How many keys do you carry around with you... What are they for?

United States
April 6, 2008 12:36pm CST
It seems that most of us carry a lot of keys around with us, house or apartment keys, car keys, keys to businesses, etc. and I was listening to Car Talk on the radio and heard that we should be having only about 7 or so on our key chains if we are driving as otherwise there could be a problem with the ignition lock. It was also mentioned that many people have keys on their key rings that they do not use. How many keys do you carry around with you? What are they for? Do you have some keys that you no longer use or perhaps keys that you can not remember what they are for? When is the last time you checked to see what keys you had? What do you do with old keys that you no longer need?
5 people like this
23 responses
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
6 Apr 08
have only car key on one chain then have extra one in my purse that has house key extra car keys padlock keys alll old keys are on other car key chains I put in a draw most are old key that went to some of the cars we have had old apt. keys and house keys dont need them just keep them
1 person likes this
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
7 Apr 08
yes I do and i do remeber where most of them go or went too.
• United States
6 Apr 08
We don't need the old keys and yet we keep them... hmm... Do you ever hold them and remember using them?
@bimal10p (1218)
• India
6 Apr 08
currently i carry 2 keys wid me..one is of my bad and the other my room key
1 person likes this
• United States
6 Apr 08
Only two keys... that is amazing to me! I have an apartment key, a mail box key, a laundry room key, a car key, and then keys that probably do not open anything anymore... and duplicates of all of the above. grins. Only two keys... Amazing!
• United States
7 Apr 08
That's great, only two only . Less to bother about.
@plumwish07 (4057)
• Indonesia
7 Apr 08
actually i am not used to if i don't bring any keys with me. the keys that i usually bring in are keys to my home, my office and my office locker where i keep my documents. but sometimes, i also still leave the old keys with these keys cause it would make them little bit heavier so i can notice if i don't bring them, but if too many old keys then i will put and throw it in the trash bin
• Indonesia
10 Apr 08
whats i am doing with my old keys. i just like to have many keys to bring (as long as i don't think its heavy to bring) rather than bring less keys. its easily to be remembered then
• United States
8 Apr 08
So you trash your old keys sometimes and other times you like to carry them to make your key chain heavy and easy to remember.... You are the first person here that has wanted a heavy keychain to job the memory... I think that it is a good use for the old keys and I have not seen anyone else use them for anything... Most people seem to just toss them or keep them in a box.
• Philippines
6 Apr 08
I have my keys for the front door, bedroom, office, car and gate. I don't bring the other keys anymore for I am very forgetful, sometimes I just leave my keys in the car. I have lots of keys which I don't use anymore but it stays in one place. I don't even know when will I throw it.
1 person likes this
• United States
6 Apr 08
I am wondering what you store those old unused keys in... I have tucked away mine in a drawer that I use for jewelry at times and at other times pitched some. I might consider disinfecting them and giving them to a kid to play with if that opportunity presented itself. :)
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
6 Apr 08
let me see I have a door key for the front door of our apartment and a key for the bottom lockon the door, and a key for the pedestrian gate and key to the mailbox and also a key for the back door of the library where I used to work and one more that I have no idea what it is for.I was let go at the library, a nasty nice way of saying fired, so I just keep the key out of a snit feeling. I would never use it but its just too hard to get off my key ring so there it stays.
• United States
6 Apr 08
I laughed at that "I just keep the key out of a snit feeling" and here I was thinking that we only kept keys if we liked the places where we used the keys. grins. Sorry to here about that job... hoping that you have or soon will have a much better one. I do hate those key rings which make it impossible to get keys off of them! :(
@egdcltd (12060)
6 Apr 08
I've currently got a dozen keys, plus car alarm beeper, on my keyring, although several are very small padlock keys. There's at least two keys that I can't remember what they're for, and not that long back I removed several keys I hadn't used in years, and were no longer of any use anyway. Generally, after I take keys of my keyring, I just put them down somewhere, so, when I come across them again, I can't remember what they were for or whether they are important or not.
1 person likes this
• United States
6 Apr 08
I must admit that I chuckled when I read that you just put your keys down somewhere and then "can't remember what they are for or whether they are important or not" sounds like something most of us do.
• Pakistan
7 Apr 08
ohhhhhh u have started a nice and headache discussion because to handle and to remember the keys all the day is so difficult and i was just relaxed and see ur this discussion. i carry 5 keys with me oen is for my computer lab and seccond one is for my secret room and other are the keys of my house and i dont have car so i dont have to manage it skeys .
• United States
8 Apr 08
Ah, you have a secret room... Now all of us are going to be wondering... What's in that room... Actually... It's okay. You are entitled to have a secret room. Five keys is good.
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
7 Apr 08
Hmm, let me see if I can do this by memory so I don't have to count my keys right now. I actually have two sets of keys that I carry in my purse. One set has my car's key, key to the gas cap, and 3 house keys. So a total of 5 on this one set. The other set I carry around has my husband's keys to his truck, which is a total of 2 keys. He told me a while ago not to overload my key ring with a bunch of keys so that is why I have the truck keys on a separate key ring.
• United States
8 Apr 08
I have three sets of keys in my purse but you have more keys on each set than I do... Your husband may well have heard from people like the ones on Car Talk. It is good that you only have the two on the key ring for the truck.
@andrejuly84 (1047)
• Romania
7 Apr 08
i have only the keys of the house, two keys, and the little key for the mail box.as i don't have a car don't have keys
• United States
8 Apr 08
So three keys for you... that's not bad at all.
• United States
7 Apr 08
I carry my apt key 2 car keys boyfriends van key mailbox key 2 house keys for my parents so I guess thats not too bad.
• United States
8 Apr 08
Quite a few keys... but you are right... not too bad! :)
@gemini_rose (16264)
7 Apr 08
I have one key on me when I go out, and that is usually the back door key. If I do not need the front door key I usually just leave it at home. So that is the only key I have!!
• United States
8 Apr 08
My goodness... just a key to the back door...Now, that is traveling light!
• Philippines
7 Apr 08
I only bring 2 keys with me when I go to the office - the key to the car, and to my office drawer.
• United States
8 Apr 08
two keys, not bad at all.
@huyanh89 (13)
• Vietnam
7 Apr 08
I have only two keys . They are home lock and bike .
• United States
8 Apr 08
Sounds like that would be easy to manage.
@shiimark (11)
7 Apr 08
My problem isn't the amount of keys I have, it's the amount of keyRINGS lol. Honestly, there's only two keys that I need - the one for my house, and the one for my grandma's. Those are the only keys I carry around, yet I have about 9 keyrings to go with it which makes it look and sound like I'm carrying a ton!
• United States
8 Apr 08
Hmm... Now I am wondering how you got that many keyrings. And why you carry all of them around at the same time... Wondering if people gave them to you or if you purchased them. Sounds like quite a good collection there.
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
7 Apr 08
i only carry my house keys with me... that's all... i am not driving and i don't have a business... so it is pretty good for me... whenever i go out, i only bring my 2 front door house keys with me... that's all...
• United States
8 Apr 08
So just the house keys... that's good.
• United States
7 Apr 08
Keyring #1: House key, Sprinkler timer box key, Mailbox key,Basement door key,Truck alarm override key, P-38 G.I. issue can opener. Keyring #2: Computer room key, Padlock key, Key to the Bar & Restaurant, Harley-Davidson key, Tubular key for security cable.
• United States
8 Apr 08
I think that you get the award for the most keys and the most unusual keys... My goodness... for the sprinkler, the key to the bar and restaurant, etc. You have an interesting selection of keys there.
• Philippines
7 Apr 08
i carry nine keys.. they said thats many for a highschool student.. well, my first and second keys are for our house's gates, because we have two gates, the third one is for my room, the fourth is for my closet,the fifth is for the door of the boarding house im living at school days, because sometimes no one is in that boarding house., and the sixth is for my room in that boarding house, the seventh is for my closet at the boarding house(huh alot of "boarding house), the eigth is for my locker at school and finally the ninth is for my scooter.,
• India
6 Apr 08
well when it comes to carrying of keys i think i champion the cause,i have a set of keys for my apartment,another set of keys i carry for my wardrobe and locker.then i have a key for my locker at work.another for my locker in gym.another one for my locker at school.i carry a set of keys for my parents house and sisters house for easy access and then i carry keys for my car.
• United States
6 Apr 08
You do carry around a lot of keys but it still remains to be seem if you will be the champ of the key carriers... grins... It does though sound as if you have done more than your fair share of key carrying. :)
• India
7 Apr 08
i presently carry 3 keys wid me ... home,bike and locker .. its interesting i never heard ebout that bfore..
• United States
8 Apr 08
Sounds good... three keys...
• United States
7 Apr 08
I have 3 keys one for mail one for house and one for lock on patio.
• United States
8 Apr 08
Now you are the first to have a key for a patio lock.