Welcome to the Laurel Plum Online Clutter Scavenger Hunt.
Several weeks ago I wrote an article pointing out how being disorganized steals your time. Today, we are going to remedy one of those common time thieves.
Find a Permanent Home for Your Keys.
Car keys, house keys, lawnmower keys… Have you ever seen a movie or read a story (or lived that moment) where someone finds their car keys in the fridge after searching for them forever? Ever have a morning where you find yourself tossing couch cushions into the middle of the floor while you frantically dig in the corners? Today I want to you to find a permanent home for all of your keys.
You can make a key rack yourself from pegs or hooks and a decorative plaque from the craft department. You can put the little cafe hooks directly into the back of a door or down the stud in your wall or under the kitchen cabinets like coffee mug hooks. You can put a decorative dish or basket on a surface that is directly in your path whenever you come home. You can even choose to put them in the butter box in your refrigerator. It does not matter really where you decide to make a home for your keys, but there are a few points to keep in mind.
- It should be kept fairly near the door your family uses.
- It should be in the path of normal coming and going. Think about the activities you tend to do last before running out the door and the ones you do first when coming home. Try to put your keys somewhere along those daily routes.
- The rack or dish needs to be big enough to keep the keys separated. If you plan from the start, you won’t waste time later unstacking or digging for the set you need.
- The keys should be in a visible location. You have to use it every time you come or go until it becomes a habit. If the dish or rack is in plain sight as you pass by, you will need to think about it less when you first start to use it.
Further Considerations:
If you often come in with arms full of groceries of leave with backpacks and briefcases in your arms, pick a solution that makes it easy for you to grab or drop with your arms full. Think about the space below the rack. You do not want to be knocking over knick knacks. Think about the table edges or surrounding furniture that could catch a strap or tear open a bag. If you often juggle a lot of weight, consider how high you will need to raise your arms when determining how high to hang the rack.
Toddlers love keys. If you have small kids, opt to store the keys out of reach and away from climbable furniture. There are already enough horror stories about children starting vehicles and turning furniture over on them. Avoid living through a similar nightmare.
You want them to be visible and accessible, but not to everyone. We often have people knocking on our door offering services or selling this or that. (Now is a good time to revisit/establish safety rules with your kids on strangers.) You do not want to tempt someone who is desperate or less than honest. Try to make sure the rack/dish is not visible through the windows or door and make sure that it would be out of reach through a broken pane or any door opening your safety latch might allow.
When we get conversations going in the comments we all learn from each other and can encourage one another. So, share your stories and tips in the comments.
What suggestions do you have for the rest of us? Can you give us any pros and cons of things you have already tried. Let us know what system you put in place today. Share your lost key story. I know you have one!
Resources mentioned above that are available from our advertisers:
Scroll Letter Holder & Key Rack
Seven Hook Key Rack- White with Chrome Hooks
Scroll Letter Holder with Hooks – Satin Nickel (Satin Nickel) (14.6″H x 11.5″W x 2.5″D)
Personalized Key Hook Rack House Plaque
Forma Single Overdoor Hook – Stainless Steel by InterDesign
Key Board (stainless steel) (2.34″ H x 8.19″ W x 1.37″ D)
Stainless steel key box (stainless steel) (9.25″H x 9.25″W x 2.15″D)
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
My wife and I have our own spots that we use each day to store our keys safely. Although, we just went through a drawer and found several key rings and have no idea whose they are. They could be keys that belong to friends that we house sat or my parents home. We need to be better about organization and documenting these “little” details. It would have been much easier to just create a temporary keyring with the name of the key.
Great point, Scott! It seems a lot of us have unknown spare keys floating around. I found a nice little tutorial for making decorative little tags – they wound also be good for marking keys even if just temporarily. Take a peek – Tag Tutorial. And like I mentioned yesterday when writing about Turning Your Junk Drawer Into a Utility Drawer, you can always turn those unknown keys into a wind chime with a little fishing line and a brass craft ring from the craft store. They sound wonderful! You can dress them up a bit with beads or other baubles you may already have around the house. I bet your kids would love putting one together.