How to organize keys on keychain?

July 15, 2023 1:01 PM

I run a small business with an annoying amount of keys, I have keys to my friend's place, I have a car and bike, etc. Currently have 23 keys on my keychain which see active use and I need some way of organizing and finding the right key for the right door. Help me!!!

It would be great if keys could be separated by location as well as somehow color coded. None of my keys are of any distinguishing print or color like you get at the hardware store for an extra buck. They are also all different shapes so I don't think the rubber things that go around the key body would be much use?

Is the answer one of these kinds of things for every location? How would I then tell which key is for the gate, inner gate, office door, etc.? I've used these before but

I don't think a label maker would help much but maybe some nail polish or something?

HELP I CURRENTLY CARRY AROUND A ONE POUND OCTOPUS WITH ME EVERYWHERE

posted by vocativecase to Home & Garden (23 answers total)

You can just wrap tape around the doesn't-go-in-lock part; if you have a few different colours of tape that could help.

You can also subdivide them into smaller key rings that can all live on a carabiner; that would provide some context (this ring has all your personal keys, so the blue one is the shed) and also enable you to not take your work keys when you're going for a bike ride.
posted by Superilla at 1:19 PM on July 15, 2023 [9 favorites]

I keep keys on Carabiner Clips and then clip in whatever sets I need, when I need them. Originally, there was a color code but the color wears off mostly so that's not as helpful as it once was.

My personal house and gate keys are on a clip. My car keys are on a clip. Barns and barn gate and tack rooms keys are on a clip. Friend's house keys are on their own clips. Parent's and relative's keys on a clip. I have one large clip that I used for whatever keys I need that day.

When I leave the house, I take only the keys I need that trip. When I get out of my car, I only take car keys and any other keys I need at the moment. The rest go in a console. (Not the greatest security of all time - but someone would have to know which keys go where to cause any mischief.)

Might not work for you as a businessperson. Works for me as a person who is animal-emergency contact for several people and visits barns with tack rooms where tens of thousands of dollars worth of tack is locked up.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 1:20 PM on July 15, 2023 [4 favorites]

I group keys by function onto smaller keyrings and keep them all together with a Red OXX Cable Lock. Also, it helps from a torsion/packing standpoint if you use an empty keyring as a link inbetween your keyful keyring and the cable lock.
posted by whuppy at 1:50 PM on July 15, 2023

I buy key tags at the hardware store, label them, and attach the key to them. I organize different sets by putting them on different carabiners. I don’t carry all of them at once. I take the sets that I need.
posted by gt2 at 1:53 PM on July 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

This seems too obvious, but those colored rubber key rings/caps like this?
posted by bricoleur at 2:11 PM on July 15, 2023 [4 favorites]

This seems too obvious, but those colored rubber key rings/caps like this?

They are also all different shapes so I don't think the rubber things that go around the key body would be much use?

posted by zamboni at 3:07 PM on July 15, 2023

First, I assume you have a round keychain. Get rid of it and get a straight one, like this (I'm sure cheaper options are available, but this is a brand I like to support).

Then, if you use the keys in a particular order, put them in that order so you can just go from one to the next without needing to jump around. For instance, a friend owns a laundromat and had keys for 40 machines on a round keychain. I switched her to a straight one, asked the "route" she walked to empty the coins, and then put the keys in that order. Then, when she walked the route, she just went one after the other on the keychain. A bonus of this is that she could also number the machines (mentally or physically) on the route and she knew that machine 5 was the fifth key.

If your keys aren't able to be color-coded themselves, but you think it would be helpful, then just buy color-coded blank keys that you can use to put between the groups. So, for instance, all the keys to the right of the red keys are for houses, all the keys to the right of the green key are vehicles, etc. etc. Or, all the green keys are for House 5, etc.
posted by dobbs at 3:16 PM on July 15, 2023 [3 favorites]

Also, to state the obvious, switch as many locks as you can to a single key.

There exists a type of house/door lock (I forget the brand right now) that allows you to "recode" a lock with a 2 second process using a tool that comes with the lock. Switch all houses to this type of lock, stick the tool in, stick your one key in, unlock the lock, remove the key, and that key now opens that lock, regardless of what the actual key that shipped with the lock looks like. Do this for every lock you can.
posted by dobbs at 3:19 PM on July 15, 2023 [4 favorites]

The carabiner-and-ring system works best for me. Every key associated with a location goes on a ring; the rings go on a carabiner. I have absolutely no keys that look like each other, though, so determining which key to use on a particular lock at a particular location is only a matter of staring at the choices long enough for my aged brain to determine which is which.
posted by lhauser at 3:38 PM on July 15, 2023

The carabiner-and-ring system
Same. And for the main keys (front doors, office door, etc) I swipe a brushload of acrylic paint color, so…color coded.
(Those rubber key caps only last a few months before falling to pieces, but ymmv.)
posted by artdrectr at 3:47 PM on July 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

My dad got an engraving tool and wrote something on the keys to identify each. Sometimes it was a code, like a cross on the key to the church, or a pet name for a friend's house, but all were readily understandable to family. They also used some of the rubber round things; they stretch around different shapes.
posted by ldthomps at 3:51 PM on July 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

My wife uses one of these keychains and likes it.

I second the advice to rekey locks to the extent that is reasonable. Kwikset "smartkey" locks let you do this without calling a locksmith (this is what dobbs is talking about).

When I was growing up, my parents would have the key cutter cut notches in the key handles as a visual and tactile code.
posted by adamrice at 4:15 PM on July 15, 2023 [3 favorites]

I use a main ring with subrings. The subrings have a color coded "key tag" attached. Key tags are colorful plastic tabs with a little window where you write a label.

Then I put matching color rubber cappies on the keys in the subring.

So it goes
Main ring
Sub ring 1 - house. yellow key tag, house door keys get yellow rubber caps
Sub ring 2 - pet sitting place. Green key tag, house keys get green rubber caps
Sub ring 3 - car key. Black key tag. No rubber cap.

The rubber caps along with the key tag provide a redundant color code.

If the rubber caps don't fit the key, the color key tag still provides either a color code or a place for a label for that subring.

You can get into by using different shaped cappies consistently. The open hole "o" shaped one for top locks or the hemisphere cap for bottom locks. Or what have you.
posted by jello at 5:47 PM on July 15, 2023

The rubber rings (rather than caps) fit almost every key I’ve ever had from plain house key to large building keys. They don’t work for small keys like a bike lock, but they’re super bendy and squishy to all sorts of shapes. You want ones like these silicone rings for keys
posted by Bottlecap at 6:16 PM on July 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

Carabiners are so handy, then split rings for any logical groupings. I got a variety of colors of nail polish on my Buy Nothing group. Put a dab on each side, you may need to have some with 2 dabs of color on each side. Get Tiles or Airtags; electronic car keys are spendy and losing keys is a huge drag. (also on wallet, purse, whatever). I'd get a key label tag and put your email address on it, plus the word Reward. One tag on each group of keys. Plastic key covers are nifty, but a little bulky

I used my googlevoice number + Reward as my screen image and have had my phone returned.

I keep a house key in a secret spot outside, just in case.
posted by theora55 at 7:11 PM on July 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

Agreed with multiple carabiners that can link together. I've also used rubber key caps for a long time and never had any problem; I don't use them for all the keys. My house keys have a yellow cap to come in out of the sun, a blue cap to come in off the blue painted porch, and no cap on the front door, which I don't use often. The mailbox key is smaller and doesn't have a cap.

Same with work keys. There are three "standard" sized ones, so the main office door gets a rubber cap, my own office door is blank, my filing cabinet is smaller and blank. They're on a separate keychain from my personal keys, but most of the time live on a carabiner with the house keys.

That's all I've got now, but there have been times when I had more, and a similar system for each set works fine. Anything that makes them look different; it's not hard to memorize the system, even if it's not particularly orderly.
posted by gideonfrog at 7:11 PM on July 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

If you *must* keep them on the same keychain, use something like Keysmart which turns your keys into a Swiss-army-knife type folder. Maybe put your own keys on that, then other keys can go on carabiners, then chain them as needed.
posted by kschang at 8:40 PM on July 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

FYI, don't constantly put the key on a loaded keychain into a vehicle ignition. Eventually the weight will cause issues.
Silicone key rings work. I use split rings for organization (sometimes these are in colors).
Then small groups can go together on a linked chain. No massive collections.

Replacing house keys so that they all match works. Don't get rid of the original key.
Lost keys are a mess. So are random old keys that no longer seem relevant.
posted by TrishaU at 12:19 AM on July 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

Alternative to key caps: I keep a couple of those tiny jars of Testor enamel paint that you use on model cars and planes. Big chain crafting stores should have them. Lets me daub a little dot of bright color on things I want to be able to identify quickly at a a glance, including keys.

This might be the "nail polish" approach you're looking for.
posted by gimonca at 6:35 AM on July 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Nail polish works great on keys! You may have to do touch ups once a year or so. If you don't have many different colors of nail polish, someone who wears it should or you can often get sampler packs of tiny bottles at a drug store or TJMaxx-type discount store.
posted by LeeLanded at 6:51 AM on July 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

There is also something called a key wallet (link) that is more like a little leather wallet with small hooks inside it. You could get one or a few and organize by type.
posted by foodmapper at 9:04 AM on July 16, 2023

The carabiner strategy is cheaper and more flexible than the dedicated key wallet / fancy key ring in my opinion, but you will have to figure out what size of carabiner will work for you and is secure enough for you. I only have three sets to deal with! Nonetheless I have put extra but lightweight doodads to make it easy to identify them - the library mini-card is on the house key set, a university ribbon on the car key set, etc.
posted by spamandkimchi at 4:39 PM on July 16, 2023

Nthing the nail polish suggestion. The rubbery key cap thingees are great, too, but they add bulk. I have some nail polish on my everyday keyring and while some of it has worn off, I haven't repainted them in 3+ years. Nail polish now comes in all sorts of colors, so my house key is teal and my work keys are yellow.
posted by sarajane at 12:52 PM on July 17, 2023