43 Folders

Back to Work

Merlin’s weekly podcast with Dan Benjamin. We talk about creativity, independence, and making things you love.

Join us via RSS, iTunes, or at 5by5.tv.

”What’s 43 Folders?”
43Folders.com is Merlin Mann’s website about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work.

Key organization

I recently moved and and now inundated with new keys. The place I've rented has two keys each for the front and back doors, as well as a mailbox key. I have a car key and two bicycle lock keys as well as a key for the locker at my gym.

I prefer to get rid of keys altogether and just use combination locks, but I don't have control over most of these locks, so it's not an option to switch for most of these.

Most of the time, I only need a subset of keys for anything I do; during the week, I only need house (I only use the back door so that also helps), bicycle and locker keys to go to work. Other times, I need the car key, but not the bike keys. I've been thinking about getting a valet key chain like this:
http://keychains4you.com/muvake.html
does anyone have experience with these? Do they work well and stand up to frequent use? Are there better solutions for this type of situation?

As a second question, does anyone have experience "shaving" the large plastic ends that so many keys (especially cars and bicycle locks) have these days? It's nice if the keys just sit together in a small, slim package, but these plastic do-hickeys force the keys to lie in a jumble. I'd really like to know what kind of tang there is and if it can be attached to something else. I don't have to many keys to experiment with that aren't a pain to replace, so I'd like to get some insight before I go down this path.

A

About anielsen

 
EXPLORE 43Folders THE GOOD STUFF

Popular
Today

Popular
Classics

An Oblique Strategy:
Honor thy error as a hidden intention


STAY IN THE LOOP:

Subscribe with Google Reader

Subscribe on Netvibes

Add to Technorati Favorites

Subscribe on Pageflakes

Add RSS feed

The Podcast Feed

Cranking

Merlin used to crank. He’s not cranking any more.

This is an essay about family, priorities, and Shakey’s Pizza, and it’s probably the best thing he’s written. »

Scared Shitless

Merlin’s scared. You’re scared. Everybody is scared.

This is the video of Merlin’s keynote at Webstock 2011. The one where he cried. You should watch it. »