts.

Tips & Warnings

Keep the ignition or valet key to your car on a detachable clip in the glovebox for quick handoff to attendants at parking garages. If you frequently need to detach individual keys, invest in a valettype ring, such as ones at KeyChains4You.com.
Find a landing pad for purses, briefcases and backpacks somewhere near the entry so you can spot them quickly when you leave the house. A hanging accessory bag or shelving unit in the closet or a slim table in the hallway manages these items well. See 70 Organize Entryways and Mudrooms.

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Comments

madeinwales said

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on 7/8/2007 If you loose your head, go to bathroom and look in mirror
it might be there, if not panic!

pensacoladiva said

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on 1/29/2007 Hanging a key rack on the wall by the door that you usually come in through REALLY does help aide in the keeping up with your keys!

brian said

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on 11/21/2006 Check inside books and magazines! I've lost keys for days that ended up just sitting inside a closed magazine.

Anonymous said

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on 7/25/2006 If you have a key and you don't know the lock that it goes to, don't toss the key! You may find the lock later and not have a key for it. Instead, put all of your unidentified keys in a safe location where you won't lose them.