Need a key? We have several to spare!
I’m beginning to wish that the phenomenon that causes socks to disappear would also apply to keys. Not the ones that my family and I actually use mind you, but the ones that we don’t.
Several years ago I bought the adorable key holder in the picture and mounted it on the side of one of my kitchen cabinets. My thinking was that this was where we would put the keys that we rarely use, such as spare car keys. However, the collection has now grown to the point that the hooks are full and the slightest touch can send keys plummeting to the floor – a painful experience should they land on your foot.
True, among these keys are the spares that I mentioned earlier. Sadly, however, we have no clue what most of them belong to. I know for a fact that we have keys to my mother-in-law’s condo and car; neither of which she has owned for several years.
My hubby is the primary Keeper of the Keys. I have begged him to go through them and get rid of the ones that aren’t needed. He has not – he is convinced that as soon as he gets rid of one, that we will need it for something. I, however, feel that if they have been unused for so long that I have to dust them on a regular basis, they should go. I’m also sure that if we encounter a lock that we can’t open, The Collection will not be the first thing that comes to our mind. Instead, we will probably call a locksmith and have him/her create yet another key for us.
I can’t put all of the blame on my hubby though. My personal key ring contains no less than ten keys and a few decorative tchotchkes. However, thinning out my collection is now on my to-do-list and will occur sometime soon. Fortunately, my collection is only a hazard to myself – I’m sure that my purse would weigh a lot less with fewer keys in it.
Fairly soon I’m going to insist that the kitchen key collection be reduced. Now that our grandson is walking and exploring, I don’t want him to be injured by a key-alanche.
Once the key collection is reduced, maybe we can move on to the pile of socks without mates… I know, I know. But, I can dream can’t I? 
What sort of items does your family collect? (Remind me to tell you about my oldest son’s collection of sunflower seed hulls someday. Yes, he really had one.)
My son had a large collection of paper airplanes when he was about 8 years old. We had to periodically thin them out.
My largest collection was all of the papers that my kids brought home from school from preschool. I literally had everything that they brought home through 7th grade, which was the point that I had to thin the herd. It was difficult, but I managed to do it.
I did the same thing, Ami! I think I had every scrap of paper that the kids brought home from kindergarten through 6th grade. A few years ago I bit the bullet and went through them and thinned them out. I kept some things but actually managed to get rid of most of it.
We don’t tend to collect many things. In fact, the opposite seems to occur. Like our pens disappearing. And the scissors. And any number of things that I can’t find when I need them…
Your new site looks great!
Thanks Carrie! I’m really excited about my new site. As my boys grew up, I learned to go to them any time all of the pens, etc. disappeared – they were usually the culprits!