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Matter Minder Motivations Blog

The "Key" to Organizing

"These stupid bulky keys are driving me crazy!"

Once again, I realized that some tiny thing was bugging me. And once again, why not fix it? Uh ... I don't know.

I'm sure I'm not the only one with too many keys on my key ring. Add in some of those plastic grocery store discount cards, my library card and a "membership" card to my favorite watering hole and things tend to get a bit cluttered. My car key is the worst: a large key plus a plastic fab/button thing to unlock the doors. Enough was enough.

So I grabbed my set of keys and two extra keychains. I had a plan:

1. Examine the key chain. What's even on here? (Answer: One car key, front door house key, back door house key, parents' house key, best friends' house key, two keys for one of my offices and two for the other -- that's for exterior and interior doors -- plus a key to a filing cabinet at one office. Plus my fiancee's bulky fab car key and several plastic cards.)

2. Pause to consider just how much weight I was carrying in my pocket or purse. Who am I kidding -- that bulk doesn't fit in my pocket!

3. Next, remove all the plastic things. There are some great smartphone tools out there now to keep all those numbers. I used an app called KeyRing to scan in the barcodes. Now I can toss those plastic pieces! When at the store, I just open the KeyRing app, choose the card I need, and scan the displayed code. Ta-da! It even works at the library!

4. Categorize and separate the keys.

I don't often need the house keys to my parents' home in Atlanta or my best friend's house. That one is only for cat sitting. So I removed them and put them on a special keychain. I will buy hooks to put near the front door and hang that chain there.
I put the five office keys (doors and filing cabinet) onto one special keychain. Some days I work from home and don't need to carry those. I will keep them in my backpack for days when I need them.
I also rarely use my fiancee's bulky fab car key. I created a special place in my bag for that one should Ineed it.
That leaves two house keys and my car key (and my whistle). Whew! Much better! That one comes with me.

All of this took less than 10 minutes. The true key to getting organized is realizing you're ready to make a change -- and then actually doing it.

It's usually those tiny projects we put off that bug us the most. But those are the easiest ones to correct if we stop to do it right. And usually, we end up feeling so motivated afterward, that we're ready to tackle something bigger.

What "tiny" thing is bugging you?