Use brightly colored nail polish as a frugal way to distinguish one or two of your most needed keys on your keyring.
By Teresa from Vine Grove, KY
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I file notches on the heads of all my keys. A small triangle file or Dremel tool will quickly put a notch in the soft metal. One notch for the front door, 2 for the back, etc. I also put the notch on the side that will face up. This allows me to get the key into the lock without my glasses and even in the dark if I forgot to leave the porch light on.
If you don't have a triangle file just ask your favorite handyman or handywoman. I guarantee they have one and would be happy to file a few notches for you.
Sounds like a plan. For myself, if I had more than one similar key on my keyring, I'd use a dot of tactile paint on each side to distinguish my front-door key. If you have a lot of keys, a simple color code might work...or different numbers of tactile dots: one for front door, two for back door, etc.
Most people don't have nail polish, and those that do only have one or two colors. Nail polish also chips off easily. A cheaper and more practical solution is to put a dab of WhiteOut (which most offices would have) and then color the WhiteOut with a color marker. That will give you many more colors, and WhiteOut is more readily available then nail polish.
The best solution, however, is what I actually use: Put some opaque tape on the key, and then actually write the key's function on the tape using a fine point color marker. That way, you can tell by color as well as the text on the function of a key. If you find that the tape comes off easily, simply wrap the tape around the key, over itself and trim off the excess, making sure it doesn't cover the key's teeth/ridges.
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