I’ve decided that my goal is to have as few keys on my keychain as possible. To me, the less keys on your keychain, the less responsibility you have—and the more freedom!
Interested in joining me? Here are five ways to pare down your keychain:
1. Go car-free. My husband and I have gone from two cars to one (he drives it), and our ultimate goal is to be car-free. I’d love to simply use a carshare program whenever the need for wheels arises.
2. Don’t own multiple houses. Well, duh. But seriously, a beach home or downtown pied-a-terre can be pretty tempting. Avoid the second home, and you’ll avoid a truckload of headaches and expenses. I’d rather stay in a hotel or condo than have to deal with the upkeep of a vacation home.
3. Don’t have a storage unit. If you pare down your possessions to what fits in your house, you won’t have to pay rent on a second home for your stuff. (Okay, most of you know my dirty secret, but I wouldn’t have one if I were in the same country as my stuff!)
4. Don’t own high maintenance toys. I’m talking about boats, motorcycles, and recreational vehicles—unless of course, they serve as your home or main source of transportation.
5. Don’t own valuables. Anything that needs to be locked away is just too much hassle, in my opinion.
So, right now I have three keys, but they’re all related to my one home: my building key, apartment key, and mailbox key. (My husband keeps the car key, and a relative in the States has the storage unit key!) How about you?
Hi Miss Minimalist!
I just found your site after doing a search on how many keys people carry. I wanted to see what others have written because I just posted a topic called “Myth: He Who Dies With The Most Toys Wins”
(http://buff.ly/1357PZA). Unless you’re among the super wealthy, owning things that require a key can do some serious damage to your ability to generate wealth. I blog at EscapingDodge.com.
Since we had to get rid of our car, I only carry one key on my key chain.
Building,apt,mailbox,car. Laundry room is in our condo. Frequently walk to the library because it is too close to drive. So is the post office, hair salon, and dry cleaners. Also do volunteer work at the local historical society, across the street. We used to walk to the bank but they closed that branch.
When I saw this post’s title, I was somewhat expecting a more philosophical bent, a la the “What’s in your backpack” talk fro mthe movie Up in the Air. : ) I’ve minimized my keychain down to the bare minimum for me. It used to be weighed down with lots of useless keychains and a few unnecessary keys. Right now, I have a house key, a bike lock key, a car key, a key fob for the car, and a bottle opener from Sam Adams. MY sig other used to comment about the weight of my keychain; now, their set of keys is heavier and bulkier than mine!
(Almost) one year update: I’ve since minimized my keys down further to just a house key, car key, and bike lock key. They’re on a simple metal spring clip ring. I’ve entertained the thought of keeping the keys in my wallet, sans ring, but I’m not ready to go there just yet. My sig other has minimized they keys, too, but it’s still bulkier than mine.
The bottle opener now lives in out kitchen drawers. It’s travelling days are over : )